The Penguin Book of Card Games: Everything You Need to Know to Play Over 250 Games (169 page)

20 Canasta family

In the original Rummy games describedinthe previous chapter, the

main aim is to ‘go out’ by melding al your cards, and the only

scores are penalties for cards left unmelded in other players’ hands.

In the 1920s somebody had the bright idea of introducing positive

scores for the melds that you make, an early example of this type

being 500 Rum. In Canasta and its relatives, this idea is so

elaborated that you may wish to keep the game open as long as

possible in order to score more and more for melds. Lit le more

than 50 years old at the start of the twenty-first century, Canasta is

the most recent card game to have achieved world-wide status as a

classic.

Canasta

2-4 players, 108 cards

It originated in Uruguay (‘Canasta’ in Spanish means a basket) and is said to have been invented by the ladies of Montevideo as a counter-attraction to Poker

which, in their opinion, took up far too much of their menfolk’s time.

Albert A. Ostrow, The Complete Card Player (1949 edition)

It puzzles me that people don’t seem to play Canasta in South America. They

seem to have invented it and then left it to everyone else to take up while they forgot it.

John McLeod (in commenting on this chapter)

Ostrow’s account reflects the views of Cecilia and David Salinas,

whose card-playing experiences in Montevideo in 1942-7 led them

to write How to Play Canasta del Uruguay (1949). They add that it

was invented there in 1940, codified in 1946, and borrowed and

corrupted by the card-clubs of Buenos Aires (which faces

Montevideo across the River Plate). According to Ot ilie H. Riley,

however, whose Canasta: the Argentine Rummy Game appeared

earlier in 1949, it was invented in Buenos Aires and borrowed and

corrupted by the players of Montevideo. Whoever has the right of it,

the fact is that the game now played under that name is more

distinctly Argentinian than Uruguayan. It certainly reached the USA

in 1949, and from 1950 to 1952 was the biggest fad in the history

of card games. By the time it pervaded the rest of Europe

practical y every other South American state had got in on the act,

developing more and more elaborate variations under such names

as Chile, Bolivia, Mexicana, and al stations north of Tierra del

Fuego.

No longer a fad, Canasta has now set led down to the status of a

classic. The fol owing description is of the fairly standardized

international variety of the game, which dif ers in some respects

from the commonly played North American variety. (For details,

see .)

Incidental y, while Canasta is invariably regarded as a partnership

game – probably because it was developed by Bridge-players – it

works remarkably wel for two, which one early account claims to

have been the original form.

Preliminaries Four players sit crosswise in partnerships. Use two

52-card packs and four Jokers, 108 cards in al . It doesn’t greatly

mat er if the backs are of dif erent colours.

Deal After thorough shuf ling and a cut, deal eleven each in ones

and stack the rest face down. Turn the top card of the stock to start

a discard pile. This pile is known as ‘the pack’, and its top card as

a discard pile. This pile is known as ‘the pack’, and its top card as

‘the upcard’. If the turned card is a Joker, a Two, or a red Three,

cover it with the next card turned from stock. Keep doing so, if

necessary, until it is some other card.

Red Threes dealt If you are dealt one or more red Threes, you must,

on your first turn to play, lay it or them face up before you and

draw replacements from stock. They are bonus cards and take no

part in the play.

Object To make and score for melds, especial y canastas, and to be

the first side to reach 5000 points over as many deals as necessary.

A meld is three or more cards of the same rank, regardless of

suit. Melds can be increased by the addition of natural cards of

the same rank or of wild cards represented by Jokers and

Deuces. Melds made by both partners are kept together in

front of one of them.

A canasta is a meld of seven or more cards. A side cannot go

out until it has made at least one canasta.

Cards Individual cards score as fol ows:

red Threes

100

Jokers

50

Aces and Deuces 20

each K Q J T 9 8 10

each 7 6 5 4

5

black Threes

5

Threes are special, and are not normal y melded. Al Jokers and

Twos are wild, counting as any desired rank except Threes. A meld

must always contain at least two natural cards, and may never

contain more than three wild. A canasta must contain at least four

naturals but may contain any number of wild cards.

