How Much For the Camel is the first gaming item I have received from rpg.net to review, and I must say I was a little worried when I received the game. Sent in a plain manilla envelope, it had been stamped "Received In Damaged Condition" by my post office, which was one of the biggest understatements I have encountered in recent years. A third of the package was stained with (judging by the smell about it) gasoline, and covered in a layer of filth so thick that the return address was unreadable. Despite my loving family's suggestions it may have been a letter bomb or other memento from my ex-stalker of a girlfriend I said "What the hey!" and opened the package, uncovering my very own gasoline-scented copy of How Much For the Camel to love and methodically rip apart bit by bit.
How Much For the Camel is published by Omni Gaming Products, who first came to my attention in 1995, when they attempted to revive West End Games' Torg role-playing game. They failed in that endeavor, which is sad, as the one issue of the Torg magazine Infiniverse they published showed both imagination and substance; the book was well thought out and entertaining to a level rarely found in gaming books in the last few years. Because of this I had high hopes for How Much For the Camel, perhaps too high.
How Much For the Camel is done in a style reminiscent of Cheap-Ass Games, consisting of a manilla envelope, a four page rulebook (about a page of which is filler art), and 28 Camel Cards. You will also require play money, being instructed by the rulebook to raid your Monopoly set for it, as each player must have 100 space bucks, which we are told is "the mysterious currency of the far future." Each player will also need an object to act as their spit token, "representing their skill at harnessing the power of camel spit," for which peanuts, nickels, and Monopoly pieces are recommended. The premise of the game is simple. In the far future all animals save the lowly camel have been hunted to extinction (making one wonder exactly what the ecosystem of the future is like). Being rich in money but poor in camels, you barter your space bucks for the foul-spitting beasts. To quote the rulebook yet again: "It's an odd goal to shoot for, but who are we to judge the future's priorities?"
Play begins with the youngest player flipping over the top card on the Camel Card deck for all the players to see. The player who flipped over said card must bid at least one space buck upon it. The player that sits to the left of the first bidder then has the option of bidding or passing, and so it goes around the players until bidding reaches the player to the right of the one who flipped over the card. Once that player has bid or passed the player with the highest bid wins, giving his money to the bank, or returning it to the game you initially took it from, if you plan to play only one game. The player who won the bidding gets the card and then flips over the next card on top of the deck, and play proceeds as previously described.
That is not to say that is all you can do. Instead of flipping over a card for his turn a player hard up for space bucks may put up one or more of his camel cards for bidding--the auction is held as normal, with the winning bidder giving his space bucks to the player who originally owned the card. And then, of course, is the legendary spit token. By using your spit token you may bid on a card or cards after normal bidding is over, but before the next card is flipped over. Or you may use it to place a card or cards you own up for auction, even if you did not win the last auction, and therefore be entitled to flip the next card/put your card(s) up for auction. Play continues in this manner until the last camel card is flipped and bid on. After this point scoring occurs. Each card has one to four camels upon it, and each camel is worth one point. Also, each card has a number from one to nine on it, and having three of a kind doubles the value of the cards that make up three of a kind. There are also three separate breeds of camel, and whoever has the most cards of each breed doubles the value of these cards. There is also a rule involving situations where players achieve both the results and the resulting additional point values, but in the example of play found near the end of the instruction book said rule seems to be contradicted/ignored. I would go into more detail, but as it is I've typed up about everything that makes up the rulebook of the game.
Wait! How could I forget! There's also the vaunted oasis card that is in the camel card deck. Worth no points on its own, it acts as a wild card in lieu of other cards you might need to make three of a kind/have the most of a breed/etc.
So, is it worth it? Well, the OGP website (www.ogp.com) lists the game's price at five dollars, and I don't really think it is worth that price. Other games done in the no-frills style usually have a wild angle to them or some style of humor to make them worth their cost, both of which are things How Much For The Camel lacked. The people I played the game with lost interest in it quickly, and were unwilling to play it again. Perhaps if OGP had spent more time and money on the production of this game, and less on the coffee mugs with their logos that they sell on their website, the game would be worthwhile to purchase. If you have a few dollars burning a hole in your pocket, or if you are optimistic enough to buy the game in the hopes it will finance OGP into producing a better game in the future, then by all means pick it up, though in the latter case I recommend you write OGP and ask if they have any copies of Infiniverse left. But if you want an enjoyable game with high-replay value, steer clear of How Much For The Camel.
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