Have You Played Canasta Today?. Review on Canasta

I want to write about something fun to do. A card game to be exact! A very fun card game called Canasta. I have been playing this game for so many years now that I can’t keep up with it! And I have no idea how many games I have played.

This game can take a long time or if the cards fall right it can take about ½ hour. You can win or get your rear end kicked! There is always lots of laughter, eating sunflowers seeds, popcorn, having coffee, sodas, tea or even chocolate milk!

You certainly want to play with people you get along with. Playing online is not always the case. Sometimes you have real morons that are mean and bad losers! You must be a great looser as you are a great winner. If playing at home you want to allow an opened evening or afternoon to play because the games can last a very long time, depending on the play. We play game after game after game that will last way into the night or next morning.

You can play with a Canasta Set or regular cards or even online at various places like Yahoo®.

The Play

You can have up to four people play with 2 decks of cards. For each 2 players you need one deck of cards. You can also play with 2 or 3 people, with 2 decks of cards. However, some people insist on having at least 2 canasta's before going out. I believe the rules say this as well. But sometimes we will play with just requiring one canasta with 2 or 3 people. We use both the Canasta set and regular cards. The Canasta set we have is very old so we don’t use it to often. It was gift but you can find them in the stores for around 10.00.

Each person is dealt 11 cards. 8, 9, 10, Jack, Queen and King are worth 10 points each. The Ace's are worth 20 points each. The wilds are the Jokers and the 2. Jokers being worth 50 and the 2's are worth 20. All other cards, 4 thru 7 are worth 5 points each.

You must have 50 points in your hand to make the first meld, or books as we like to call them here at the home front! Melds are the spread of cards you play. Black ones are worth 300 and Red ones are worth 500. Blacks have wild cards and Reds are all natural. You have to have at least 4 natural cards in order to make a wild meld. 0 to 1500 is a 50-point meld, 1500 to 3000 is a 90-point meld and 3000 to 5000 is a 120-point meld and also if you score nothing the first play you only have to have 15 points to come on the board with. However, if you keep going backwards in points instead of forward, you remain at 15 points to come on with.

You can draw 2 cards each time of your play and the Red Three is an extra card. The game point is 5000 or more. In case of a tie you keep playing until one team wins. Each red three that you draw is an extra 100 points, 800 if you have all four and a canasta! But, they are 100 against you as well if you have no canasta, this rule is for home playing. At Yahoo® they count for you whether you have a canasta or not. Each meld must consist of at least 2 natural cards and a wild card, or series of both to make the appropriate meld in order to come on the board or make a new spread. You also cannot pick up the pile on any first meld unless you have at least 2 naturals of the card discarded. After that you may pick up with 1 wild card and any playable card, so long as the deck is not crossed!

You can have a crossed deck at the first play with a wild card or red three. You can cross the deck yourself with a wild during the game, which means no one can pick up the pile unless they have a natural pair of any two cards, except wilds and black three. The wilds will stop the next player from picking up as will the black threes. If you go out with 3 or 4 of the black threes you get an extra 500 points. The black threes do count as 5 points each.

All cards are laid out so that all players may see them. You have to know what is played in order to lay down a discard and hopefully one that the person you are laying to doesn’t pick up the pile. Those piles can get very huge at times and it can get very nerve racking laying down a discard! We have played some very long games over time! A crossed deck can make the game go very long! If you are playing teams, then both partners can play on all cards. However, you must keep your own melds and not combine them. You close up a meld by having 7 cards played. Keep in mind that closed melds make good throwaway cards, but, there are times when a person is holding back in order to pick up the deck. If the canasta is black then there may still be cards that will play.

Decide who will deal first and if at anytime a person who has dealt the exact amount of cards, which is 45 with a discard and a 4 person game (count accordingly for less or more players and always include the discard for the first play), that person or team gets 100 extra points. Deal goes to the left and that player plays first. If you run out of cards to draw, you simply pick up the discarded cards, leaving the top one alone, shuffle, put the top one back and keep playing. The game is over when a player goes out or has no other play to make. You do not have to discard to go out. However, online canasta does not work this way. When all the cards are gone, the game is over. This allows for shorter games.

How I Feel

I think you can tell I love playing this card game. Canasta® has been around since about 1950 in the US. There are various variations of Canasta® such as Samba, Chile, Uruguay, Bolivia, Italian Canasta and Cut Throat Canasta. The rules for these games should be in the Canasta set that you purchase. The play I have given is for US Canasta®.

We can play for hours like I have mentioned already! The game is so fun and yet so aggravating at the same time. A person can get down right mad over this game! It can haunt you as well. You can hear those cards calling you to come back and play! Not to mention the family members calling you to play.

Over all this is a wonderful card game for the family! I would suggest that if you are going play with children make sure they know to add and subtract and that they understand the game play. It is suggested for ages 7 and up. My children were around age 10 when they started to play. And also, you want to make sure you have a large enough table in order to lay out all cards.

I hope that this has helped in some kind of way!

God Bless!

©LKD 2003