Camel Up: Off Season Rulebook

Table of Contents

Components
Setup
Overview
Goal of the Game
Playing the Game
Starting a New Round
Depleting the Tower
Game End
Credits

Components

1 Tower
5 Caravans of 4 camels
5 Desert tents
6 Double-sided Market tiles
127 Goods cards
20 Sales Overview cards
120 Coins (in Egyptian pounds): 50x coins worth 1, 70x coins worth 5
Peek tokens: 5x
Extra sale tokens: 5x
1st Player marker
1 Appendix
1 Supply (pyramid insert + tray)

Setup

Give 1 caravan and 1 desert tent of the corresponding color to each player. Each player receives a set of 4 different Sale Overview cards, one for each goods.
Assemble the Tower and place it near the play area.
Shuffle the Goods cards thoroughly and place them on the top part of the Tower. The bottom part is used as a discard pile.
Place the Peek tokens (5x), the Extra sale tokens (5x) and the 1st player marker next to the Tower.
Place the Market tiles, side 1 face-up, in the center of the play area. Place 1 Market tile per player +1:
- 5-player: use 6 Market tiles.
- 4-player: remove 1 Market tile randomly.
- 3-player: remove 2 Market tiles randomly (1 from A-B-C and 1 from D-E-F).
Unused Market tiles are returned to the box.
Draw the corresponding number of Goods cards and place them in a column under each Market tile.

The top card icon represents the face-up Goods cards. The back-card icon represents the face-down Goods cards. Face-down cards are placed below the face-up cards and they may be stacked.
Create the Supply. Insert the pyramid inside the tray. Sort the coins by value and place them in their compartment. Place near the Tower, next to the play area.
Each player receives 5 Egyptian pounds (5x) from the Supply, which they hide behind their tent.

Overview

In Camel Up Off Season, players become merchants owning a caravan of camels. They will bid on goods with only one objective in mind … profit! However, if avid merchants collect too many goods, their camels will be overloaded, and the precious items will fall and be lost in the desert forever.

Goal of the Game

The merchant with the most money at the end of the game wins.

Playing the Game

Each round plays in 3 phases:

Auction
Market
Sell

Phase 1 - Auction

Each round starts with an auction to determine who will be the first player. The type of auction for the current round is indicated by the top card of the Tower. However, most auctions share the same rules as the auction standard rules as described below.

Note: See Appendix for all the Special Auction rules. If there is no card in the Tower, use the standard auction.

Standard Auction

Players use coins as their secret bet in their hand and reveal them simultaneously. The player with the highest bet wins the auction and places their bet in the Supply. The other players take their bet and place it back in their tent. The winner of the Auction Phase gets the First Player marker.

Note: Players may bet any amount they want, even 0.

In case of a tie, the second-highest bet wins. If there is still a tie, the next highest bet wins.

In case of a tie or multiple ties among all players, everyone take back their bet and repeat the auction. If there is still no auction winner, the first player keeps the First Player marker and all players take back their bet. If this occured during the first round of the game, determine a random starting player.

Example 1: After choosing the amount they want to bet for the auction, players reveal their bets. Chris bet 3, Mike 1, Lucy 1 and Juliet 3. Since Chris and Juliet are tied for the highest bet, they move on to the next highest bet. Mike and Lucy are also tied, so they all take back their coins to restart the auction.

Example 2: Chris bet 3, Mike 1, Lucy 0 and Juliet 3. Since Chris and Juliet are tied for the highest bet, the next highest bet is Mike with 1. He places his bet in the Supply and receives the First Player marker.

Important: A player who has bet 0 may be considered as the highest bet if all the other players' bets are tied.

Phase 2 - Market

Players each choose a different Market tile starting with the player with the First Player marker. That player performs these actions in order:

Choose a Market tile and take any coins if there is any (mandatory).
Activate its ability (not mandatory).

Some Market grants an ability that may be applied instantly, while others give a token (extra sale) that may be used in subsequent phases (see the Appendix for all Markets' abilities).
Take all the Goods cards from that market and reveal the face-down cards, if applicable. (mandatory).
Place Goods cards on camels (see section below) (mandatory).

After performing these actions, repeat this phase going clockwise for each player. Phase 2 ends when all players have performed these actions.

Place Goods Cards on Camels

A player must place all Goods cards on their camels. There are 4 different types of goods for players to acquire during the game.

A player must assign a different type of goods per camel. Once a type of good is loaded on a camel, it may not be reassigned to another empty camel until all goods of that type are sold.

Example 3: Mike acquires 5 Goods cards from the market and reveals all face-down cards. He gains 3 cards each with 1 carpet, 1 card with 2 dates and 1 card with pottery. As these are his first carpets, he may place them all on one of his empty camels. Since one of his camels already carries pottery, he must place the pottery card on this camel, and do the same for the camel carrying the dates.

Camel Overload

After placing all goods on their camels, the player checks if 1 or more camels are collapsing with goods overload. The numbers on the caravan indicate the number of Goods cards each camel can carry (3 to 6). If the total number of Goods cards is higher than what they can carry when placing 1 or more Goods cards on a camel, that camel collapses. All the goods on its back, including the ones acquired this turn, are lost and are discarded.

