American Canasta – The Deal

The deal begins as usual to the players left and turn plays clockwise. In any case, if threes, either red or black has been dealt, the player must place cards face up, to be used for your team’s melds. All threes dealt, must be replaced by getting a card from the stock pile, lay them out and replace them in the same manner. Each player is dealt with 13 cards. You either take a card from the stock pile or discard pile to start a turn.

Each turn is ended with a discard, and each player may or may not meld some cards, unless, card is taken from the discard pile, then melding is compulsory. As a rule, any threes drawn should be melded and replaced from the stock.

American Canasta – The Play

It is not advisable to keep a “three,” but if you are trying to collect a straight, you may do so. If you decide to use your three later in the game, it is permissible, granting that you meld the three at a start of your turn, then replace it and then draw a card from the stock pile as your regular turn (Scenario: if the replacement card makes a natural pair with your cards at hand and matches the top card of the pile, you may use this pair to take the pile.

• If your team has not yet melded, you cannot take a card from the discard pile that is a pair of your natural cards of the same rank in your hand. Otherwise, you must show your pair and med the cards together with the top card before taking the rest of the pile into your hand.
• If your top discard matches the rank of your partnership’s existing melds, you can take the pile if you have a pair of cards in the same rank, granting that your existing meld has 3-4 cards.
• If your team has a meld of 5 or more cards of the same rank, matching the top discard, it is not allowed to take the pile since you will then be creating more than 7 cards.
• It is considered illegal to meld and leave yourself with one card, unless the rule of going out is met. If you are not going out, at least 2 cards must be left at hand after you made your meld, one for discard and one for play.

Restrictions:

• Threes can never be discarded, except as a last card during “going out.”
• When the discard pile runs out on the first turn of the game, or when you have taken the pile at the start of your turn, it is illegal to discard an Ace or a Seven, unless these are the only natural cards you have in your hand for discard. If requested by opponent, you must also show that you only have Aces, Sevens and Wild cards and left with no choice.

Wild Card are only allowed for discard under the following circumstances:

• When going out, as a final card.
• In situations where you only have wild cards at hand. (The next player cannot take the card since no natural cards are available)

American Canasta – The Meld

A valid meld must consist of the following:

1. 1. Minimum count and a three-card meld from hand

• Total value is at least minimum count depending on your teams cumulative score at the start of the game: Less than 3,000 – 125 points; 3,000 to 4,995 – 155 points; 5, 000 or more – 180 points

Some Rules to follow:

• A team with negative score still gets 125 point minimum

• Initial melds contains at least 3 matching natural cards

• A Wild card meld, with at least 3 wild cards from your hand

• A meld of 3 matching natural cards may include additional cards from your hand, plus wild cards in order to match the minimum requirement

• Initial melds may be from the discard pile, if you hold a pair of natural cards which you can meld with the top card of the discard pile. However, some variations do not allow the discard pile to be taken on the same turn as your initial meld.

• Minimum count, plus the three required natural card, or wild meld must be present in your hand, and must be layed down in your team’s meld, before you are allowed to take any from the pile.

• A pair that is used to take the pile could be from your meld, or from a separate pair of another rank. In this case, the point values of the cards, do not count as your minimum requirement values, since they are not a complete meld from your hand.

1. 2. The Splash – Natural Canasta – Seven natural cards of the same rank, or a Wild Canasta – seven cards that are twos or jokers) in your hand. No need to meet any count requirements.

Some Rules to follow:

• If the above is already in your hand before your turn, and you also have a natural pair of a different rank that matches the top card of the discard pile, you can then use the pair to take the discard in the same turn.

• A Splash of only 6 cards from your hand and the 7^th card from the discard pile is not allowed.

1. Special Hand – If you lay down your entire hand, you then end the play.

American Canasta – Going out or End of Play

This happens when one player goes out or the stock runs out.

Rules to go out:

• Your team has completed two canastas
• You were able to meld all, but one as your last card.

In this version of Canasta, it is allowed to go out by melding all your cards, with one card as your discard. The final card is faced down, and in this situation a “wild card” is allowed. You may or may not ask permission from your partner to go out. If you had and your partner says “Yes” then you may do so, if not you cannot go out on that turn. If rules to go out are not satisfied, then a player is not allowed without any card left at the end of the turn. You must play, wherein you keep at least one card for discard.

