canasta

/keuh nas"teuh/, n. Cards.

a variety of rummy in which the main object is to meld sets of seven or more cards.

[1945-50; < Sp: lit., basket, appar. var. of canastro < Gk kánastron wicker basket (see CANISTER)]

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Form of rummy, using two full decks, in which players or partnerships try to meld groups of three or more cards of the same rank and score bonuses for seven-card melds.

Eleven cards are dealt to each player, the undealt portion of the pack is placed on the table, and the top card is turned up to start the discard pile. Each player in turn must draw, may meld, and must discard one card. A hand ends when a player melds his last card (goes out). Canasta originated in Uruguay in the late 1940s; its name (meaning "basket") is probably a reference to the tray for holding discards.

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▪ card game

Introduction

      card game of the rummy family, developed in Buenos Aires, Arg., and Montevideo, Uruguay, in the 1940s and popular in the United States and Great Britain from the 1950s on. The name canasta, from the Spanish word for “basket,” probably derives from the tray placed in the centre of the table to hold undealt cards and discards. Variations include samba and bolivia.

      The object of the game is to score points by making as many melds as possible, especially canastas. A meld is three or more cards of the same rank, regardless of suit. A canasta is a meld of seven or more cards. Melds can be increased by the addition of natural cards of the same rank or of wild cards (jokers and 2s). Melds made by both partners are kept together in front of one of them. The first side to reach 5,000 points wins. The meld values of cards are: red 3, 100 points; joker, 50 points; ace or 2, 20 points; king, queen, jack, 10, 9, or 8, 10 points; 7, 6, 5, or 4, 5 points; and black 3, 5 points.

Basic rules

The deal

      The most popular form of the game is played by four players in two partnerships, with partners facing each other across a table. A 108-card pack is used, comprising two standard 52-card packs plus four jokers. Jokers and 2s are wild and may be played as any card other than a 3. Eleven cards are dealt to each player; the undealt portion of the pack is placed on the table as the stock; and the top card of the stock is turned up to start the discard pile, or deck. If the initial upcard is a joker, a 2, or a red 3 (3 of hearts or diamonds), it is rotated 90 degrees, and another card is turned faceup on top of it. Anyone dealt a red 3 must, on the first turn, lay it faceup and replace it from the stock. These are bonus scoring cards and play no active role in playing the hand. Each player in turn (clockwise) draws a card from the stock or picks up the deck, may meld, and ends the turn by discarding one card faceup on the deck.

Drawing cards

      The top card of stock may be drawn and added to one's hand, melded, or thrown faceup on the discard pile. Alternatively, the whole deck (not just part) may be picked up, provided that the upcard is immediately melded. Unless the deck is “frozen” (contains a wild card or a red 3), the upcard may be used to start a new meld by combining it with two cards of the same rank (or one card and a wild card) from a player's hand, or it may be added (“layed off”) to a meld of that rank belonging to the partnership's previous melds. However, the deck is frozen to a partnership until one of the partners has made an initial meld, and it is frozen to both partnerships whenever the discard pile is headed by a wild card or when it contains a wild card or a red 3 turned at the start of play. In this event the upcard may be used only to start a new meld with a natural pair of the same rank from the player's hand—unless the player already has a meld of that rank, in which case that player can take the deck and add the top card to the existing meld. If the upcard is a black 3, the discard pile cannot be taken unless it can be melded to “go out” (player is left with no cards, with or without discarding). Discarding a black 3 therefore stops the next player from taking the pile. If a player draws a red 3 from stock, it is immediately melded, and the player draws another card. No replacement draw is made, however, for taking a red 3 that was turned at the start of play. Subsequent decks will not include a red 3, as they may not be discarded.

Melding

      A new meld is made by laying three or more cards of the same rank faceup on the table; at least two of these must be natural cards and not more than three wild cards. 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 follows: below zero score, 15; 0–1,499, 50; 1,500–2,999, 90; 3,000 or more, 120. The minimum requirement is therefore 50 points at start of play. Red 3s do not count toward the minimum.

      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 cards, it becomes a canasta and is squared up into a pile with a red card on top if it entirely consists of natural cards; otherwise, a black card is placed on top. Subsequently adding a wild card to a red canasta makes it a black canasta, and its top card is changed accordingly.

      A player may create and extend any number of melds on one turn but cannot 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 partners, or play (meld or discard) the last card from in hand unless legally entitled to go out.

Discarding

      A player's turn ends by placing one card from in hand faceup on top of the discard pile. This may be any card except a red 3. Discarding a black 3 prevents the left-hand opponent from immediately taking the deck. Discarding a wild card freezes the deck if it is not already frozen. (This state is indicated by making the red 3 project sideways from the deck.) A player may not discard his last card if the partnership has not melded a canasta; in this case the discard is skipped.

Going out

      A player may go out by melding, laying off, or discarding the last card from in hand, provided that the partnership has made at least one canasta. Before going out, a player has the option of asking his partner's permission. If permission is asked, the player must abide by the response (which must be a simple yes or no answer). A player cannot go out if, after the draw, he holds two black 3s and nothing else. With just one black 3, he could go out by discarding it. With three or four black 3s, he could go out by melding them; wild cards may not be included in such a meld. If a player holds just one card in hand and the discard deck also consists of just one card, he cannot go out by taking the deck. 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 layoffs other than red 3s; the hand must consist entirely of melds, of which at least one must be a canasta.

      The stock rarely ends before anyone goes out. If the last card drawn is a red 3, it automatically ends the game, although the player drawing it may first meld and lay off. (That player may not discard.) If it is not a red 3, play continues without a stock. Each player in turn then takes the upcard if it can be melded or layed off and ends the turn by discarding or melding out. This continues until someone either goes out or cannot use the previous player's discard, when all play ceases.

Scoring

      Each side scores the total value of all its melded cards, plus bonus points for each natural canasta (500), each mixed canasta (300), going out (100, but 200 if concealed), and each red 3 declared (100, but 200 points for each if all four are declared by one side). Each partnership subtracts the point values of any cards still held from its meld score. If a side has failed to make any meld other than red 3s, then every red 3 counts for 100 against, or for 200 apiece if all four were melded. (In some variants wild-card canastas are allowed and count 1,000 points.)

      The most-common penalties are the loss of 500 for each red 3 held in hand, 100 for trying to go out without permission, 100 for being unable to go out after receiving permission to do so, and 50 for taking the upcard when unable to use it legally. The adjusted scores are then carried forward to the next deal, and play ceases when one side reaches 5,000 points.

Variants

      Canasta can be played by two players, with a few modifications to the rules. Each player is dealt 15 instead of 11 cards and at each turn draws two cards but discards only one. Finally, two canastas are required for going out.

      Another popular variant is samba, played with three 52-card decks and six jokers. Samba allows suit sequences of three or more cards to be melded. A seven-card sequence, or samba, ranks as a canasta for the purpose of going out and scores a bonus of 1,500 points. No meld may contain more than two wild cards, and no wild card may be melded with a sequence. (In the bolivia variant, wild cards may be used in sequences.) Each player in turn draws either two cards from the stock or one card from the deck and in either case makes one discard. The top discard may never be taken without a natural matching pair. Game is 10,000 points, and the initial meld requirement for a side with 7,000 or more points is 150.

David Parlett

Additional Reading

Reliable sources for rules include Joli Quentin Kansil (ed.), Bicycle Official Rules of Card Games (2002); David Parlett, The A–Z of Card Games, 2nd ed. (2004; 1st ed. published as Oxford Dictionary of Card Games, 1992); and Barry Rigal, Card Games for Dummies, 2nd ed. (2005).

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