HOW TO PLAY CARAVAN LIKE A REAL COURIER
A guide for Fallout: New Vegas
WHY?
I still hear people talking about how they don't know how to play Caravan and they've got like 500 hours in the game. Time to learn.
As for why you'd want to, it's a source of easy caps that is entirely build-independent. Also, you can finally get the achievement (except that you're not playing unmodded).
THE CARAVAN BASICS
Here's how to understand what you're looking at when you look at a Caravan game in progress.
The columns of cards in the middle are each player's caravans. The caravan's value is listed next to it. To the right of those columns are each player's hand. You can only see your own. To the right of hands are each players' decks, with the number of cards left in each deck indicated.
The game is won when all three columns have a complete caravan, with the winning player being the one currently winning at least two. A complete caravan is one with a value from 21 to 26. If both players have a complete caravan in a column, the player with the higher value wins that column. If any column is tied or incomplete for both players, the game will not end.
THE CARDS
Number cards add their number to your caravan's value.
Jacks remove a card (and any modifiers attached to it) from the caravan.
Queens reverse the direction of a caravan and change its suit.
Kings double the value of a card. This multiplies (e.g. if a six has two Kings played on it, it will be worth 24, not 12).
Jokers remove many cards from the table at once. If they are played on an Ace, they will remove all other number cards of the same SUIT as the Ace they were played on. If they are played on any other number card, they will remove all other number cards of the same VALUE.
STARTING THE GAME
Before the game starts, you have to bet on the game. Your opponent will set a starting bet, which you have to match or raise. You can usually raise by about 50%. Feel free to fleece your opponents.
At the start of the game, each player draws eight cards. They then place one number card on each caravan.
THE TURN
During a turn, you may perform one of three actions. First, you may play one card and draw a new card from the deck. Second, you may discard a card from your hand and draw a replacement from the deck. Third, you may discard everything from one of your caravans, resetting it.
For the first card on a caravan (either during setup or when restarting a discarded caravan), you may play any card. The second card must be one of a different value. The second card defines the "direction" of the caravan, up or down. Subsequent cards on that caravan must either continue the direction of the caravan or be of the same suit as the previous card. A card of the same suit will set a new direction for the caravan, depending on whether it is lower or higher than the last card. There is no requirement to play cards in a perfect sequence, any value is acceptable as long as it is higher or lower as necessary. Cards of the same value cannot be played on one another, regardless of suit.
For example, if a Four of Clubs was played, followed by a Five of Diamonds, then a Four, Three, Two, or Ace of Diamonds would be playable, as well as a Six or higher of any suit. However, no Fives may be played.
Kings, Jacks, and Jokers can be played on any card in a caravan, not just the top one. Queens can only be played on the top of a caravan, but multiple queens can be played in sequence, flipping the direction of the caravan each time.
BUILDING A DECK
Caravan decks are customizable. Ringo will give you one 54-card deck (Jokers are included). However, before every game you will have the chance to rebuild your deck, including and removing cards as you wish. A Caravan deck must contain at least 30 cards, and only one copy of any card from any manufacturer may be used (for example, you can have a Two of Diamonds from The Tops and a Two of Diamonds from The Ultra-Luxe, but you may not have two Twos of Diamonds from The Tops). You can find new cards in shops and in various loot drops. Every Caravan opponent in the game has their own custom deck.
HOW TO WIN AT CARAVAN EZ PRO GAMER MODE
I have intentionally largely left strategy out of this document, focusing instead on explaining the rules in a way that's a little better-formatted than the in-game holotape. However, I will include the most common way to cheese the game. Build a deck with only Sixes, Eights, Tens, Kings, and optionally Jacks (if you want opponent-attacking ability). A combination of a Ten and either a Six or Eight can be made into 26 by playing a King. Kings and Jacks also enable one to attack their opponent, either by removing cards with a Jack or by boosting their score to 27 or above with Kings. By being able to reliably get 26s on a caravan in three plays, this deck racks up easy wins.