Canasta Game Rules

Introduction

Canasta was invented in Uruguay around 1940. During the 50s, canasta was one of the most popular card games in the United States. The game also reached craze proportions in 1950s Britain. Canasta in Spanish means "basket". Tejiendo las cartas, that is, "weaving the cards", is a colorful Spanish way of saying that a meld of three of a kind or more is being "woven" together. The biggest meld of all (7 cards), the canasta, is called a "basket".

Basics

Canasta is played with 108 cards, consisting of two standard 52-card packs with four Jokers. To avoid player collusion online, Gamecolony only supports two-player canasta variation. Each player is dealt 15 cards. The rest of the deck is placed facedown to form the stock, and the top card of the stock is turned faceup and placed alongside the stock to start a discard pile.

The object of the game is to be the first to score the agreed-upon number of points (default -- 2,500 points). Points are earned by melding sets of three or more cards of the same rank. A meld of seven or more cards is a canasta and the player must have at least one canasta to end the game (by default -- 2 canastas are needed to end the game).

Click Here for Canasta Table

Playing the Game

Each player in turn performs one or more actions in the following order:

1. Draw the top card(s) of the closed stock (drawing the top 2 cards from the closed stock is a default option, but the drawing of 1 card can be selected in setting up the table) or discard pile if permitted. To draw a card, either double-click the closed stock or drag the card from there into your hand. Two cards with yellow underlines in your hand indicate the last two cards you took from a draw pile.

2. Meld  (if any meld is possible and subject to certain restrictions described below). To meld, either double-click on a card or drag the card into the meld area.

If melding of a card in hand is allowed, you can also meld by single-clicking on a specific meld area and the natural card would go there. If you have no natural card for that meld area, the wild card will go there (starting with a Joker).

It is possible to 'undo' the meld (undo one card at at a time or all at once) by clicking on 'Undo' button or Delete key for a single undo or by using a right mouse button menu (or Shift Delete) for multiple undo. Right-mouse button menu can also be used -- close to the end of the hand -- to meld all naturals at once.

3. Discard (unless you go out by melding all cards left in hand). To discard, either drag the card into the discard pile or (if you can't legally meld this card) double-click on it. To force discarding a card, hold down the Ctrl key and either double-click or right-click with your mouse on a card.

Draw -- Details You may always take the top card(s) of the stock and add to your hand. If you draw a red Three, it is placed face up in front of you and another (replacement) card is drawn for you. (If a replacement card is again a red Three, the process of replacement is repeated until the replacement card is not a red Three.) Instead of drawing from stock, you may draw the whole of the discard pile if you can immediately meld the upcard -- either by adding it to one of your existing melds or by using it to start a new meld together with two or more matching cards from your hand (see Game Options). You may not take the discard pile if it is frozen. The discard is frozen: until you have made your initial meld when it contains a wild card (or a red Three as the result of initial deal) If discard is frozen, you may only take it if you can immediately use the upcard to start a new meld in conjunction with at least two matching natural cards (see Game Options). If the upcard is a black Three, you may not take it; you need to draw from stock.

Meld -- Details To meld, you need a set of at least three cards of the same rank placed face up on the table (in front of your hand). Points are only scored for melds that are made before the hand ends. Jokers and deuces (twos) are wild cards that can be used as cards of any rank in a meld. However, all melds must contain at least two natural cards, no meld may contain more than three wild cards, and no meld may contain more wild cards than natural cards. A canasta is a meld of seven or more cards. A canasta must contain at least four natural cards. Red threes may not be melded or discarded (except in 'Red 3 Freezes' game option, where a red Three can be discarded. See Game Options). Black threes may only be melded when going out, in which case the meld must consist of a set of three or four black threes without wild cards.   Current Score Required Meld Value   Less than 0 15 (any meld will do) 0 to 1495 50 1500-2995 90 3000 or more 120

Discard -- Details After drawing and optional melding, you complete your turn by discarding a card face up on the discard pile (unless you go out and have nothing left to discard). You may not discard a red Three unless the table was created with 'Red Three Freezes' game option (see Game Options). If you discard a black Three, you will freeze the discard for your opponent for one turn only. With 'Red Three Freezes' option, discarding a red Three also freezes the discard for your opponent for 1 turn only. If you discard a wild card, you will freeze the discard and it will remain frozen until taken.

Ending the Hand

Going Out A player "goes out" when no cards are left after a meld or discard. A player is not permitted to go out, however, unless there's at least one canasta (or at least two canastas, as in default game option. See Game Options). Upon going out, a player earns points as described below. In addition, the other player subtracts the point values of all cards that remain unmelded in the hand from his score. Values of all melds are also calculated, and players go on to the next hand unless one of the players has reached the winning total. If both players reach the winning total, the player with a higher total is the winner. Very rarely, the hand may end in a tie, and an extra tie-breaker hand will be played.

Ending Hand By Exhausting Stock If nobody goes out before the stock is exhausted, the play ends after the player who took the last stock card completes his turn unless opponent can pick up his discard. When there's no stock and discard cannot be picked up, the hand ends. The hand is scored as usual except that nobody earns a bonus for going out. If the last card drawn from the stock is a Red Three, the hand proceeds normally as above except no Red Three replacement occurs in this instance.

Scoring
Each card has a point value when it is melded. The same card values are subtracted from the other player's score for cards left in his hand when someone goes out. The values for each card are:

	Card		Point Value
	Joker		50
	2, A		20
	K, Q, J, 10, 9, 8		10
	7, 6, 5, 4, black 3		5

In addition to the point values of the melded cards, the following bonus points are scored at the end of a hand:

	At End of Hand		Bonus Points
	Going out		100
	Each red three (up to 3)		100
	All four red threes		800
	Each natural canasta		500
	Each mixed canasta		300

Game Options

Canasta can be played with various optional table settings:

The number of points to play to can be set from 1,000 to 10,000
              Default: 2,500 pts.

The number of cards to draw from the closed stock can be set to 1 or 2
              Default: 2 cards

The number of canastas to go out with can be set to 1 or 2
              Default: 2 canastas

Allow (or disallow) the top card of the discard pile to go to melded canasta
              Default: disallow

The top card of discard pile can only be picked up with 2 natural cards in hand. TRUE or FALSE
              Default: TRUE.

The Red Three freezes discard pile. TRUE or FALSE
              Default: FALSE. If the 'Red Three Freezes' option is selected, discarding a red Three will freeze
             the discard for opponent for 1 turn only.

The Wild canasta is allowed. TRUE or FALSE
              Default: FALSE. If wild canasta is allowed, then at any point in the game 7 or more wild cards can be
             melded together in a separate wild card meld earning a 1,000 points.

How Canasta Game Options are Listed

Canasta game options are listed in short-hand notation (see below) in table listings (lobby) window and prior to game start in the lower left corner of the table and in the top portion of the table window.

Standard (default) canasta options at GameColony are listed in table listings as: 2-2-2
       The first number in the above short-hand notaion means: 2 cards to draw
       The second number means: 2 naturals required for taking a top card
       The third number: 2 canastas needed to go out

Other examples of short-hand canasta options listings are:

2-2-2|3F|W  (default options as above PLUS 'Red Three Freezes' option PLUS wild canasta option

2-0-1     (2 cards to draw, NO 2 naturals required for picking top card, 1 canasta to go out)

2-2-2 X     (default game options PLUS private invitation-only table)

2-2-2 R     (default game options PLUS non-rated game)

2-2-2 Tm (default game options EXCEPT the top card of the discard pile is allowed to go to melded canasta)