Caravan why cant i play cards

Each turn must be used to place one card face up to start off each of their three caravans. During this opening round only number cards A, can be placed. If a player does not have three number cards or aces to play, then they must show their hand, reshuffle their deck and draw eight new cards. No cards can be discarded or re-drawn during the opening round.

Therefore at the end of this round when each player has had three turns, they will each have a hand of five cards and one card in each caravan. After the opening round play continues, with players taking alternate turns. On each turn, you must do one of the following:. Note that after the opening round, if any of your caravans is empty of cards you are not required to play on the empty caravan in your next turn: it can be left empty.

Technically, you could win the game with only two caravans if you could sell both of them while your opponent sold the third. Any card that is discarded or removed from play is added to the discard pile. These cards can't be recovered. Number cards in each caravan are played in a column. Each new card is added to the bottom of the column overlapping the previous number card. Number cards can only be placed on your own caravans. On a caravan with one card, you may play any number that is not equal to the first card.

On a caravan with two cards, the bottom two cards indicate its numerical direction - ascending if the bottom card is higher, descending if it is lower.

You may play any card that preserves the direction, or any card matches the suit of the bottom card. Example : if the last two cards of a caravan are 3, 7 the direction is ascending.

On this caravan you may play any 8, 9 or 10 to continue the ascending direction, or the A, 2, 3, 4, 5 or 6 of hearts changing the direction to descending. Note that cards following numerical direction do not need to be adjacent in value. For example you can go up from a three to a seven, or down from a seven to a three. Under no circumstances are you allowed to place a number card on an equal number card e.

Picture cards all have special effects. Unlike number cards which are placed in a column overlapping each other, a picture card is placed to the side of and overlapping the card it is played on. A picture card can be played on a number card in any caravan , no matter whether it belongs to you or your opponent. Jacks, Kings and Jokers can be played on any number card; a Queen can only be played on the bottom card of a caravan's column.

The special effects are as follows. Picture cards can be played on number cards which already have one or two other picture cards attached to them.

However, no more than three picture cards can be attached to a single number card at one time. Therefore a picture card cannot be played on a number card that already has three picture cards attached to it, and the only way to remove such a card is by the use of a Joker on another card, or by disbanding the caravan. In particular a Jack cannot be used to remove a number card that already has three face cards or Jokers attached to it. If in the event that a Jack or Joker removes a card leaving a caravan ending with two equal numbered cards, then the numerical direction remains as it was before the card was removed Example.

If a Jack is played on the 7 in this caravan: Q-6, leaving just , the direction is descending, since before the Jack was played there was a downward sequence of 7 to 6. This only applies in situations where the removal leaves equal cards following each other.

Example : If a Jack or Joker removes the 6 in this caravan: , then the sequence is now ascending [] and it doesn't matter that beforehand the sequence was descending. To score a caravan you simply add the total sum of a caravan's number cards as modified by Kings to determine the caravan's value.

When at least one caravan is for sale from each of the three positions the game is over, and the player with two or more of the higher sales wins the game.

However, in the event that one of three caravan values is tied between players, the game continues until all three caravans have sold. In this case, if a player has three caravans for sale with two being higher bids and the other being a tie, if it's that player's turn he can simply disband the tied caravan to win the game. If you run out of cards to play before meeting the criteria of winning, then your opponent automatically wins. Optionally, each player may customize their own deck provided that it consists of at least 30 cards selected from standard card decks with jokers , and doesn't contain any two cards that are precisely the same.

If you play a number card, though, there are some rules. You can add a number card to a bidding pile under either of two conditions:. I've learned that you only need to win 2 of the 3 caravans to win, and if the caravan has been sold at lets say 21 you have to outbid on that caravan before the opponant sells one of the remaining 2 caravans.

Gosh, I don't think this game could be any simpler! Sign up to join this community. The best answers are voted up and rise to the top. Stack Overflow for Teams — Collaborate and share knowledge with a private group. Create a free Team What is Teams?

Learn more. What are the rules of Caravan? Ask Question. Asked 11 years ago. Active 4 years, 9 months ago. Viewed 88k times. What card can I play when and why?

What do the face cards do? Improve this question. Yeah I found its pretty terribly documented, I have actually gotten pretty far in the game while opting out of the in-game 'games' as I found them to be annoying. Caravan should have had a scripted 'learning' sequence, where they run you through a game and the character explains it all.

