How Much for the Camel? 1999

Components: Twenty-eight cards An A4 sheet of rules a piece of cardboard You have to provide your own money and 'Spit' tokens. packaged in an envelope

"The end of the world is nigh. The only commodity left is ... camels! The Future. Camels. Space Bucks. You."

A dangerous combination. Can you assemble the most impressive herd of camels? It's the future, and camels are more valuable than gold or any other commodity for that matter. You've got money to burn and camels to buy in this quick bidding game. While quantity is important, it's camel quality that really counts. Will you put your money into the single-hump Arabian or Saharan Dromedary? Or do you prefer the more exotic two-humped Bactrian? Such is the nail biting excitement. All the other animals have died and all you can buy are camels. There are three types and they come in groups of one to four. The cards are then numbered 1 to 9, the higher the number, the more camels. Your camels are worth more if you have the largest herd (most cards of a type), a train (sequence of three or more) or a 'Big Three' (three cards of the same number). All in all it's difficult to know how much cards are worth - but that's what makes for a good bidding game.

Bidding is just one round, so the last bidder has a big advantage. The only way to counter this is by 'Spitting' . You play your spit token and get an extra bid after the last bid. You can only do this once. Once all the spit tokens are played, you're left calculating how much money players have got left . The player purchasing the last card, bids first in the next round. This player enjoys the title of Space Merchant The winner is the person who has the most money when the game ends!