The procedure for taking the pile was described in the general rules. You must show that you can use the top card in a valid meld before you are allowed to pick up the rest of the pile. After picking up the pile, you can then make further melds. For example, if there is a five on top of the pile and another five buried, you cannot use a single five in your hand to take the pile and meld the three fives.
But if you have two fives in your hand you can meld these with the five on top of the pile, take the pile, and then add the other five to this meld. Note that you can never take the discard pile if its top card is a wild card or a black three.
Note also that it is not necessary to take the discard pile in order to meld. If you wish, you can meld after drawing from the stock. When the discard pile is frozen against you, you can only take it if you hold in your hand two natural cards of the same rank as the top card of the discard pile, and you use these with the top discard to make a meld.
This meld can either be a new one, or could be the same rank as an existing meld belonging to your partnership, in which case the melds are then merged. For example, suppose the pile is frozen against us and our team already has a meld of 4 sevens on the table.
If the player before me discards a seven, I cannot pick up the discard pile unless I have two further sevens concealed in my hand.
If I do have 2 sevens in my hand, I can add them and the discarded seven to our meld making a canasta , and take the pile. If your partnership has not yet melded, then in order to meld, the total value of the cards you lay down must meet a minimum count requirement.
This requirement depends on your partnership's cumulative score from previous hands as follows:. To achieve this count, you can of course put several melds at once, and the melds can be of more than the minimum size of three cards. The standard values of the cards you play are added to check whether the requirement has been met. We have seen that if you have not yet melded, the discard pile is frozen against you.
Therefore, in order to achieve the minimum count, you must either meld entirely from your hand after drawing from the stock, or you must use two natural cards from your hand which match the top card of the discard pile. In this second case, you can count the value of the top discard, along with the cards you play from your hand in this and any other melds, towards the minimum count.
You cannot count any other cards in the pile which you may intend to add in the same turn. Example: there is a king on top of the discard pile and a king and a queen buried in the pile. You have two kings, two queens and a two in your hand. If your initial meld requirement is 50, you can meld K-K-K, Q-Q-2 using the king from the top of the pile, for 70 points. You can then add the king and queen from the pile to these melds in the same turn if you wish.
But you could not make this play if you needed a minimum count of even though the king and queen from the pile are ultimately worth a further 20, you cannot include these towards your initial requirement. Bonuses for red threes, canastas and so on cannot be counted towards meeting the minimum. Even if you have a complete canasta in your hand, you are not allowed to put it down as your initial meld if the total value of its individual cards does not meet your minimum count requirement.
There is just one exception to the minimum count requirement. Suppose that your team has not yet melded, and that having drawn from the stock you are able to meld your entire hand including a canasta. In this case you may meld you whole hand with or without a final discard and go out without having to meet any minimum count requirement. In doing this you will score the extra bonus for going out concealed.
This option remains available to a player who has exposed red threes, provided that they have not melded anything else. The play ends as soon as a player goes out. You can only go out if your partnership has melded at least one canasta. Once your side has a canasta, you may go out if you can and wish to, by melding all of your cards, or by melding all but one and discarding your last card.
It is legal to complete the required canasta and go out on the same turn. If your side does not yet have a canasta, you are not allowed to leave yourself without any cards at the end of your turn: you must play in such a way as to keep at least one card after discarding.
It is against the rules in this case to meld all your cards except one. You would then be forced to discard this last card, which would constitute going out illegally. Note that it is not always an advantage to go out as soon as you are able to; the cards left in your partner's hand will count against your side, and you may in any case be able to score more points by continuing.
If you are able to go out but unsure whether to do so, you may if you wish ask your partner "may I go out? This question can only be asked immediately after drawing from the stock or taking the discard pile, before making any further melds other than the one involving the top card of the pile if it was taken.
Your partner must answer "yes" or "no" and the answer is binding. If the answer is "yes", you must go out; if the answer is "no" you are not allowed to go out. You are under no obligation to ask your partner's permission before going out; if you wish, you can simply go out without consulting your partner.
Another way that play can end is when there are no more cards left in the face-down stock. Play can continue with no stock as long as each player takes the previous player's discard and melds it.