At least this didn't happen to me — Jakub. Add a comment. Active Oldest Votes. The basics: 2 players play the game. You're targeting a range of between 21 and 26 inclusive for each your three piles.

Gameplay During the first three moves, when setting up your caravans, you do not draw replacement cards for those you lay out. Play continues until "End game," below. Cards and Their Effects Ace: Always a value of 1. Consider a number card except when a Joker is involved. Jack: Removes the target card and all face cards attached to it from the board. Typically played offensively against the other player. Queen: Reverses the direction of the caravan. Can be used offensively and defensively. Offensive example: reversing a descending caravan to ascending when the opponent is near enough the target and at a high enough last number that the direction switch prevents him from landing within the range.

Rare, but very effective when you can pull it off. Defensive example: You've been ascending or descending and either can't go farther at a ten or an ace , or you need to reverse direction in order to land in the target range. King: Doubles the value of the target card. Again, can be used both offensively and defensively. Offensive example: Double the value of a high-value card in your opponent's caravan when he's at the high end of the target range.

Boom, now he's overloaded. Defensive example: Double your own card typically effective early-game to get a leg up on the competition. Joker: This one has different impacts depending on the card you play it against.

Often ends up doing "collateral" damage -- that is, damage to you as well as your opponent. Use them wisely. Against an ace, removes all non-face cards of the same suit as the ace from the table, except the ace on which it's played. Against numbered cards, removes all cards of that value from the table, except the card against which it's played. End game: The game is over when all three Caravans are successfully sold. Building a Deck I'm not going to give many strategies on this, but just the basics.

Personally, I build what I call a Deck of Black Death: Exactly one of each Ace heart, club, spade, diamond At least 4 of the following all clubs or spades : 2, 3, 7, 8 At least 3 of the following all clubs or spades : 9, 10 At least 5 of the following all clubs or spades : 4, 5, 6 At least 4 of the following I try for all black, but can be any color : King, Jack, Joker Exactly 3 Queens again, I try for all black, but can be any color Why the emphasis on black? Improve this answer. Queen: Play it on the last card of a caravan to change its suit and reverse its direction.

King: Double the value of the card you play it on. Your caravans are considered sold when they have a points value between 21 and Once you achieve this for 2 of your caravans and your opponent achieves it for 1 of theirs, or if you achieve it for 3 of yours, then you win the game. For example, if your opponent has 2 caravans for sale at 22 points and 25 points, and you have 2 caravans for sale at 23 and 26 points, then you would be the winner.

If you run out of cards before you can put a caravan up for sale, then your opponent automatically wins. Include your email address to get a message when this question is answered.

Caravan is a complex game and it is known to be a bit confusing, but keep practicing and it will make more sense the more you play. Helpful 0 Not Helpful 0. Submit a Tip All tip submissions are carefully reviewed before being published. Related wikiHows How to. How to. More References 7. About This Article. Co-authored by:.

Co-authors: 3. Updated: February 23, Categories: Fallout. Thanks to all authors for creating a page that has been read 9, times. Did this article help you? Yes No. Cookies make wikiHow better. By continuing to use our site, you agree to our cookie policy. A free 54 card starter deck and game instructions can be received from Ringo in Goodsprings.

This deck comprises 53 of the 54 cards from the the Tops' set with two King of Diamonds, the King of Clubs is missing. Additional cards can be obtained from various merchants and corpses across the Mojave Wasteland , by beating Festus at Lucky Horseshoes, or found in the Sierra Madre.

At the outset of the game, the opponent will place a bid. The player can then either match or raise. The player can bid any amount they want, limited only by their opponent's bid and the amount of money they have.

Prior to beginning the game, the player is presented with the deck creation interface. This interface consists of two rows of cards, both representing every card in the deck. The visible cards in the top row represent the playable deck, while the bottom row are the unused cards. Any duplicate cards purchased by the player are automatically filtered out of the selection process.

A deck is created by moving cards from the bottom row to the top row using the add button. Cards can also be removed using the remove button. The Randomize Deck button will randomly select cards, creating a new caravan deck each time from all the available cards in your total card pool.

Once the player is finished creating their deck, they can move on to the game. The finished deck will be saved and cannot be edited until the next time Caravan is played. Caravan is played with two players building three opposing piles or "caravans" of numbered cards. One both players have started their three caravans, each player may do one of the following on their turn:. Value of 1. Jokers played on aces remove all other non-face cards of the ace's suit from the table.

Listed value. Jokers played on these remove all other cards of this value from the table.