Caravan is one of the most confusing mini-games in Fallout: New Vegas — but once you understand the rules and card mechanics, you’ll be winning caps hand over fist. This guide breaks down everything from the basics of how to play, to the special cards that can flip the game in your favour, and even a reported currency duplication bug. Whether you’re a first-timer or just frustrated at losing every round, this is the guide for you.
How Caravan Works: The Basics
Think of Caravan as a twist on Blackjack, but played across three columns (called caravans) at the same time. The goal is simple: be the first player to reach 21 or higher in all three of your caravans to win the match.
That said, there are a few key rules that set it apart from standard Blackjack:
- Stalemate rule: If both you and your opponent reach 21 in the same caravan, you’ll need to push that caravan up to 26 to claim it. But be careful — going over 26 burns that caravan entirely.
- Beating a higher total: If your opponent’s caravan is sitting at, say, 24, simply hitting 21 in that caravan won’t cut it. You need to match or beat their total to win it.
- Card order matters: Once you play your first two number cards in a caravan, the direction is locked in — either ascending or descending. Every number card you play after that must follow that order, unless you use a Queen to flip it.
Understanding the Special Cards
The number cards are straightforward, but the face cards and jokers are where Caravan gets interesting. Here’s what each one does:
Queen
The Queen reverses the direction of a caravan. So if your caravan is set to ascend, playing a Queen flips it to descending — and vice versa. This is incredibly useful for resetting a caravan that’s heading in the wrong direction. You can play any suit on any other suit, as long as the ascending/descending order is respected after the flip.
King
The King acts as a 2x multiplier on whatever card it’s placed on. It can be played on both your own caravans and your opponent’s — more on that in the offensive strategies section below.
Joker
The Joker is a powerful disruption card. When played on a card in a caravan, it removes every other card in play that shares the same number — on both sides. The card it was played on stays. For example, if you play a Joker on your 7, every other 7 across all caravans gets wiped out. Use it strategically, but watch out — it hits your own cards too.
Jack
The Jack lets you remove any single card of your choice from any caravan. It’s your go-to for cleaning up your opponent’s strong plays or stripping out a King multiplier.
Ace
The Ace is worth just 1 point. It’s largely useless in most situations, so don’t go out of your way to buy or collect them.
Using Jacks and Kings Offensively
A lot of players don’t realise you can play Kings and Jacks directly onto your opponent’s caravans. This opens up some seriously effective offensive plays.
- Stacking Kings: If your opponent plays a King (2x) on one of their cards, you can drop another King on top of it to make it a 4x multiplier. This can quickly push their caravan over 26 and burn it. They’ll then have to waste a move using a Jack just to undo it.
- Using Jacks to drop value: Play a Jack on one of your opponent’s high-value cards to remove it and bring their caravan total down. This is especially effective on cards worth 7 or higher — you definitely don’t want to leave them with a 10 sitting there.
- Defensive Jack plays: If your opponent stacks a King on your King (turning your 2x into a 4x on their terms), you can use a Jack to remove just the offending King without losing the entire caravan.
Controls tip: Once you’ve selected a King or Jack, use the Up Arrow to target enemy caravans. Use Down, Left, or Right Arrow to place cards on your own caravans.
Why You Keep Getting Forced to Discard
If you’ve ever been stuck in a loop where you can only discard cards until you lose, it’s not a bug — it’s a deck problem. Here’s what’s going on and how to fix it:
- At the start of each match, you are forced to place one number card on each of your three caravans before you can play any special cards. The actual numbers don’t matter — you just need one on each.
- If your deck is stacked with Queens, Jacks, Kings, and other face cards, you won’t have enough number cards to kick things off, and the game will keep forcing you to discard.
- Solution: Keep a healthy mix of number cards in your deck. Avoid hoarding too many special cards.
Also worth noting: the game never actually explains the controls. Here’s how card placement works — use the arrow keys to cycle through your hand, press W to select a card, then use the arrows again to pick which caravan to place it on, and press W a second time to confirm the placement.
Bonus: The No Bark Currency Bug
One community member reported a potential caps duplication bug when playing Caravan against No Bark Noonan in the Mojave. The method is as follows:
- Play a game of Caravan against No Bark and win the first match.
- Lose the next two matches.
- Win the fourth match — recovering the last amount of caps you lost.
According to the report, after this specific win-lose-lose-win sequence, No Bark will reportedly generate caps and Legion Denarii out of thin air, allowing you to accumulate currency beyond what should be possible. This bug hasn’t been widely confirmed yet, so it’s worth trying yourself and seeing if it works on your platform or save file.
Quick Tips to Win More Often
- Always prioritise getting one number card on each caravan as fast as possible — it unlocks your full hand of special cards.
- Use Queens to reset caravans that are heading in the wrong direction before they get out of hand.
- Play Kings on your opponent’s caravans to push them over 26 and burn them.
- Save your Jacks for removing key cards — don’t waste them early.
- Keep your deck balanced with a good mix of number cards and face cards.
Final Thoughts
Caravan looks intimidating at first, but once the rules and card mechanics click, it becomes one of the more satisfying side activities in Fallout: New Vegas. Master the offensive plays with Kings and Jacks, keep your deck healthy, and you’ll be racking up caps in no time. Good luck out there in the Mojave.
