Caravan Rules and Guide

Caravan is a card based minigame in Fallout New Vegas. Read on and see the Caravan's rules on how to play, how to win Caravan, a guide, the best deck setup, the controls, and find out why can't you place cards in this guide!

Fallout New Vegas Caravan Rules

1. Place Starting Cards on Each Caravan
2. Strategically Place Cards

Place Starting Cards on Each Caravan

Both you and your opponent have 3 caravans each, where you'll add a number card on each caravan. The first number card will set the suite of each caravan. The suite can be overwritten by having the next card be a different suite.

Strategically Place Cards

Once all caravans have their number cards, you can start off by placing a number card below one of the starting cards. This will add both of the card's value (e.g. 1st card = 10, 2nd card = 9 total = 19), and the card you've placed will also determine the movement of the stack / caravan.

Placing a number card higher than the first card will only allow you to place number cards higher than the previous card and vice versa (e.g. Descending Movement = 1st = 10, 2nd = 9, 3rd = 7, 4th = 6).

The exception are number cards of the same suite, and you can place them no matter the direction of the stacks.

Face Cards Effects

Face Card	Effects
King	Doubles a card's value. Can be placed both on your cards or your opponent's.
Queen	Reverses the movement of the stack. Can be placed both on your cards or your opponent's.
Jack	Discards one card from the stack. Can be placed both on your cards or your opponent's.
Joker	Removes all instances of the selected card on the deck. Selecting an Ace removes all cards matching the suite.

Face cards are powerful cards, each with their own effects that are factored into strategies.

Fallout New Vegas How to Win Caravan

Outbid Your Opponent's Caravan

You win by being the first to get two of your caravans have higher value than your opponent's. Your caravans should have at least a value of 21 up to 26.

Getting your caravan's value over 26 will cause you to discard the entire stack should there be no other options available.

Fallout New Vegas Caravan Guide

1. Keep an Eye on Opponent's Caravan Values
2. Utilize Your Kings to Disrupt Opponent
3. Use Jacks to Remove High Value Cards

Keep an Eye on Opponent's Caravan Values

Apart from focusing on your own caravans, you should also keep an eye on your opponent's stacks to see if they're close to reaching the required values to sell their caravans.

Utilize Your Kings to Disrupt Opponent

While Kings are handy for increasing your number cards' values to reach the needed numbers, they can also be used to increase your opponent's number cards and make their stack go over 26, rendering their caravan useless unless they have Jacks to counter it.

Use Jacks to Remove High Value Cards

Store Jacks for later when your opponent places a King on one of your stacks to prevent it from going over 26. Placing Jacks on your opponent's high-value card also helps turn the tide of the match.

Fallout New Vegas Caravan Best Deck

7-9-10 Deck Setup

Having a deck full of 7s, 9s, and 10s will give you the best chances of winning the game, since having one of each (7, 9, 10) in a single stack adds up to 26. Additionally, including a couple of Kings and Jacks can help counter your opponent's moves.

Why Can't I Place Cards?

Board Acts Like a Grid

A lot of players are confused about why their cards are red and can't be placed, even though they have the right cards. This is because of the game using a grid-like system, and the cards you want to place don't automatically get added to the stack.

To place a card on the stack, you need to navigate down by pressing the down arrow key on a PC, then press W to confirm the placement.

Fallout New Vegas Caravan Controls

Caravan Controls List

Keys	Control
▲ ◀ ▶▼ (Arrow Keys)	Arrow Keys are used to navigate the board.
	Confirmed selected card from hand and placement on the board.
	Discard the selected card from your hand.
	Press to select one of your stacks that you'd like to discard, then press W to confirm discarding the stack.
	Cancel current action (e.g. cancel selected card from hand to choose a different card to place on the stacks). Can also be pressed to forfeit the game.

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