Tan-tan Caravan
Tan-tan Caravan Rulebook
Table of Contents
Table of Contents
Game Contents
- 1 game board
- 105 cards:
- 14 Food cards with a value of 2
- 13 Clothes cards with a value of 3
- 12 Fabric cards with a value of 4
- 11 Lantern cards with a value of 5
- 10 Spice cards with a value of 6
- 9 Jewellery cards with a value of 7
- 6 Genie Lamp cards
- 6 Princess cards
- 6 Merchant cards
- 6 Thief cards
- 12 Mouse cards
- 1 score pad
Object of the Game
Collect goods, choose your friends carefully and avoid the mice to become the richest merchant.
Set Up
- Place the board in the centre of the table. The board is made up of 2 zones: the Caravan (at the top) and the Market (at the bottom). The Market is made up of 3 zones (from left to right): 1 space for the Purse card; 5 Market spaces marked 1, 1, 2, 3 and 5, and 1 space for the card pile.
- For 2 to 3 players, remove the following cards and put these back in the box:
- For 2 players, remove: 4 cards with values 2, 3 and 4 as well as 2 cards with values 5, 6 and 7.
- For 3 players, remove: 2 cards with values 2, 3 and 4 as well as 1 card with values 5, 6 and 7.
- Shuffle the remaining cards then place 1 card on the Purse and 5 others on the Market. Make a pile with the rest of the cards, keeping them face-up.
- Keep the score pad close to the players.
The last player to have seen a camel plays first, then gameplay continues in a clockwise direction.
How to Play
On their turn, players can carry out one of the 2 following actions: Buy cards from the market or Stock the caravan.
To Buy Cards From the Market
The card placed on the purse square shows the amount of money available to buy merchandise from the market. This amount is written in the purse symbol on the top right of the card.
The cost of buying a card from the market is indicated on the board above its location (for example, whichever card is below the number 1 costs 1).
Cards which have been bought can only be taken by the player if the following rules are respected:
- The total cost of the cards being bought is not greater than the amount of money the player has available to use.
- Players cannot have more than 7 cards in their hand at a time.
Players are not obliged to spend all their money however, any unspent money will be lost.
Once a player has bought their cards, they place the Purse card in the caravan. Then they move all the remaining cards in the market to the left (including onto the purse space), filling the empty spaces left after this move with cards from the pile.
If you fill the caravan, you immediately trigger the Distribution of cards in the caravan.
If the purse card is covering the last free space in the caravan then the next player triggers the Distribution of cards in the caravan before the start of their turn.
To Stock the Caravan
The maximum number of spaces in the caravan depends on the number of players:
- 2 players: 6 spaces.
- 3 players: 7 spaces.
- 4 players: 8 spaces.
Look at your hand for cards of the same type. Place as many of these as you want in the caravan, face up. You can also put down as many Mouse cards as you want.
You cannot put down more cards than there are free spaces in the caravan.
If you fill the caravan, you immediately move onto the Distribution of cards in the caravan.
IMPORTANT: You must Stock the Caravan if you have 7 cards in your hand.
Distribution of Cards in the Caravan
When the caravan is full, players must take cards from the caravan.
Starting with the active player, then moving clockwise, each player must take all the cards of only one type found in the caravan, and place these in front of them, face-up, to show off their riches.
If a player collects one or several Thief and/or Mouse cards, the effects of these cards are immediately applied (see The Cards). They are discarded.
This stage ends once all the players have taken a share of the cards or the caravan is empty. If there are still cards remaining, these stay in the caravan but are all moved left to fill any gaps.
REMINDER: If the caravan is full at the start of a player's turn due to the purse card being moved onto the last available space in the caravan, then the Distribution of cards in the caravan begins immediately. After this, the player's turn can start as normal.
End of Turns
Once a player has finished with their action and any consequential effects, it is now the turn of the player on their left to start.
The Cards
The Goods
- Food: 2 points
- Clothes: 3 points
- Fabric: 4 points
- Lanterns: 5 points
- Spices: 6 points
- Jewellery: 7 points
Genie's Lamp: These cards are worth the number indicated, squared:
- 1 Card = 1 Point
- 2 Cards = 4 Points
- 3 Cards = 9 Points
- 4 Cards = 16 Points
- 5 Cards = 25 Points
- 6 Cards = 36 Points
The Character Cards
The Thief: When you take a share of Thief cards, discard them and, randomly, take as many cards from the hands of other players of your choice as you have discarded thiefs. The stolen cards are placed, face-up, in front of you. If they are characters, treat these as though they had been taken straight from the caravan.
The Mouse: After a Distribution of cards in the caravan, the first player takes a share of cards without mice. Then, all the following players each take a share and add a mouse (if there are any left) from the caravan.
When a player takes a Mouse card, they immediately discard it alongside a card of their choice already in front of them.
In the exceptional event of the caravan being full of mice, each player takes a mouse on their turn, except from the first player, who takes nothing.
The Princesses: They must be placed in front of the player, face-up. At the end of the game, the player who has the most Princesses wins 1 point for each card included in their largest collection of goods (except Genie's Lamps) multiplied by the number of Princesses they have.
In the case of a tie for who has the most Princesses, the players concerned benefit from the power of their Princesses.
Example: You are the player with the most princesses. You have 3 princesses and your largest collection of goods is your 4 clothes, so you win 3x4= 12 points more.
The Merchants: They must be placed in front of the player, face-up. At the end of the game, the player with the most Merchants wins 2 points per different kind of goods they have (except for Genie's Lamps), multiplied by the number of Merchants they have. In the case of a tie for who has the most Merchants, the players concerned benefit from the power of their Merchants.
Example: You are the player with the most Merchants. You have 3 Merchants and you have 4 different kinds of goods, so you win (4x2)x3=24 points more.
End of the Game
When there are no cards left in the pile, the game continues until the next time the caravan is full and the players have collected their cards from the caravan. If no card can be added to the caravan, the game stops after the usual distribution of cards from the caravan, starting with the last player to have added a card to the caravan.
Players then work out their score in the following way using the score pad:
- Goods cards are worth as many points as they indicate.
- The player(s) with the most Princesses adds together all the points their princesses give them (see Princesses above).
- The player(s) with the most Merchants adds together all the points their merchants give them (see Merchants above).
- Genie's Lamp: At the end of the game, these cards are worth the number indicated on their face squared (see previous page).
Reminder: Genie's Lamps don't count as a different type of good for Merchants and Princesses.
Example of Score Taking
Points for Goods: (3x2) + (2x3) + (1x4) + (2x5) + (1x6) + (2x7) = 46 Points.
Points with the Genie's Lamps: 3x3 = 9 Points.
If this player has 4 Princesses and this makes them the player with the most Princesses, they add 3x4 = 12 Points (because they have 3 Food cards and 4 Princesses).
If this player has 3 Merchants and this makes them the player with the most Merchants, they add (6x2)x3 = 36 Points (because they have 6 different Goods and 3 Merchants).
The player with the highest score at the end wins. In the case of a tie, this goes to the player with the most Princesses. Otherwise, it goes to the player with the most Merchants. If there is still a tie, both players share the victory.