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How to play Jaipur (2026): Jaipur is a two-player trading card game in which you compete to become the Maharaja’s personal trader. On each turn you either take cards from a five-card market or sell cards of one goods type for tokens. Bigger sales earn bonus tokens, and camels let you swap many cards at once. The richer trader at the end of a round earns a Seal of Excellence, and the first to two seals wins. These rules follow the official Space Cowboys rulebook.
The box you need: Jaipur
The box contains 55 goods cards, 11 camel cards, 38 goods tokens, 18 bonus tokens, a camel token and 3 Seals of Excellence. Games take about 30 minutes for two players aged ten and up.
Price band: $20–$30 (about $27) · Check today’s price on Amazon
What is in a Jaipur deck
| Card | Count |
|---|---|
| Diamonds | 6 |
| Gold | 6 |
| Silver | 6 |
| Cloth | 8 |
| Spice | 8 |
| Leather | 10 |
| Camels | 11 |
Goods tokens show their value in rupees and are stacked by type from highest to lowest, so the first player to sell a type grabs the best tokens.
Setting up Jaipur
- Place 3 camel cards face up between the players to start the market.
- Shuffle the remaining cards and deal 5 to each player.
- Draw 2 cards from the deck and add them to the market so it has 5 cards. It is fine if they are camels.
- Each player removes any camels from their hand and puts them face up in front of them as their herd.
- Sort goods tokens into piles by type in descending order and spread them so both players can see the values. Shuffle the 3-card, 4-card and 5-card bonus tokens into separate face-down piles, and set the camel token and seals nearby.
On your turn: take cards or sell cards, never both
Take a single good
Take one goods card from the market into your hand and replace it with the top card of the deck.
Take several goods by exchanging
Take two or more goods from the market and return the same number of cards from your hand, your herd or both. You cannot take and return the same goods type, and you can never swap just one card for one card.
Take all the camels
Take every camel in the market into your herd, then refill the market from the deck. You cannot take goods and camels on the same turn.
Sell cards
Choose one goods type and discard as many of those cards as you like. Take that many tokens from the top of the matching pile. Sell three cards and take a bonus token worth 1 to 3 rupees; four cards earns 4 to 6; five or more earns 8 to 10. Diamonds, gold and silver can only be sold two or more at a time.
Your hand may never hold more than seven cards at the end of your turn. Camels in your herd do not count toward that limit.
When a Jaipur round ends
A round ends immediately when three types of goods tokens are gone, or when the deck cannot refill the market to five cards. The player with the most camels takes the camel token worth 5 rupees (no one takes it on a tie). Both players flip their tokens and total their rupees. The richer player takes a Seal of Excellence; ties go to the player with more bonus tokens, then more goods tokens.
If nobody has two seals yet, set up again. The loser of the previous round starts the next one. The first player to collect two seals wins.
Five tips from experienced Jaipur traders
- Take camels when your opponent has a full hand. They will have to give cards back to grab whatever the market reveals.
- Sell early on the expensive goods. The first diamond and gold tokens are worth much more than the last.
- Chase bonuses in leather and spice. Five-card sales of cheap goods can out-earn a pair of diamonds.
- Keep a few camels. Without them, refilling your hand after a big sale is slow.
- Count the market. An exchange that leaves camels on the table can tempt your opponent and open better cards for you.
Want to compare Jaipur with other two-player favorites? Our Lost Cities vs Jaipur and Jaipur vs Splendor Duel guides help, and our best 2-player board games list has more.
Jaipur rules questions
Can you sell more than one type of goods in a turn?
No. Each sale is one goods type, and selling is your whole turn.
Do camels count toward the hand limit?
No. Camels sit in your herd, separate from your seven-card hand limit.
Do you have to tell your opponent how many camels you have?
No. You may keep your herd count to yourself.
What happens if there are fewer tokens than cards sold?
You still receive the bonus token for the number of cards you sold.
