Canasta Rules
Canasta is an old Uruguayan card game. It didn't take American's very long to discover this card game. Some time in the 50's, about 10 years after the game first surfaced in Uruguay, American card players went crazy over Canasta. The canasta craze swept Britain soon after and the rest is history. The word 'Canasta' means “basket” in Spanish and probably refers to the basket people used in the classic Uruguayan version of Canasta where the card player used to put the biggest meld of 7 cards (this is known as 'Canasta'). The rules are simple but you need to understand the strategy and in Canasta, skills are more important than luck.
The Deck
Canasta is played with two full decks of cards similar to the Kalooki card game. The 52-card decks have a total of four jokers and they are necessary to play the card game. Each player gets 15 cards in a 2-player canasta game, although Canasta can be played with up to 6 players.
After dealing the cards to the players, the remainder of cards are placed face down, the top card is flipped over, next to the stock pile. It is the first card of the discard pile.
Game Objective
Like all rummy game variations, Canasta is a game of melds and runs. In this case, you have to form melds with three or more cards, comprised with or without wild cards. The card game winner is the first person to score 2500 points (that's usually the default score but some choose to play for more, up to 10,000). You can play canasta for money. Playing Canasta for money can be a lot of fun, especially since it can be played between several card players. To play canasta for money, you should decide on the money stakes before starting the game.
Generally, points are earned by melding sets of three or more cards of the same point value of each individual suite. For example, 2 Hearts, 2 Spades, 2 Diamonds, 2 Clubs form a set. Canasta is achieved by melding 7 cards. The winner should have at least one 'canasta' to end the game. The default rule suggests that you actually need 2 canastas to end the game.
Getting a Canasta Game rolling
The game starts with drawing cards; the player to the left of the dealer goes 1st. Draw the top card from the stock pile, add it to the cards in your hand and arrange the cards into melds and discard one card face up, into the discard pile. It's as simple as that. You can also draw from the Discard pile if you can manage to form a meld with the top card only. You're not allowed to form a meld with other cards using the top card. If you draw a Red 3, it's a good thing. Red 3's are bonus cards. Place it, faced-up, directly in front of you and draw another replacement card from the stock pile. If the replacement card is also Red 3, repeat the process over. A player can set down their meld anytime after drawing but before discarding if he/she has canasta. These card remain faced up on the table until the end of the round.
The card game concludes when a player goes out. In order to go out, you should have formed at least one seven-card meld or 'canasta' and you can go out by melding all except one of the cards in your hand. That last card is eventually discarded. There are some versions of Canasta where you are allowed to go out by melding your whole hand, leaving no discards. The game will also conclude if the stock pile is exhausted. In this case, the game ends immediately and you tally up the score for that round.
There are instances where you can take the whole of the discard pile as opposed to drawing only from the stock pile. In this case, you must be able to meld the top discard card, without having any need for other cards from the discard pile.
Here is how you take the whole discard pile in five easy steps:
Place the cards that will form part of the meld face up on the table.
Add the top card from the discard pile to these cards and form your meld(s).
Swoop up the whole discard pile and add them to the cards in your hand.
You can make more melds from the cards you swooped up.
Bring your turn to a conclusion by discarding one card face up on the discard pile.
Forming Melds and Making Canasta
As with all the rummy game variations, Canasta is about forming melds. To achieve canasta, you need to create a meld of seven or more cards. You place your melds on the table and add up the points before the game ends and after each round.
Jokers and deuces are wild cards and can substitute for a card of any rank in a meld. However, a meld must contain at least two natural cards in order to add a joker to it. No meld can have more than three wild cards in it and no meld can have more wild cards more than the naturals, (you must have at least 2 naturals).
You are not allowed to meld Wild cards and threes and nobody is allowed to meld more than one set of the same rank.
Again, a meld of seven cards equals canasta. If all of the cards in your canasta are natural, meaning without Jokers or wild cards, it is called a pure, natural, pure, clean or red canasta; all the cards are neatly arranged and a red card is placed on top.
If your canasta is comprised of one or more wild cards it is then considered a mixed, dirty or black canasta; again, you arrange your cards, with a natural black card on top, or take one of the wild cards and arrange it so that it is tipped at a right angle. This signifies to the other players that your canasta is mixed.
The 3's in Canasta
Red 3's = bonus cards
If you draw a red 3, it's a good thing. Immediately reveal your card face up with your other melds or if you don't have any melds yet, put it just in front of you. Next you have to draw a replacement card from the stock pile. Although red threes gain you bonus points they do not count as melds and cannot be used to form a valid meld. Red 3's also cannot keep you from scoring the bonus for going out with a whole hand that is melded in one shot and includes a minimum of one canasta.
If a red three turns up as the original card for the discard pile, the discard pile is automatically frozen. When the discard pile is eventually ready for the taking, the player has to puts the red 3, face-up with the other melds however, he/she is not allowed to draw a replacement card.
Black 3's = stop cards
When you discard a black 3, you effectively keep the next player from taking the discard pile. This does NOT mean that black 3's freeze the pile. After that black 3 is covered by another card, it loses its effect completely and the pile can once again be taken.
You are not allowed to meld black 3's, except under one particular circumstance. If you are going out and it is your last turn, you are allowed to meld a group of three or four black 3's. Such a meld of black 3's should not contain any wild cards.
Discarding
When a player draws a card and creates melds, he/she needs to discard a card face up on the discard pile. Here, the player should use strategy and skill to know what the other player is going to do with the discard pile.
If you discard black three, you can freeze the discard pile for your opponent for one turn only. You can also freeze the discard pile with a red three for one turn only. If you discard a wild card, you can freeze the discards.
Ending the round or hand
The game ends the minute a player “Goes out”. A player “goes out” by melding and discarding all cards and leaving nada (nothing). The melds should contain at least one 'canasta' or two 'canastas' if agreed upon before starting the card game. The winner earns points when he/she goes out. The other player/s subtracts the point values of all the un-melded cards in his/her hand from his/her score. Value of the melds is also calculated and the players go to the next round or hand until a player has reached the winning total. The tie is very rare. If a round ends in a tie, you go for an extra tie-breaker round.
If the game ends by exhausting the stock, the play ends after the player who took the last card completes his turn. If the opponent can pick the discard, the hand goes on. When the stockpile is exhausted and there is no discard pile left, the round ends. The scores are tallied in a usual way but nobody gets the score of “Going out” unless he/she Goes out.
Tallying up the score
The scoring goes according to the value of the cards. The Joker has a 50 point value, while 2 and the Ace are worth 20 points. Face cards like K, Q, J and 10, 9, 8 are worth 10 points each. The face cards like 7, 6, 5, 4, and black 3 are worth 5 points each.
Bonus points
Going out: 100 points
Each red 3 (up to 3 cards): 100 points
Four red threes: 800 points
Natural Canasta: 500 points
Mixed Canasta: 300 points
