Canasta Card Game

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Canasta: from Uruguay, via Argentina and the United States to Poland

Imagine ... The beginning of the 20th century, a small village in the south of Uruguay. Two farmers are trying to relax after a hard day's work. They have a deck of cards handy. They make up the basic principles canasta, little realizing that their game will in the future be popular all over the world. Believe it or not, this is a true story really happened – and thus was born one of the classic card games. It is played in many parts of the globe, and with greatest passion in South American countries.

The canasta game then and now

Aug 19, 2019 Canasta is a Rummy type game of melding that is played with two 52 playing card decks and two teams of 2. The objective of Canasta is for your team to reach 5000 points first. For other Rummy type games, see our guides for Classic Rummy and Gin. Online canasta card game; a card game for two players or two pairs played with two decks of cards; the goal is to make melds of seven cards of the same rank Features: live opponents, game rooms, rankings, extensive stats, user profiles, contact lists, private messaging, game records, support for mobile devices.

  1. Play free online Canasta. Meld or go out early. Play four player Canasta with a friend or with the computer. Your Gaming History. Your game will start after this ad.
  2. A mixed canasta is worth 300 points, a natural canasta 500 points, and a wildcard canasta 1,000 points. The player that goes out gets a bonus of 100 points. If this player had no cards (except Red Threes) on the table directly before going out ('goes out.
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Canasta

The very name of canasta comes from the Spanish language, and its simple translation is “basket”. It has this name from the goal of the game, which is for the players to collect defined combinations of cards. Canasta moved quite quickly from Uruguay to Argentina, and after the Second World War gained fans in the United States. Interestingly, compared to other games such as poker or thousand, the rules of canasta, have not changed much over the years, except for changes in the melds and the number of cards. Of convenience for every canasta fan is the availability of games on the internet. You need only to register on the portal GameDesire, a process that takes less than five minutes, in order to join the hundreds of canasta fans waiting for you at the table to play.

Canasta online: game rules

The rules of canasta resemble to a great extent those of other card games, especially rummy, so mastering them is not usually overly difficult. However, there are some rules that are found only in canasta, and you should know these before playing. The game begins with each participant being dealt a hand of 15 cards (if the game is played more than three people, they are dealt 13 cards). The remainder are placed face down on a separate stack, so that their values cannot be seen. The top card of the stack is then turned up, and placed to begin a second pile, called the discard. Combinations known as melds are the key to winning in online canasta. A meld is a minimum of three cards of the same value, for example Q ♠ Q ♣ Q ♥. The aim of the game is to get rid of your cards and gain 5 000 points from melds, canastas and red threes. During the game, you can also lose points if you do not get rid of your cards before rivals. The game consists of a few hands.

Free canasta card games online

In canasta there are what are commonly known as wild cards, which are twos and jokers. These can replace any other card. However, the melds of each player must contain a minimum of two natural cards, which should always outnumber the wild cards. Therefore, melds consisting only of twos and jokers are not allowed, with the exception of wild canastas. A good meld in canasta online would be, for example, two aces, of hearts and spades, and a joker. If your meld contains more than seven cards, then it is called a canasta. For this, a player receives bonus points. A canasta with natural cards is scored higher than a canasta with a mix of wild cards. However, the highest number of points are awarded for a wild canasta, a meld of seven wild cards, which must be played in one move.

A hand in online canasta ends at the moment when one of the players gets rid of all their cards, or when the stack of face down cards runs out. The winner is the person who has gained 5,000 points or more. The points position is taken into account after the completion of the deal, not during it. If several people have the same points, the result is a draw.

Canasta: how to play?

The first move after shuffling and dealing the cards must be taken by the player to the dealer’s left, who draws a card from the stack (or the discard pile), with the option of picking up three cards of the same value. The same player then drops one card onto the discard pile.

If the player draws from the stack a red three they must set it aside and take another card. If a red three is drawn from the discard pile, it is not exchanged for another card. Bonus points are awarded for the red three at the end of the hand. By contrast, black threes can be melded only last, and with no wild cards.

Canasta: a game for hours

Canasta Card Game Download

With simple rules, a little calculation, luck of the cards and addictive action, this game can provide real card game excitement for the beginner and advanced player alike, around the clock. Now it's your turn to play canasta online!

Canasta Card Game Online

These are the Canasta rules as defined by 'Hoyle's Rules of Games'.


