allboardgames.com
Caravan box art
2019 Ranked #4,557

Caravan

This historical trading game has camel caravans carry valuable goods across western Africa. Building routes through the desert turns distant demand into a source of wealth.

Family Games Arabian Pick-up and Deliver Take That Animals: Camels

Players

2-4

Play time

Not listed

Age

12+

Complexity

1.75/5

Rating

6.64

Harder to teach Highly interactive Deep strategy

Overview

At a glance

Is this game right for my group?

ABG editorial scores on a 1–5 scale.

Teachability 2.4/5

Harder to teach

Replay value 4.0/5

High replayability

Interaction 3.7/5

Highly interactive

Player scaling 4.0/5

Scales well

Strategic depth 4.6/5

Deep strategy

See all 5 specifications

How it plays

How does it play?

1300 A.D., Western Africa — the desire for goods such as ivory in Europe drives the development of many trade routes here, with caravans of camels delivering goods across the desert landscape. In Caravan, players must use their camels to deliver goods where they are wanted.

Core mechanisms

Key systems that shape the decisions players make.

Read the full game description

1300 A.D., Western Africa — the desire for goods such as ivory in Europe drives the development of many trade routes here, with caravans of camels delivering goods across the desert landscape. In Caravan, players must use their camels to deliver goods where they are wanted. Each player starts with five camels in their color (or six in an introductory game), and the game board is seeded with eight goods on the spaces numbered 1-8, with demand markers placed on the goods at spaces 1, 2, 7 and 8. The first player in the game takes one action, the second player two, and so on until someone takes four actions, after which each player can take up to four actions on their turn. Actions are: Place or move an unladen camel of your color into an empty space: 1 action Place or move an unladen camel of your color into an occupied space: 2 actions Pick up a good and place it on the camel in that space: 1 action; if any demand markers are on this space, you keep them. Move a good along a chain of your camels, ending with it on top of one of your unladen camels: 1 action Steal a good from on top of an opponent's laden camel, placing it under one of your camels in the same space: 1 action and a theft marker; if you have no theft markers, you can't do this. If you move a good to a camel located in the city that wants that good (as indicated by color), then you remove that good from the board and keep it. As soon as four goods have been picked up (not necessarily delivered), pause the game and place a demand marker on each good still on the board; in addition, refill the empty numbered spots with a good from the bag. Once the final four goods have been drawn from the bag, the game ends immediately following the next delivery. Players score points based upon what they've collected: Rare goods (of which there are three each of four types) are worth 6 points each; common goods (nine each of four types) are worth 3 points each; and each demand marker is worth 1 point. Whoever scores the most wins.

Browse all classifications

Shopping

Where to buy

No verified retailer offers are available yet. The references below may still help you continue your search.

Unverified shopping references

Editions

Language and publisher variants currently recorded in the catalog.

Edition Year Language Publisher / Region
No editions imported yet.

Player resources

Rulebooks, player aids, FAQs, and solo resources.

No files imported yet.

Game and edition data

All specifications (5)

Play and group

Players
2–4
Best with
3–4
Play time
45 min
Age
12+
Complexity
1.8/5
Credits and catalog connections

Credits

Designers

1
Joe Huber (I)

Artists

1
Martin Hoffmann

Publishers

1
Rio Grande Games

Linked items

No published linked games yet.