Camel Up is an engaging, fast-paced betting and racing game for 2–8 players. Instead of directly controlling the camels, players act as gamblers trying to predict the outcome of a chaotic camel race. Players can place bets on which camel will win a “leg” of the race and which will come first or last overall.
The race is driven by a unique pyramid dice shaker: on a turn, a player shakes the pyramid and a die comes out, indicating which camel moves and how far. When camels land on the same space, they stack, and moving a camel in a stack carries all camels on top with it.
On their turn, players can choose one of four main actions:
Take a leg bet tile to wager on the current leg’s outcome.
Roll the pyramid to move a camel and earn a pyramid tile.
Place a desert tile (oasis or mirage) on the track to affect camel movement.
Bet on the overall winner or loser using a finish card to secretly predict the race’s final outcome.
Each leg ends when all five dice have been rolled, at which point leg bets are scored. The game concludes when a camel crosses the finish line, and final bets are revealed and resolved to determine the winner.
Why Camel Up is Fun and Strategic:
Predictive betting: Balancing risk versus reward — deciding when to place bets is key.
High player interaction: Stacking camels and dice-driven movement create tension and excitement.
Accessible gameplay: Easy rules for families, but with strategic depth in betting choices.
Thematic and visual appeal: Colorful wooden camels, desert tiles, and the dice pyramid create a charming and immersive experience.
Things to Consider:
Luck plays a significant role due to dice rolls, which can overturn even careful bets.
Limited betting options per camel per leg make timing important.
Higher player counts increase chaos, making it harder to predict outcomes, which may frustrate more strategic players.
