How to play Caravan

How To Play Caravan

Objective

Build three caravans (rows of cards) with a total value between 21 and 26 that are higher than your opponent’s caravans.

Setup

  1. Deck: Each player uses a standard 52-card deck including jokers. Players must not alter deck for official tournament

  2. Starting Hand: Each player shuffles then draws 8 cards.

  3. Caravans: Each player builds three rows of cards called caravans. Your goal is to stack cards to “outbid” your opponent’s caravan (21 and up) without overencumbering yourself (over 26)

  4. One player starts by playing an ace or numerical card for their caravan start. Alternate this step between players until each player has 3 “caravans” and 5 cards in hand.

Gameplay

  1. Opening:

    • Players lay 1 card per caravan (3 total) to start their rows.

    • Caravans must begin with different suit cards or matching number cards.

    • Max Hand Size: 5

  2. Turn Sequence:

    • Take one action:

      • Add a card to one of your caravans, matching suit or ascending/descending.

      • Add a face card to your opponent's caravan.

      • Discard a card from your hand.

      • Disband a caravan (Discard all cards, skip draw step:

    • Draw a Card

    • Pass turn to opponent

  3. Building Caravans:

    • Rows can be built in ascending or descending order.

    • Cards must match the suit or number of the previous card.

  4. Special Card Effects:

    • Face Cards: (Can be played on opponent caravans)

      • King: Doubles the value of a card in the stack.

      • Queen: Reverses the caravan’s order (ascending ↔ descending) and changes suit to match.

      • Jack: Removes a card and any attached face cards from any caravan (yours or your opponents).

    • Joker:

      • played on a 2-10: remove all matching numbered cards and any attached face cards from the game

      • played on an ace: removes all cards matching the suit of the ace

Winning

  • A caravan is "sold" if it:

    • Totals 21–26.

    • Is higher than the opponent’s total for that caravan.

  • Win by selling 2 out of 3 caravans (higher than your opponent).

    • (3 caravans total MUST be sold before game ends, 2-1 or 3-0)