Canasta

Overview

This is two-handed Canasta. It differs from the four-player partnership game in three ways: each player is dealt 15 cards instead of 11, you draw two cards from the stock instead of one, and you need two canastas before you may go out. The first player to reach 5000 points wins the match.

The pack and card values

Two standard packs plus four jokers: 108 cards. Jokers count 50, aces and twos 20, eights through kings 10, and threes through sevens 5.

Wild cards

Jokers and twos are wild and can stand in for any rank in a meld. A meld may hold at most three wild cards and must always keep at least two natural ones.

Your turn

Draw the top two cards of the stock, or take the whole discard pile if you are entitled to it. Lay down as many melds as you like, then discard one card to end your turn.

Melds and your first meld

A meld is three or more cards of the same rank; suits do not matter, and you only ever have one meld per rank. The first meld of each hand must reach a minimum count that climbs with your score:

• below 0: 15
• 0 to 1495: 50
• 1500 to 2995: 90
• 3000 and above: 120

Several melds laid down in the same turn can be added together to reach it.

Canastas

Seven or more cards in a meld make a canasta. A natural canasta (no wild cards) is worth a 500 bonus; a mixed canasta is worth 300.

Taking the discard pile

To take the pile you must meld its top card straight away. While the pile is open you can do that with two matching cards from your hand, or by adding it to a meld of that rank you already have on the table. The rest of the pile then goes into your hand.

The pile is frozen when a wild card is buried in it, when a red three started it, or simply because you have not melded yet. A frozen pile can only be taken with two natural cards from your hand matching the top card. Nobody can take the pile while a wild card or a black three is on top.

Threes

Red threes are bonus cards: they go face up the moment you get one and are replaced from the stock. Each is worth 100, or 800 for all four — but they count against you if you never get a meld down that hand. Black threes cannot be melded during play; discarding one blocks the next player from taking the pile. They may go down only as your final play when going out, three or four together with no wild cards.

Going out and scoring

With two canastas on the table you may go out by melding or discarding your last card. Going out earns 100, or 200 if you go out concealed — the whole hand down in one turn without having melded before. Each hand scores your bonuses plus the card values of everything you melded, minus the cards still in your hand. If the stock runs out first, the hand is scored where it stands with no going-out bonus.

Strategy tips

• Watch the pile. A big discard pile is the biggest swing in the game; freezing it with a wild card can deny your opponent a fortune.
• Save black threes for moments when you must discard into a large pile.
• Plan for two canastas. One canasta does not let you out in the two-player game, so spread your melds early.
• Mind the minimum. As your score climbs past 1500 and 3000, your first meld gets harder — hold high cards and jokers to make it.

Play Canasta online

Choose Play Online to join the Canasta lobby and challenge another player. Browser players and the Rummymates Android app share the same lobby, so a laptop and a phone can play each other. The host deals and the whole table is shared between both players.

Controls

• Tap the stock to draw two, or tap the discard pile (or Take Pile) to take it.
• Tap cards in your hand to select them and press Meld. To add to a meld already on the table, tap that meld first, then Meld.
• Select one card and press Discard to end your turn. Go Out lights up once you are allowed to.

If you like Canasta

Rummymates is 13-card Indian Rummy, and 31 (Scat) is a quicker draw-and-discard game.