The Penguin Book of Card Games: Everything You Need to Know to Play Over 250 Games (170 page)

below).

There is a bonus for going out ‘concealed’ – that is, by going out

(with or without a discard) without having previously made any

melds or lay-of s. The hand must include a canasta, and no lay-of

may be made to any meld made by your partner.

End of stock The stock very occasional y empties before anyone has

gone out. If the last card drawn is a red Three it automatical y ends

the game, except that the player drawing it may first make as many

melds and lay-of s as possible. (He may not discard.) If it is not a

red Three, play continues without a stock. You each in turn then

take the upcard if you can meld or lay it of , and end your turn by

discarding or melding out. This continues until someone either goes

out or cannot use the previous player’s discard, when al play

out or cannot use the previous player’s discard, when al play

ceases.

Score Each side scores the total value of al cards it has melded,

plus any of the fol owing relevant bonuses:

For each natural canasta

500

For each mixed canasta

300

For going out

100 (200 if concealed)

For each red Three declared 100 (200 each if all four held)

From this total subtract the total value of cards left in both

partners’ hands. If your side has failed to make any meld, or taken

but failed to declare any red Three, then every red Three you have

taken counts 100 against, or 200 if you took al four. Carry the

score forward, and cease play if either side has reached or exceeded

5000. The winning margin is the dif erence between the two sides’

final scores.

Penalties The commonest penalties are the loss of 500 for holding a

red Three (it should have been declared and set out), 100 for trying

to go out without permission, 100 for being unable to go out after

receiving permission to do so, 50 for taking the upcard when

unable to use it legal y.

Comment Canasta is essential y a point-scoring game. Keep the

game open as long as possible by taking the pack frequently,

freezing it to your opponents, and not reducing your hand too early

in the game. Aim to go out when you are wel ahead, or if you can

do so before the other side has melded, or as a defensive measure if

the other side is doing too wel . Use wild cards to freeze the pack

when the other side is wel ahead, or has made an initial meld

before you have. Discard a black Three to stop the pack to your

left-hand opponent, especial y when your right-hand opponent has

just made their side’s opening meld.

Canasta. South, having just drawn 6 from the pack, proposes to go

out by melding three Sixes, laying of the Ace and Joker to the

meld of Aces, and discarding 5. North-South wil score 300 for the

mixed canasta (Sevens), 50 for Queens, 40 for Kings, 130 for the

Ace meld, 15 for the Sixes, 100 for the red Three, and 100 for going

out, total 735, less whatever remains in North’s hand. East-West

have 90 for the meld of Eights, 60 for the Aces and 200 for the red

Threes, total 350, less whatever remains in both hands.

Canasta for two

Deal fifteen cards each, and at each turn draw two but discard one.

Two canastas are required to go out. Penalties need not be so

rigidly enforced, as there is no partner to benefit from il egal y

acquired information.

Canasta for three

As above, but: Deal thirteen each (or eleven), and at each turn draw

two but discard one. Each plays for himself. This version should be

described as Cut-throat Canasta, but the term is actual y reserved for

what properly should be cal ed Solo Canasta and plays as fol ows:

The first player to take the pack becomes the lone player, and the

others then play as partners against him. The initial meld

requirement is fixed by the melder’s individual score to date, and

red Threes are scored separately instead of in partnership (except

that one player is not penalized for red Threes if he has not melded

but his partner has); otherwise, each scores the amount made by the

partnership. Two canastas are required to go out, and game is 7500.

If no one takes the pack, each scores individual y. If no one goes

out, play ends when the stock runs out. If one goes out before the

pack is taken, he scores as the lone player and the others as

partners.

Canasta for five

There is an awkward system by which the two who cut high play as

partners against the other three, of whom a dif erent one sits out

each succeeding hand. But this is not a true five-hander.

Experimenters may like to try a version in which al five play and

Experimenters may like to try a version in which al five play and

the first to take the pack immediately becomes the partner of the

player next but one to his left, the other three combining as

opponents of the partnership.

Canasta for six

One version involvingsix active players splits them into two

partnerships of three each, with partners sit ing alternately round

the table. Deal thirteen each from three 52-card packs plus six

Jokers. Two canastas are required to go out. Red Threes count 100

each up to three; four or more count 200 each. Game is 10,000

points, and the initial meld requirement for a side with 7000 or

more is increased to 150. Another version involves three

partnerships of two each, with partners sit ing opposite each other.