In this situation a player must take the discard if the pile is not frozen and if the discard matches any previous meld of that player's side. As soon as a player is entitled to draw from the stock and chooses to do so, but there is no card in the stock, the play ends.
If a player draws a red three as the last card of the stock, the red three is placed face up as usual and then, since there is no replacement card that can be drawn from the stock, the play immediately ends.
The player who drew the red three is not allowed to meld nor discard. After the bonuses have been calculated, the cards melded by each team are counted using the standard values - see general rules. Black threes are worth 5 points each. For ease of counting and checking, the usual method is to group the cards into piles worth points each. Note that in a canasta, the values of the cards themselves are counted in addition to the bonus for the canasta, so for example a natural canasta of seven kings is really worth points altogether - for the canasta and 70 for the kings.
The cards remaining in the hands of the players are also counted using the same standard values, but these points count against the team and are subtracted from their score.
A cumulative total score is kept for each partnership. It is possible to have a negative score. When one or both partnerships have a total of 5, or more points at the end of a hand, the game ends and the side with the higher total score wins. The margin of victory is the difference between the scores of the two sides. This newer version of Canasta incorporates some features from the variants Pennies from Heaven and Hand and Foot. Those who have adopted it enjoy its stricter rules and find the classic version too easy in comparison.
I am not sure how widespread this version of Canasta is, but there are significant and growing numbers of players in New York, New Jersey and Florida. It would be interesting to know whether it has taken root in other regions as well. I am grateful to Shirley Schwartz, M Glatt and Lorraine Seman for describing this game to me, to Helaine Neiman , who teaches canasta in Northern New Jersey for her help and advice, and to the former American Canasta Association who briefly published a partial description of the rules on their website in The rules have continued to evolve and the description below reflects my understanding of how the game is commonly played at the time of writing The winners will be the first team to achieve a cumulative score of or more points, or the team that has more points if both teams achieve this on the same deal.
Sometimes a special tray is used to hold the draw and discard piles but this is not essential. The dealer shuffles, the player to dealer's right cuts. The undealt cards are placed face down in the centre to form a draw pile.
No card is turned face up to start a discard pile - the play begins with the discard pile empty. The ninth card from the bottom of the draw pile is turned at right angles to the pile. This is known as the turn card. During the game, a player who draws the turn card must announce it so that all players know that there are just 8 cards remaining in the draw pile - the "bottom 8".
One procedure for dealing is as follows: when performing the cut, the player to the dealer's right lifts the top part of the deck, deals 8 cards from the bottom of this section into the draw tray, places the ninth card sideways in the draw tray as the turn card, and finally places the rest of the section on the draw pile. Meanwhile the dealer takes the cards that were left by the cutter and deals 13 cards to each player, one at a time, placing any remaining cards on top of the draw pile, or taking cards from the top of the draw pile to complete the deal if needed.
The turn to deal passes to the left after each hand. Normally the player to dealer's right also acts as scorekeeper for the hand. In this game, twos and jokers are wild, and threes are special. The remaining cards, from 4 up to ace, are called natural cards.
The scores of both players are then computed, and a new hand is dealt. A player can only finish a hand when he has at least one or two canastas, depending on the setting of the corresponding option. A canasta match is over when one of the players reaches 5, points.
Rules If a rank is melded, it must contain at least three cards on the table. It is possible to add a wildcard to a column of cards of any rank on the table.
The wildcard is then seen as a card of that rank but the value remains unchanged. However, there may never be more wildcards than natural cards within one meld. At the beginning of a hand, the top card of the stock is automatically turned around and placed on the discard pile.
If this card is a Red Three or a wildcard, the procedure is repeated until the top card of the discard pile is neither a Red Three nor a wildcard. When a new hand is dealt, the hands of both players are checked to see if they contain a Red Three.
If there is one, that Three is then automatically melded, and an extra card is dealt to the hand out of which it came. This procedure is repeated until neither player has any Red Threes left in his hand. Black Threes may not be melded, except when the player can go out by melding a column of three or four Black Threes. And thank you very much. Introduction: How to Play Canasta. A meld with at least seven cards is called a Canasta. The point values of respective cards are assigned as follows: Natural Cards: -Aces: 20 -K through 8: 10 -7 through 4 : 5 -Black 3s: 5 Wild Cards: -Jokers: 50 -Deuces 2s : 20 Special Cards: -Red 3: each each if one team, or player, plays all four A meld consists of a group of "natural" Aces through 4s cards with the same numerical rank, with or without the addition of wild cards.
