Caravan is a one-on-one card game played with 2 standard decks of cards, including 2 jokers per deck (54 cards per deck).

The objective of the game is to own the most caravans when all three are considered to be sold at the same time.

At the beginning, 8 cards are drawn for each player from their respective Deck. The first three cards pulled must be "Value" cards - if not, it will be returned to the Deck and a new card will be pulled (This process happens automatically on www.caravanthegame.com).

During the initial 3 turns, each player may only place a "Value" card on an empty caravan on their respective side. After these initial opening bids on each caravan have been placed, a player is then free to place all remaining cards as necessary, within the abilities of the cards, on subsequent turns.

A player may take 1 of 3 actions per Turn:
1) Place a card and draw a new one from the Deck
2) Discard a card and draw a new one from the Deck
3) Discard an entire caravan

Only option 1) is allowed during the first 3 turns.

Value Cards are all cards with a numbered value from 2-10, including the ace card with a value of 1. When placing value cards, they must be placed with the numerical ascending or descending order in mind, or matching suit of the previous card. When playing a same suit card, it may change the direction of the caravan. When considering the direction of the caravan, consider only the last 2 cards in that caravan. A card with the same numerical value as the one immediately preceeding it can not be placed. Value cards can only be placed on the respective players own side.

Face cards are King, Queen, Jack and Joker - they hold no numerical value, but instead have special abilites and can be placed anywhere, including the opponents Caravans. Face cards are always attached to a Value card, and do not stand by themselves. A maximum of 3 Face cards can be attached to a single Value card.

King
A King doubles the value of the Value card. If multiple Kings are placed against the same Value card, the value is doubled in sequence. E.g. with a value card 5: 5 * 1 King = 10 (5 * 2); 5 * 2 Kings = 20 (5 * 2 * 2)

Queen
A Queen changes the direction of a caravan and the suit of the card. Multiple queens change the direction multiple times. The last queen placed determines the suit.

Jack
A Jack removes a single Value card and all attached Face cards from the caravan. It can only be placed on a Value card if there are fewer than 3 attached Face cards.

Joker
A Joker has two different abilities, depending on whether it is placed on a Value card from 2-10 or on an Ace.

When placed on an Ace, it removes all Value cards from the game from that suit, on both sides of the board. The Ace it is placed on is protected and remains. Face cards are not affected, unless the corresponding Value card they are attached too is removed.

When placed on a Value card from 2-10, it removes all cards, regardless of suit, with the same value. The card it was placed on is protected and remains.

A caravan is considered sold when either player has a value towards it between 21 and 26 - the player with the highest value within the range is considered to own it. If both players have the same value, it is considered a draw and will not be considered sold until one player has a better position than the other.

Once all three caravans are considered sold at the same time, whoever owns the majority wins the game.

Alternatively, the game can be lost if your Deck runs out of cards at the moment you draw a replacement for your Hand, even if you still hold cards in your Hand.

This situation arises when a player has opted to discard an entire caravan and is thus not allowed to draw a card from the Deck at the end of the turn.