Caravan ( game ) Caravan is a card game played by caravan guards and traveler s in the Mojave Wasteland . Background . Out in the wasteland , the game of choice is Caravan . Created by caravan guards using whatever cards they could find lying around , this is a one - on - one card game played with a cobbled together deck of loose playing cards . Caravan is not played in , but is very popular among caravan guards and other frequent travelers on the Long 15 . Because Caravan allows players to build decks from any card they can find , crafty caravan guards often come up with devious decks and strategies . Caravan is played for standard money of any and all kinds : , NCR dollars , or legion coins . Because the players are often poor , the stakes tend to be low . Obtaining a deck and additional cards . 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 ( There are 2 Kings of Diamonds , the King of Clubs is missing ) . Additional cards can be obtained from various merchants and corpses across the Mojave wasteland , or by beating at Lucky Horseshoes , or alternatively you may find cards in the Sierra Madre should you have " Dead Money " installed . How to play . Preparations . Bidding . At the outset of the game , the opponent will place a bid . The player can then either match or raise . Non - player characters will not match every bid , only raising to about 50 % of their initial bid . The player can bid any amount they want , limited only by their opponent ' s bid and the amount of money they have . Building a deck . Caravan deck s are composed of at least 30 cards from one or more traditional playing card sets . The deck may have any number of cards of any type , although it cannot have duplicate cards from the same set . For example , a King of Spades with The Tops on the reverse and a King of Spades with Gomorrah on the reverse is acceptable , but more than one King of Spades from The Tops deck is not . Any duplicate cards purchased by the player are automatically filtered out of the selection process . Building a custom deck . 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 . 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 . Gameplay . Caravan is played with two players building three opposing caravans ( or " bids " ) of numbered cards . The goal is to outbid the opponent in all of the three caravans by keeping the number of points on each above 20 and below 27 ( 21 - 26 ) while preventing the opponent from doing the same . The game begins with each player taking eight cards from their deck and placing either one numerical card or Ace on each of their caravans . A player may not discard during this initial round . ( This is currently bugged , see Bugs . ) Once both players have started their three bids , each player may do one of the following on their turn : After the initial card is played , the following card determines the direction of the caravan , either ascending or descending numerically . All subsequent cards must continue that numerical direction and / or match the suit of the previous card . Playing a same - suit card will change the direction of the caravan , if applicable . Cards of the same numerical value cannot be played in sequence , regardless of suit . Face cards and Jokers can be attached to an Ace or numeric card in a caravan ( including your opponents ' ) and affect them in various ways . A total of three cards may be attached to any given regular card , after which the only way to remove that card is through the use of a Jack or discarding the entire caravan . Winning . A player ' s caravan is considered sold when the value of its cards is over 20 and under 27 . The opponent may still outbid by increasing the value of their opposing pile while staying within the 21 - 26 range . The game ends when each of the competing caravans is sold to either the opponent or the player , with the victor providing a better bid for at least two of the caravans . In the event of a tie between any two matched caravans , the game continues until one side has a better bid . The player with two or more sales on their side at the end of the game wins the pot . If either player runs out of cards to discard before a winning condition is met , the player will not be able to discard and will be declared the loser regardless of how many winning caravans they have . It is possible to win if outbidding the other player is not possible . When running out of opportunities to win , continuously discard empty caravan piles instead of discarding the individual cards in your hand . If placing face cards can cause the opponent to NOT " sell their caravans " while the player keeps at least 1 card in their hand , then they should be able to win because the opponent does not know how to select an empty caravan slot and " discard " it in order to stall the victory . The idea is that the player ' s hand would be predominantly face cards towards the realization of their inability to win and they would use this strategy to win . Face cards are imperative because interaction with the opponents caravans cannot work without them .