They can meld cards if desired by laying down three of a kind or any combination of natural cards and wild cards that form at least three of a kind. The player at the left of the dealer takes the first turn.

A frozen discard pile can only be picked up by a player if they can use the top card in a meld containing two natural cards from their hand of the same rank. The red three or wild card is turned at an angle to indicate the pile is frozen. If the initial revealed card is a three or a wild card (deuces and jacks), another card must be pulled from the draw pile and placed on top of it. The card on top is revealed and serves as the start of the discard pile. The only card that can be showing on the table for them would be red 3s, which must be laid down immediately when they are dealt or drawn.Īfter shuffling, each player is dealt 11 cards and the rest of the deck is placed face down for a draw pile. Note: To go out concealed, a player cannot have melded or added to a meld made by their partner.

The team that did not go out must subtract the value of cards they hold in their hand from their total. If a player goes out by concealing their entire hand until the last play when canasta is made and all cards are melded, the team gets an extra 100 points (see additional notes)įor each natural canasta (no wild cards) - 500 pointsįor each dirty canasta (contains wild cards) - 300 pointsįor all four red 3s - 800 points (note: If the team has no melds at the end of the game, 3s count against them in negative fashion, -100 for each and -800 for all)Īfter bonus points are counted, the value of the cards themselves is added to the total. When a hand ends as a player goes out, bonus points are counted first. Kings, Queens, Jacks, 10s, 9s, and 8s - 10 points If both have 5000, the one with the highest point total wins. The object of the game is to score points, and the game ends when one partnership has accumulated a minimum of 5000 points at the end of a hand. Point Value of Cards and Winning the Game A player cannot go out in the game unless the partnership has melded at least one canasta. The goal is to make melds of seven cards of the same rank (a canasta), and get rid of all the cards in the hand. It takes two standard card decks to play for the first version mentioned and the jokers are included.

There are also variations of six players in two teams of three. Another common version is for two to three people to play individually rather than on teams. Typically, the game is played with four people who form two teams. In the 1950s, canasta (Spanish word meaning basket) hit the U.S.

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