Example 4: Lucy acquires 6 Goods cards from the market. She may place the 2 bowls of bananas and the carpet on her empty camels. However, as she already has pottery on one of her camels, she must place her 3 pottery cards on that camel, for a total of 6 pottery. Since this camel can carry a maximum of 5 Goods cards, it collapses and all the pottery cards it carried are removed to the discard pile, including the pottery acquired in this turn.

Phase 3 - Sell

During this phase, starting with the first player and going clockwise, each player may choose to sell one group of goods. Players may sell either part or all the goods from ONLY 1 of their camels. Follow the chart according to the type of goods you are selling. Then, all cards from the sold group are discarded. Unsold Goods cards remain on the camel.

These Sales Overview cards have 3 sections:

The top indicates the sale restrictions of that type of goods.
The coins indicate the money a player receives for the required number of goods.
The number next to the goods indicates the number of cards of that variety included in the game.

Dates

The illustrated dates are sold in a quantity multiple of 3. If the desired quantity cannot be reached exactly when grouping the cards, you may still sell them. However, the quantity considered for the sale will be rounded down to the next lowest multiple of 3 (minimum of 3 and up to 15).

Sale chart: 3 dates = 2 coins, 6 dates = 6 coins, 9 dates = 11 coins, 12 dates = 17 coins, 15 dates = 24 coins.

Card composition (70 date icons across 32 cards): cards showing 1 date x7, cards showing 2 dates x15, cards showing 3 dates x7, cards showing 4 dates x3.

Carpets

Carpets must be sold in a group of at least 2 carpets of different colors.

Sale chart: 2 carpets = 3 coins, 3 carpets = 7 coins, 4 carpets = 12 coins, 5 carpets = 18 coins, 6 carpets = 25 coins.

Card composition (33 cards, one color per card): red x8, orange x7, yellow x6, green x5, blue x4, purple x3.

Pottery

Pottery must be sold in a group of at least 2 pottery of the same shape.

Note: Some pottery cards offer a choice between 2 variety of pottery.

Sale chart: 2 pottery = 3 coins, 3 pottery = 6 coins, 4 pottery = 10 coins, 5 pottery = 15 coins, 6 pottery = 21 coins.

Card composition (30 cards): round jar (red) x8, tall urn (yellow) x8, vase (green) x8, plus choice cards (either of 2 shapes): red/green x2, yellow/green x2, red/yellow x2.

Fruits

Among the fruits currently loaded on your camel, the variety of lowest value must be sold in priority. Fruits may be sold individually, or as a group of the same variety.

Sale chart, from lowest to highest value: pomegranates (11 cards) sell for 2 coins each; oranges (9 cards) sell for 3 coins each; bananas (7 cards) sell for 4 coins each; pineapples (5 cards) sell for 5 coins each.

Example 5: During the Sell Phase, Chris has 4 options. Selling dates, pottery, fruits or carpets.

One of his camels is carrying 4 dates (1 card with 2 dates and 2 cards with 1 date each). He could sell his 3 dates for 2 Egyptian pounds. The remaining date card would stay on his camel.
He may sell 2 identical pottery for 3 pounds.
He may also sell his 2 pomegranate bowls for 4 pounds. He may not sell his pineapple bowl because he must sell from the lowest value currently loaded in his caravan.
Finally, he decides to sell 5 of his carpets for 18 pounds and the other yellow carpet stays in his caravan.

Starting a New Round

After all players have completed the Sell Phase, place 1 pound from the supply on the market that was not chosen by any player. Flip the Market tiles that were chosen during the Market Phase. Then fill them with the corresponding number of Goods cards from the Tower.

Important: Check the number of Goods cards required on the market that was not chosen. If applicable, add face-up and/or face-down cards until you reach the required number of cards for each type. Then, if a market has more face-down cards than indicated, no action is necessary.

Example 6: Market tile B1 was not chosen this round. Place 1 pound from the supply on that market. Flip the other Market tiles and fill them with Goods cards for the next round. 1 face-up card is missing from Market tile B1, add 1 face-up card to that market to reach the minimum required number.

If there are not enough Goods cards in the Tower to fill all the markets, shuffle the Goods cards from the discard pile and fill the remaining markets. This new round will be the last one of the game.

Start the next round with the Auction Phase.

Important: If no player has any money at the beginning of a round, each player receives 5 Egyptian pounds (5x) from the Supply.

Depleting the Tower

When activating a Market ability, if there are no Goods cards in the Tower after drawing 1 or more Goods cards, shuffle the goods from the discard pile and draw the remaining number of goods if necessary. As the game end is triggered, the next round will be the last one of the game.

Example 7: Chris chooses Market tile A1. He uses the ability which allows him to name 1 of the 4 types of goods, and draws 3 cards. He draws the last 2 cards and shuffles the cards from the discard pile to draw the third and last card from the ability. Players finish the current round and fill the markets for the last round of the game.

Game End

During the Sell phase of the last round, players may make 1 sale from each of their camels if possible. Rules of the Sell phase must still be followed.

When the last round is over, players count their total gained value of coins. The wealthiest player wins the game. In the case of a tie, tied players make 1 additional sale per camel. The player with the most value in coins is the winner. If there is still a tie, players share the victory.

Credits

Game Design: Anna Oppolzer & Stefan Kloß
Producer: Sophie Gravel
Development: Pierre-Olivier Gravel, Martin Bouchard
Illustrations: Chris Quilliams
Graphic Design: Maryse Hébert-Lemire, Stéphane Vachon, Tarek Saoudi