Canasta variants

If card games were planets, Canasta would be a belt of asteroids.

The fol owing are worth mentioning.

Canasta del Uruguay

Distinctive features of the original game are as fol ows. Two packs,

but only two Jokers. Black Threes are natural and do not serve as

stops. Melds and canastas need not contain more than two natural

cards. In the partnership game, a side may go out without having

melded a canasta. When two to five play as individuals, no one may

go out until at least one canasta is on the table, regardless of who

go out until at least one canasta is on the table, regardless of who

made it. A suit-sequence of three or more cards may be melded

(black Threes lowest, Ace high). It may contain wild cards, but

carries no bonus upon reaching seven, even if al natural. Sequences

are cal ed escaleras (‘ladders’), and mainly serve as an emergency

measure for going out.

Samba

Deal fifteen each from three packs and six Jokers, and at each turn

draw two from stock and discard one. The pack, whether frozen or

unfrozen, may not be taken to start a new escalera. An escalera is a

suit-sequence of three or more natural cards (Ace high, Four low,

none wild). More may be added until it contains seven, whereupon

it becomes a samba, and is turned face down to distinguish it from

a canasta. No canasta or samba may contain more than seven cards,

but you can have more than one canasta of the same rank or samba

of the same sequence.

Sambas and sequences may not contain any wild cards, canastas two

at most.

Two seven-card melds are required to go out, regardless of type.

Game is 10,000. At 7000 the minimum opening meld requirement

is 150. There is a bonus of 200 for going out (open or concealed),

and of 1500 for each samba made. Red Threes count 100 each, al

six 1000 in toto.

Bolivia

As Samba, but sambas are cal ed escaleras, and wild cards may be

melded together. Seven wild cards constitute a bolivia, which is

stacked with a Joker on top, may not be extended, and carries a

bonus of 2500. To go out, aside must have made one escalera and

as econd major combination, which may be another escalera, a

canasta, or a bolivia. Black Threes left unmelded in hand count

minus 100 each. Game is 15,000 points.

Brazilian Canasta

An extension of Bolivia. Game is 10,000 up, and initial meld

requirements are stepped up as fol ows:

5000+ 150

7000+ 150 and a mixed canasta or better

8000+ 200 and a mixed canasta or better

9000+ 200 and a natural canasta or better

A bolivia counts only 2000. In order to go out, you may lay of

one or more properly sequential cards to escaleras. At the end of

play any incomplete escalera or bolivia counts 1000 against, face

values being ignored. Up to four red Threes count 100 each, five or

six 200 each; but these scores are deducted if the side has failed to

meld a canasta.

Chilean Canasta

Three-pack Canasta with escaleras, scoring as at Samba, but with

wildcard melds (bonus of 2000 for seven) as an alternative to

escaleras. That is, a side may meld one or the other type but not

both. Only one card is drawn at a time, and one canasta required to

go out.

Cuban Canasta (Wild-card Canasta)

A two-pack game without sequences but with wild-card melds. Deal

thirteen each. The pack is permanently frozen. Game is 7500, and a

side with 5000+ must initial y meld at least 150. Three or more

wild cards may be melded for their face values, plus 2000 for a

wild canasta, or 3000 if it consists of four Jokers and three Deuces,

or 4000 for seven Deuces. One red Three counts 100, two or three

200 each, the fourth 500, plus or minus as appropriate. Black

Threes behave like red Threes, though not in conjunction with

them, and there is a bonus of 100 for get ing al four.

Hol ywood Canasta

A cross between Samba and Bolivia. Played like Samba but with

these dif erences. A sequence may contain one wild card, a mixed

samba counting 1000 instead of 1500 extra. A meld must contain at

least three natural cards, but wild-card canastas may be built for a

bonus of 2000. Canastas are limited to seven cards. The upcard of

an unfrozen pack may be laid of to a meld, but if it is wild it can

be taken only with a matching pair (Deuces or Jokers, not one of

each).

Italian Canasta

A three-pack game with fifteen dealt to each. Turn the upcard and

then deal face down to the table, from the top of the pack, a

number of cards equivalent to the rank of the upcard, i.e. three for

a Three, up to ten for a Ten, Jack 11, Queen 12, King 13, Ace or

wild card 20. Place the upcard face up on the discard pack, so that

the first to take the upcard gets the lot. The pack is permanently

frozen; it can be taken only with a matching pair. A wild-card

canasta carries a bonus of 2000, or 3000 if it consists of Deuces