Overview

  • Your goal is to beat your opponent by scoring more points. You score points by melding cards, and making as many canastas as possible. A canasta is a meld of at least seven cards of the same rank.
  • Each player starts with 15 cards in hand. Yours are visible at the bottom of the window.
  • Both players take turns in drawing one card from the stock, and discarding one card on the discard pile (in that order). Both players take turns in drawing the first card.
  • After drawing a card, a player may meld cards if (s)he wants to. Cards are melded in columns of at least three cards; e.g. you can meld three Kings, or four Fives. You cannot meld sequences like Four-Five-Six. Once a card has been melded, it cannot be taken back into the hand (except with the Undo meld option).
  • When a player has melded his cards, he ends his turn by discarding a card. At that point, his melded cards are checked to see if they conform to the canasta rules. Discarding a card is not necessary if the player can go out by melding all of his cards.
  • Instead of drawing a card from the stock, a player may take the entire discard pile. However, this is only allowed if he can directly meld the top card.
  • A hand is over when one of the players has no cards left in his hand, or when there are no cards left on the stock. 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 5,000 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. These Black Threes must then be the last cards to be melded.
  • The discard pile can be frozen by discarding a wildcard or a Red Three. A freeze is indicated by brackets [..] and means that both players are only allowed to take the discard pile if they can meld the top card using only the cards in their hand, as if they had no cards on the table. For example, if the discard pile is frozen and the top card is a Seven, the pile may only be taken if the player has two Sevens in his hand, even though he has a column of three Sevens on the table. Also, no wildcards may be used in melding: if he has one Seven and a wildcard in hand - instead of two Sevens- he may not take the discard pile.
  • If you have taken the discard pile but discover that you cannot use the top card, you can restore the pile by clicking on it. This carries a penalty of 50 points.
  • It is never allowed to take the discard pile when the top card is a Black Three, a Red Three or a wildcard. Thus, Black Threes can be used to freeze the pile for a single turn.
  • The first time a player melds cards in a hand, their value must be at least a certain minimum. When a player goes out in one turn ('goes out concealed'), this requirement does not apply.
  • A player can only go out when he has at least one or two canastas, depending on the 'Canastas needed to go out' setting. If a player has less than this number of canastas, and only has one card left that he should discard, he has to 'pass the discard', i.e., he does not discard that last card.
  • Taking a discard pile that only contains one card is never allowed if you only have one card in your hand.
  • When there are no more cards on the stock a special situation occurs:
    • 1. If the discard pile is not frozen and you can add the top discard to one of your melds, you must take that top discard. Only that card is removed from the pile; you do not receive the rest. You must discard normally.
    • 2. If you can take the discard pile in the normal way, you may. You must discard normally.
    • 3. If you can do neither, press the 'End Hand' button that appears in the upper right-hand corner of the screen. You do not have to discard.




Scoring: Card Values and Bonuses

The cards have the following point values:

CardValue
Four, Five, Six, Seven, Black Three5
Eight, Nine, Ten, Jack, Queen, King10
Deuce, Ace20
Joker50
Red Three100

The following bonuses are awarded:

  • A mixed canasta is worth 300 points, a natural canasta 500 points, and a wildcard canasta 1,000 points.
  • The player that goes out gets a bonus of 100 points. If this player had no cards (except Red Threes) on the table directly before going out ('goes out concealed'), this bonus is doubled to 200 points.
  • If a player has all four Red Threes on the table, their score of 400 points is doubled to 800 points.
  • If a player goes out and his opponent has melded nothing but Red Threes, the value of those Red Threes is deducted from his opponent's score.


Total Score

At the end of a hand, the total score is calculated as follows:
  1. The sum of the values of the cards on the table forms the initial score value.
  2. Bonuses for canastas, going out and Red Threes are added to the score.
  3. The values of the cards in hand are deducted from the score.
However, if you have selected Yes in the 'Canasta required for positive score' option, this calculation is only valid if you have at least the number of canastas as it is shown in the 'Canastas needed to go out' setting! If not, a negative score results consisting of the sum of the values of the cards in your hand and on the table. It is therefore always wise to get a canasta quickly, so that you don't run the risk of holding a large collection of cards if your opponent goes out. If you have selected No, the above does not apply.


Minimum

The first time in a hand that a player melds cards the sum of their values must be at least a certain minimum. This minimum depends on your current score in the following way:

ScoreMinimum
Less than 015
From 0 to 149550
From 1500 to 299590
3000 or more120


Notes

  • The values of any Red Threes never contribute to the required minimum. Canastas contribute only if the corresponding option is enabled.
  • If you turn off the option Top card counts for initial meld, you must add the value of the top card to the minimum needed when taking the discard pile. E.g., if the minimum is 50 and you took an Ace from the pile, you must have 50 + 20 = 70 points on the table to get the rest of the pile. The value of the Ace is thus not counted toward the 50 point minimum.
  • If you took the top card of the discard pile but you discover that you cannot use it, you can put it back by clicking on the pile again. This carries a penalty of 50 points.