Camel Up (Second Edition)

Edition and objective: This explanation uses the 2018 Second Edition English rulebook. The current Lookout Second Edition product page specifies 3–8 players. Crazy camels and the six-player-and-up partnership rules belong to this edition; do not add first-edition Supercup modules such as the photographer or supporting dice. Egyptian Pounds are game currency. None of the five racing camels belongs to a player, and the two crazy camels cannot be backed or ranked.

Setup: Stack each color's four leg tickets from bottom to top as 2, 2, 3 and 5. Set out five pyramid tickets and a bank. Give each player three Pounds, five finish cards and their spectator tile; at six or more players, also give an available partnership card. Roll the five racing dice and put each matching camel on space 1, 2 or 3 according to its value, stacking shared spaces in any order and facing clockwise. Roll gray separately for each crazy camel: 1 places it on 16, 2 on 15, and 3 on 14. A second crazy camel sharing a space goes on top; both face counterclockwise. Load all six dice into the pyramid. The youngest player starts.

Turn options: Play clockwise, performing exactly one available action per turn: take one leg ticket, place or relocate your spectator tile, take a pyramid ticket and reveal a die, or play one secret finish card for overall winner or overall loser. At six or more players, entering a partnership is a fifth option. You cannot combine a ticket, a spectator placement and a roll in one turn. Remaining tickets and finish cards limit which actions are available.

Leg tickets: Take the top ticket of a color's remaining stack and place it openly before you. You may collect several, including repeated colors, but cannot bypass the top ticket. Taking one has no upfront purchase cost. Its large printed value is the payout if that color leads at the end of the leg; being in front when you take the ticket does not pay immediately.

Movement and stacking: A revealed racing die moves its matching camel 1–3 spaces clockwise. Move that camel and every camel above it as a unit, leaving camels below behind. A unit normally arriving at an occupied space goes on top of the existing unit. Rank racing camels first by progress clockwise and then by height within a shared stack, higher ahead. Ignore crazy camels when ranking.

Spectator placement: Spend a turn placing your tile on an empty space with no camel or other spectator tile. Space 1 is forbidden, as is a space adjacent to another spectator tile. If your tile is already out, this action may relocate it to another legal space. Choose cheering or booing when placing or moving it. You cannot freely flip or reposition it between turns, or place it beneath an existing camel. Only a unit landing on the tile triggers it; merely passing over does not.

Spectator effects: The owner immediately gains one Pound when a unit lands on their tile. Cheering moves the unit one more space forward, stacking on top if occupied. Booing moves it one space backward and places it underneath an existing unit on the destination space. Crazy camels use counterclockwise as forward, so the physical direction is reversed. All camels keep their original facing. The tile stays in place after activation until moved by its owner or returned during leg cleanup.

Pyramid action: First take a pyramid ticket, then shake the pyramid and reveal one die. Complete the indicated movement and display the die on a free dice tent; do not return or reroll it. Each pyramid ticket pays one Pound in the leg settlement, rather than immediately when taken. Movement still obeys stacking and spectator effects. Revealed dice remain public information for the rest of the leg.

Crazy-camel selection: A white number on gray normally selects white, and a black number selects black. Two exceptions override this: if only one crazy camel carries racing camels, move that one; if the two crazy camels are directly stacked without a racing camel between them, move the upper one. Move the selected crazy camel counterclockwise by the number, carrying everything above it. Disqualification from ranking does not remove its movement or finish-line effects.

Secret finish bets: Play one finish card face down onto the overall-winner or overall-loser space. New cards go on top, preserving the order of bets. A played card cannot be retrieved, changed or transferred to the other pile. You may make more bets on later turns while cards remain in your hand. Cards back a racing-camel color, not a player, and there are no finish cards for the crazy camels.

Normal leg end: Taking the fifth pyramid ticket triggers settlement after that fifth die's movement and before the next player's turn. One of the six dice remains inside the pyramid. Pass the starting marker to the roller's left-hand neighbor. Each leg ticket matching the leading racing camel pays its printed 5, 3 or 2; one matching second place pays one; any other loses one. Each pyramid ticket pays one. Add your leg-ticket and pyramid-ticket results together and settle that total with the bank.

Cleanup and money: Restore leg-ticket stacks, pyramid tickets and spectator tiles, then return the five revealed dice to the pyramid. The new first player begins the next leg. Finish cards stay in their betting piles across legs. Keep money in front of you; stacking it is allowed and players need not announce exact totals during the race. Exchange denominations freely at equal value. A player's money cannot fall below zero, and unpaid losses do not become debts.

Immediate race end: Any camel unit crossing the finish line stops the race immediately, even a crazy camel crossing counterclockwise. Do not wait for five rolls or give remaining players another turn. Settle the current leg once, then settle overall-winner and overall-loser bets. Racing camels carried counterclockwise over the finish line count as the least advanced, not as winners. Only the five racing camels enter either ranking.

Final bets and victory: Turn over the entire winner pile so the earliest bet is checked first. Correct bets, in their own chronological order, receive 8, 5, 3, 2 and then one Pound each. Every incorrect card loses one; incorrect cards do not consume a correct-payout position. Resolve the loser pile separately in the same way. After all settlements, the most money wins. Equal highest totals share victory; there is no additional camel-based tiebreaker.

Partnerships at six or more players: If your partnership card is available, spend a turn choosing another available player and exchange cards, turning both to the partnership side. The other player cannot refuse. For the rest of that leg neither can form another partnership. During leg settlement each keeps all their own ticket results and may additionally copy the reward of one partner's leg or pyramid ticket. Copying is optional, does not remove the partner's reward, and never covers finish cards or an entire ticket collection. After settlement, return cards to their owners available-side up.