A canasta is a meld that contains at least seven total cards. Taking a Frozen Discard Pile: Important: At the start of every round, the discard pile is frozen against all teams, or players.
The team that reaches points first wins! Did you make this project? Share it with us! I Made It! A Literal Handbag by Tatterhood in Halloween. Chameleon Mask by hugheswho in Halloween. Genaille's Rods by Wingletang in Education. Answer Upvote. Eswil Question 6 months ago. Can you make a canasta with the black and red 3's. Say 4black and 3 Jokers. Same with red 3's? When adding up your points per round do also count the individual cards in your canastas.
Reply Upvote. Yes, count the individual cards in completed canastas as positive points! When playing on a team, can you play cards that you have where your teammate has the meld? If a player sees that they are able to go out, before or after drawing, the player may say "Partner, may I go out? Before responding, the partner may obtain the information specified under "Information" see above.
A player may not ask "Partner, may I go out? However, they may go out without asking permission. A player goes out "concealed" when they meld their entire hand in one turn, including at least one canasta, without having made an earlier meld and without previously having added any card to melds that their partner has made.
If a partner has not made an initial meld, the player must meet the minimum count without the canasta bonus if they has taken the discard pile, but need not do so if they has drawn from the stock. If a player draws the last card of the stock and it is a red three, they must reveal it.
The player may not then meld or discard, and play ends. If the last card of the stock is not a red three, play continues as long as each player in turn takes the discard, and they must do so if it matches a meld on their side and the pack is not frozen.
The only exception is that a one-card hand may not take a one-card discard pile. A player does not have to take the discard to form a new meld. The play ends when a player cannot take the discard or legally refuses to take it.
Scoring a Deal A partnership's base score is determined by totaling all applicable items in the following schedule: For each natural canasta For each mixed canasta For each red three All four red threes count For going out For going out concealed extra A partnership's score for the hand is the values of all cards that were melded, minus the values of the cards left in both hands.
In other words, the final score of a side for a deal is the net of its base and point scores. It may be minus. The score should be recorded on a sheet of paper divided into two columns, one for each side. Customarily, the columns are marked We and They. Each entry should show the scores of the previous deal, together with the accumulated totals which determine the initial meld requirement. The side that first reaches a total of 5, wins a game.
The final deal is played out even though it is obvious that one or both sides have surely reached 5, There is no bonus for winning a game; the margin of victory is the difference of the final totals. What penalty score is there holding black threes in your hand when the other player goes out has no remaining cards? My family played with a variation where leftover black threes counted as a point penalty each.
I hate that variation, because it removes the strategy element of when to play a black three to block the opponent. When discarding to a player with a closed canasta. For example they have fours closed on the board as a canasta. And I discard a four. Can they pick up the discard pile? Second, how do I pick up the top card from the discard pile? I know that it is locked but I have enough of the appropriate cards in my hand that I should be able to do so.
Nothing works.. Thank you for any help you can give me. All of the rules for Canasta are spelled out on our website, we hope this will help answer your question.
Am I right about this? I know in two-handed canasta, you draw 2 and discard 1, which helps some. Can someone clarify difference the difference freezing the deck with wild cards vs black 3s? Many rules state that black 3s simply block the next player instead of freezing the deck as wild cards do.
My canasta group has a disagreement on scoring after a game. Do you count card values in a canasta, in addition to the bonus value? How can I propose these rules for consideration to be posted with the other game rules? Did you have any luck? I live in Tennessee. Canasta: the stock pile is depleted and the discard pile has been depleted, play is over! Do you still score the game? The rules state that the discard pile is frozen to a player until that player, or team, have made an initial meld in keeping with the minimum value required.
However later on in the rules it states that a player may take the upturned card, and the pile, provided they have two natural cards and any additional cards in their hand to meet the minimum count of an initial meld. It seems contradictory, which rule applies before a player or team have made the initial meld?
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