The player to the left of the dealer plays first, and then the turn to play passes clockwise.

The Deal and PlayĮach player is dealt a hand of cards, and in the centre of the table is a face-down pile of cards called the stock and a face-up pile of cards called the discard pile. The threes have special functions and values, depending on which variation of Canasta is being played. With some restrictions, wild cards can be used during the game as substitutes for a natural card of any rank. All of the deuces (twos) and jokers are wild cards. The cards A, K, Q, J, 10, 9, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4 are called natural cards.

They have standard point values as follows: The CardsĬanasta is normally played with two standard 52 card packs plus four jokers (two from each pack), making 108 cards in all. To avoid repetition, this section describes the terms and processes that are common to most or all versions of Canasta. However, there are playable versions for two and three players, which are given later on this page. In North America, however, some players have continued to develop the game, and these groups now favour a different version, called Modern American Canasta on this page.Ĭanasta is generally agreed to be best for four players, playing in partnerships. In many countries, Classic Canasta is still played in more or less its original form, sometimes alongside a number of variations.

The rules were standardised in North America around 1950, and it was this version of the game, which will be called Classic Canasta on this page, that gained worldwide popularity. It was extremely fashionable in the 1950's, threatening for a while to displace Contract Bridge as the premier card game. From there it spread to Argentina, the USA and throughout the world. The game of Canasta is said to have originated in Montevideo, Uruguay in 1939 (see for example this archive copy of Philip E Orbanes' article The Canasta Story).

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