Canasta Rules and Gameplay
Quick Tips :-
So, you've started playing and you realise you dont really know what you are doing? Well here are a couple of quickies :-
Canasta requires a balance of playing for the stack, and melding points (laying sets of cards down). Getting the balance correct is the true art of canasta. The problem is this balance changes in every game you play. If you routinely just put your melds down as you get them, you will never be a long term winning player. You really need to know when to make a play for the stack, and when to get your cards down.
If a player "crosses" the discard stack by playing a 2 or a joker, what this means is that you can only take the stack if you have 2 natural cards in your hand (ie you cant use a wild card to pick up the stack).
Black 3's and wild cards are always safe discards. IE no-one can pick up the discard pile if one of these is on the top.
All cards left in your hand when your opponent goes out are counted as minus points. If you have laid down no melds at all, then this minus is doubled.
More Detailed Rules :-
The Point values of the Cards
Canasta is normally played with two standard 52 card packs plus four jokers (two from each pack), making 108 cards in all. They have standard point values as follows:
Red 3's = 100 points each (these get immediately laid down on the table, and another card taken from the pile)
Jokers = 50 points each
A, 2 = 20 points each
K, Q, J, 10, 9, 8 = 10 points each
7, 6, 5, 4 = 5 points each
All of the deuces (2s) and jokers are wild cards, and the other cards are natural. With some restrictions, wild cards can be used during the game as substitutes for a natural card of any rank.
The threes have special functions and values, depending on which variation of Canasta is being played.
The Deal and Play
Each player is dealt a hand of cards, and in the centre of the table is a face-down pile of cards called the stock and a face-up pile of cards called the discard pile. The player to the left of the dealer plays first, and then the turn to play passes clockwise. A basic turn consists of drawing the top card of the stock, adding it to your hand without showing it to the other players, and discarding one card from your hand face up on top of the discard pile.
After drawing, but before discarding, you may sometimes be able to play some cards from your hand face up on the table. To play cards to the table in this way is known as melding, and the sets of cards so played are melds. These melded cards remain face up on the table until the end of the play.
The play ends when a player goes out, i.e. disposes of all the cards in his or her hand. You are only allowed to go out after your team has fulfilled certain conditions, which vary according to the type of canasta played but always include completing at least one seven-card meld or 'canasta' (see below). Having achieved this, you can go out by melding all but one of the cards in your hand and discarding this last card. In many versions of Canasta you can also go out by melding your whole hand, leaving no discard. The game can also end if the stock pile runs out of cards: if a player who wishes to draw from the stock is unable to do so, because there are no cards left there, the play ends immediately and the hand is scored.
Under certain conditions, instead of drawing from the stock, you are permitted to take the whole of the discard pile. In order to do this, you must be able to meld the top discard, without needing any of the other cards in the discard pile to make your meld valid. The procedure in this case is:
Place the necessary cards from your hand face up on the table, and add the top card of the discard pile to them to form a valid meld or melds.
Take all the remaining cards of the discard pile and add them to your hand.
If you wish, make further melds from the cards you now have in your hand.
Discard one card face up on the discard pile to end your turn.
Melds and Canastas
The object of the game is to score points by melding cards. A valid meld consists of three or more cards of the same natural rank (any rank from four up to ace), such as three kings, six fives, etc. When playing with partners, melds belong to a partnership, not to an individual player. They are kept face up in front of one of the partners. Typically, a partnership will have several melds, each of a different rank. You can add further cards of the appropriate rank to any of your side's melds, whether begun by yourself or by your partner, but you can never add cards to an opponent's meld.
Wild cards (jokers and twos) can normally be used in melds as subsititutes for cards of the appropriate rank. For example Q-Q-Q-2 or 8-8-8-8-8-2-joker would be valid melds. There are, however, restrictions on using wild cards, which vary according to the type of Canasta being played.
Threes cannot be melded in the normal way. They have special functions, which are different depending on whether you play classic or modern American canasta.
A meld of seven cards is called a canasta. If all of the cards in it are natural, it is called a natural or pure or clean or red canasta; the cards are squared up and a red card is placed on top. If it includes one or more wild cards it is called a mixed or dirty or black canasta; it is squared up with a natural black card on top, or one of the wild cards in it is placed at right-angles, to show that it is mixed.
In some versions of Canasta you may create a meld of more than seven cards, simply by continuing to add more cards of the same rank to an already complete canasta. If it is allowed, a meld of eight or more cards is still regarded as a canasta. If any wild cards are added to a previously pure (red) canasta, it thereby becomes mixed (black).
For each partnership, the first turn during a hand when they put down one or more melds is called their initial meld. When making the initial meld for your partnership, you must meet a certain minimum count requirement, in terms of the total value of cards that you put down. You are allowed to count several separate melds laid down at the same time in order to meet this requirement. In some versions (including Modern American), the initial meld must be made entirely from your hand; in others (including Classic) you are allowed to use the top card of the discard pile along with cards from your hand to satisfy the minimum count, before picking up the remainder of the pile.
The initial meld requirement applies to a partnership, not to an individual player. Therefore, after either you or your partner have made a meld that meets the requirement, both of you can meld freely for the rest of that hand. However, if the opponents have not yet melded, they must still meet the requirement in order to begin melding.
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