Play Each player’s turn consists of three parts: (1) draw, (2) meld (if

able and wil ing), and (3) discard.

1. Draw. You may always draw the top card of stock, and either

add it to your hand, meld it (subject to rules of melding

below), or discard it face up to the pack.

Alternatively, you may take the whole pack (not just part),

provided that you immediately use the upcard in a meld. If

the pack is not ‘frozen’ (see below), you may use the upcard

to start a new meld by combining it with two cards of the

same rank (or one and a wild card) from your hand, or you

may lay it of to a meld ofthat rank belonging to your side.

The pack is frozen to you and your partner until either of you

has made an initial meld, and to both partnerships whenever

it is headed by a wild card, or when it contains a wild card or

a red Three turned at the start of play. In this event, you may

use the upcard only to start a new meld with a natural pair of

the same rank from your own hand – unless you already have

a meld of that rank, in which case you can take the pack and

add the top card to that meld.

ABlack Threes stop for one turn. Even if the pack is not frozen, you still cannot take it if the upcard is a black Three, as it cannot be melded, except to go out.

Discarding a black Three therefore stops the pack to your left-hand opponent for one turn.

ARed Threes are simple bonus cards. If you draw one from stock, lay it face up

next to your melds and draw the next card as a replacement. If you are the first player to take the pack, and it includes a red Three, set it out but do not draw a replacement. Subsequent packs will not include red Threes, as they may not be

discarded.

1. 2. Meld. A new meld is made by laying face up on the table

three or more cards of the same rank, of which at least two

three or more cards of the same rank, of which at least two

must be natural and not more than three wild. The first meld

made by either side must consist of cards whose combined

values reach a minimum requirement, either alone or in

conjunction with one or more other melds made at the same

time. The minimum requirement depends on the

partnership’s current score, as fol ows:

Current score Minimum

Below 0

15

0 or more

50

1500 or more 90

3000 or more 120

A It follows that the minimum requirement is 50 at start of play. If and when a

partnership’s current score falls below zero there is no minimum requirement.

(Fifteen is merely the lowest value possible.)

Once a meld has been made, either partner may extend it by

adding one or more cards of the same rank, or wild cards. When it

contains seven or more, it becomes a canasta, and is squared up

into a pile with a red card on top if it consists entirely of natural

cards (canasta limpia, ‘clean canasta’), otherwise a black one

(canasta sucia, ‘dirty canasta’). Subsequently adding a wild card to a

red canasta makes it a black canasta, and its top card is changed

accordingly.

On your turn to play you may create and extend as many melds

as you like, but you may not do any of the fol owing:

shift a wild card from one meld to another;

run more than one meld of a given rank;

add to a meld belonging to the other side;

meld or discard the last card from your hand unless you are

legal y entitled to go out (see below).

1. Discard. End your turn by making one discard face up to the

1. Discard. End your turn by making one discard face up to the

top of the pack. This may be any card exept a red Three.

Discarding a black Three prevents your left-hand opponent

from taking the pack. Discarding a wild card ‘freezes’ the pack

if it is not already frozen. It helps to indicate this fact by

placing it sideways and projecting from the pack.

Going out You may go out by melding, laying of or discarding the

last card from your hand, provided that your partnership has made

at least one canasta. It may be advisable, but is not obligatory, to

ask your partner’s permission to go out. If you do, the only

permissible response is ‘Yes’ or ‘No’, and you must abide by it. Any

other response entitles the opposing side to grant or withhold the

requested permission.

A You can’t go out if, after the draw, you hold two black Threes and nothing

else. With just one, you can go out by discarding it. With three or four, you can go out by melding them. Wild cards may not be included in such a meld.

A If you hold just one card in hand, and the pack also consists of just one

card, you cannot go out by taking the pack (unless the stock is empty: see