How to play Caravan (New Vegas)
While I was tryin to learn how to play Caravan I saw loads of guides were just explaining the win conditions and not the actual rules or controls. So this post'll explain everything about caravan from top to bottom.
(The only reason to play Caravan is for the two achievements, win three times and win thirty times; I don't find it very fun, not the fastest way of making money, and has no bearing on any plot.)
Getting the Cards
The only way to get the Caravan Deck is from Ringo after completing Ghost Town Gunfight (or looting it off his body). You don't need this, but it gives you the minimum number of cards you need to play. If you don't take it you'll have to manually find enough cards for Caravan to be available for you
You can get cards from vendors and merchants (~two caps per). Keep an eye out for 6's, 8's, 10's, and Kings (The strat I'll describe needs those cards). You can have multiple copies of the same card (i.e. more than one 6 of Spades)
I got the most cards from Lacey (the bartender) at the Mojave Outpost (anywhere from three to eight). Buy the cards you need and wait three days for her to restock. There's a semi-rare bug where she'll sell two of the exact same card (i.e. two Ultra Luxe 8 of Hearts): Buying both'll crash the game
Sierra Madre Cards
If you have Dead Money installed you can find additional cards for Caravan in and around the Sierra Madre. Below is all the cards you can find and where they are:
8 of Clubs - Sierra Madre Casino & Resort (Cantina Madrid): On the floor in front of a file cabinet to the right of the Cafe Madrid terminal and restaurant manager desk.
King of Clubs - Medical District: Inside a 2nd floor room with an active electric hot plate, north of the Villa clinic and above a ground level cafe sign directly west across a courtyard from the room containing the 6 of Diamonds, on a round table in the northeast corner.
6 of Diamonds - Medical District: Inside a 2nd floor room northeast of the Villa clinic and directly east across a courtyard from the room containing the King of Clubs, on a wooden shelf in the southwest corner behind an orange chair.
10 of Hearts - Villa: Some distance north of the Villa police station and west of the room containing the 5 of Hearts, on the interior corner of a walkway to the southeast of a wall fountain. Going from the 5 of Hearts, out the door with a wall fountain, down the stairs, in the corner of the interior walkway on the left.
6 of Spades - Salida del Sol North: In the northwest corner of a small courtyard with three bear traps and a dead tree, on the ground between a wall and three pipes, just west of the stairs leading to a room containing Dean's Secret Stash, a radio and two pool tables.
8 of Spades - Villa police station: In the northwest corner of the cell Dog is located in.
Who can I play with?
You're never explicitly told who you can play with, you just have to ask around. Here's the full list;
Limited: You can only play with them five times and then never again
Restricted: You have to have good rep with their faction to play
Cliff Briscoe - Dino Bite gift shop - Limited
Dale Barton - The Fort - Restricted
Dennis Crocker - NCR Embassy
Isaac - Gun Runners
Jake Erwin - NCR Embassy
Johnson Nash - Primm - Limited
Jules - North Vegas Square
Keith - Aerotech suite
Lacey - Mojave Outpost - Limited
Little Buster - Camp McCarran
Q.Master Mayes - Camp Forlorn Hope - Limited - Restricted
No-bark Noonan - Novac
Ringo - Goodsprings/Crimson Caravan Camp
Jed Masterson - Northern passage - Only available with Honest Hearts
Johnson Nash uses more face cards than other players which can break the strat I'll describe later. No-bark Noonan is the easiest to play against
Building your Deck
After offering to play with someone, and after setting your bet, you'll be shown two long rows of cards. The top row is the deck you'll play with in the game, the bottom row is the cards you won't be using
Use your arrow keys to move left and right, pressing W to add a card to your deck and A to remove it. Only select your 6's, 8's, 10's, and Kings. If you don't have enough of these to reach the 30 card minimum, add some Jacks or Queens. After that press F to play
The Controls
The descriptors of the controls listed along the bottom right can be a little vague or misleading, here's a better explanation;
Arrow keys to highlight a card in your available hand (these will be the cards revealed to you in a fan)
W to select a card
Q to discard a card (counts as a full turn)
If you select a card and want to deselect it, press R. With no card selected, R is the forfeit button
E lets you completely discard a caravan you've built
When you select a card it will move to the left side of the screen. This is where the game is played. Use the arrow keys to place your selected card in one of the six sections available (these are the caravans)
Number Cards and Face Cards
Ace - Value of 1
Number Cards - Value of 2-10
You can play face cards on your caravans or your opponents caravans, and they can do the same to you
Jack - When played on an Ace/Number Card, removes that card along with any card attached to it
Queen - When played on an Ace/Number Card, supposedly reverses the direction of hand and changes suit of the hand. I'm not sure if it's just my game being buggy or if I'm using them wrong, but Queen cards don't seem to do anything for me. I use Queens as null cards: Just something to fill up my deck. If you know what they actually do I'll add a proper explanation here.
King - When played on an Ace/Number card, doubles the value of that card. Multiple Kings can be attached to the same card
Joker - When played on an Ace, removes all other non-face cards of the ace's suit from the table (except that card)
When played on a Number Card, removes all other cards of that value from the table (except that card)
You can place multiple Jokers on the same card to remove any card of that suit/value placed after you placed your initial Joker
Playing Caravan (6 8 10 K Strat)
This isn't a strategy I invented, I found it online. But I only every found it in posts that assumed I knew how to play already. So I wanted to put it here alongside a tutorial
Also, just as a rule of measure for how weird this game is, we're only now getting to how to actually play the game ...
You're aiming to have the values of the bottom three card piles (your caravans) be higher than their matching top three values (your opponents caravans), while keeping your values between twenty and twenty-six (values outside of this are invalid).
You might notice that you can't place a card on a caravan that already has a card in it. This might be for a few reasons;
There's a difference between attaching a card to another, and stacking a card on top of another: Press the up and down keys to move along the various heights of a caravan. Face cards can only be attached, number cards can only be stacked
You can't place two number cards of the same value in the same caravan. But you can place as many of the same face card as you want in the same caravan
Place a 10 and a 6, or a 10 and an 8 in each caravan, attach a King to the 10 in 10/6 caravans, or to the 8 in 10/8 caravans. These will each bring your value up to 26. If you don't have any of the cards you need, discard something you don't want (like a Queen if you have any in your deck and are using them as null cards). It's worth having a handful of Jacks in your deck to use against your opponent
Beating No-Bark
I'm not certain, but I think No-Bark's deck has no 2's, Queens, or Jokers. He only has three to four Jacks, and two to three Kings. After you've placed your initial card in each of your caravans he'll use a Jack against you one or two times. Rarely three, very rarely none.
After your first few moves he's very unlikely to use Jacks again. I only saw him using a king against three times out of thirty-five games. Sometimes he deliberately busts his caravans. I have no idea why he does this
The strat I use against him is to place 6's and 8's as my first card in each caravan, then replace any cards he removes. It's only after three to five moves that I actually start building my caravans. Unless he's particular nasty with his Jacks, or you're particularly unlucky with whichever cards you draw, you should be able to get to 26 in each of your caravans immediately. If not, don't forget to Jack or King any caravan of his that reaches 20
Conclusion
Caravan sucks
If I missed something or didn't explain something right I'll make edits
Peace and love
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