In times when the stock pile runs out, before any one has gone out, the play can still continue if each player is able and willing to the previous player’s discard.

American Canasta – Special Cards

If you have a combination of 14 cards, then you are allowed to go out without discard, if and only if your team has not yet melded.

• Straight – A-2-3-4-5-6-7-8-9-10-J-Q-K-Joker. The three is scored in the same way as laying it on the table.
• Pairs

1. Example 1: 4-4-5-5-7-7-8-8-9-9-10-10-Q-Q – Without wild cards,
2. Example 2: 2-2-6-6-7-7-9-9-J-J-K-K-A-A – Twos, Seven’s and Aces (A hand with 2’s must always contain 7’s and Aces, otherwise it is considered invalid)

• Garbage – 4-4-4-6-6-6-6-J-J-J-J-A-A-A – Consists of 2 sets of four of a kind and 2 sets of three of a kind, without wild cards or threes.

American Canasta – Scoring

6 possible Score depending on the completed Canasta:

Scoring	No canastas	One complete canasta	2 or more complete canastas	Goes out – special hand
1. Bonus scores for canastas and for going out	does not apply	bonus added to score	bonus added to score	not counted
2. Penalties for incomplete canastas	penalty deducted from score	penalty deducted from score	penalty deducted from score	not counted
3.Bonuses or penalties for threes	penalty deducted from score	not counted	bonus added to score	not counted
4. Scores for melded cards	deducted from score	added to score	added to score	not counted
5. Penalties for cards remaining in players’ hands	deducted from score	deducted from score	deducted from score	not counted
6. Scores for special hands	not counted	not counted	not counted	added to score

Note:

• If a team has one completed Canasta, meld card values (see item 4) are added to their score even if some cards form part of an incomplete canasta of aces, sevens or wild cards (see item 2), where tem is penalized.
• If a team goes out with a special hand, the other team scores in the normal way, dependeing on the number of Canastas formed.

Bonuses for going out and Canasta

Each mixed Canasta, using any natural rank except 7’s	300
Each pure Canasta, using any natural rank except 7’s or Ace’s	500
Each pure Canasta, of Ace’s or 7’s	2,500
Wild Canasta made of two’s	3,000
Joker Canasta, contains all 4 Jokers together with 3 two’s	2,500
Any other wild Canasta containing one or two 3 Jokers	2,000

Note: If any player goes out, their team scores extra 100 points

Penalty: Incomplete Canasta, Unmelded Aces and 7’s

Pure Ace meld of less than 7 cards	-2,500
7’s meld of less than 7 cards	-2,500
Wild Card meld of less than 7 cards	-2,000
At the end of the game, player has three or more 7’s	-1,500
At the end of the game, player has three or more Aces	-1,500
A team player has 7 melds of less than 7 cards, and another player with more than two 7’s	-4000
A team player has a meld of Aces less than 7 and another 3 or more Aces in another player’s hand.	-4000

Note:

• It is safe not to retain Aces or 7’s in your hand towards the end of the play.
• 2 Aces and 2 Sevens should be discarded, unless you are confident that you can complete a Canasta out of it.

Bonuses or penalties for “Threes”

All 3’s melded by a team are counted as one:

One red/black three	100
Two red/black threes	300
Three red/black threes	500
Four red/black threes	1,000

Melded cards

• Completed at least one canasta – value of all cards (other than threes) melded by the team, whether forming part of a canastas or smaller combinations, is added to the team’s score in which case, standard card count are used.
• No canasta completed – value of all melded cards is subtracted from the score, together card counts remaining at hand.

Penalty – cards remaining in hand

• Total value of all cards remaining in each players hand is subtracted from the team’s score. Standard values apply and in unusual cases where a player has one or more threes in hand at the end of the game are counted 5 points each against the team.

Special hand

• Player going out with a special hand – the team that went out scores only the amount for the special hand. Item 1-5 above do not apply to that team. Opposing team however, calculates their score in the normal way.
• Special hand scores are:

1. Straight – 3,000 points
2. Pairs without wild cards – 2,500 points
3. Pairs with twos, sevens and aces: 2,000 points
4. Garbage: 2,000 points

• Negative score is possible for a team.

Object of the Game

To have a cumulative score of 8500 or more points as a team; the team with the highest score wins. Margin of victory is computed by the difference between the teams’ scores.