Read Online The Book of Card Games: The Complete Rules to the Classics, Family Favorite and Forgotten Games by Nikki Katz - Free Book Online Page A
Authors: Nikki Katz
Ads: Link
the cards in the discard pile (if it is not frozen, as described later). If you want to pick up the discard pile, you must first show that you can meld the top card with cards currently in your hand or be able to add the top card to one of your partner’s melds. Remember that you can only make an initial meld if the cards you are laying down contain enough points based on your team’s cumulative score. In the first hand, you have a score of zero and need fifty points in your initial meld. After laying down a meld, you can make additional melds if you wish. If you took the top card from the stockpile, you may also lay down any melds in your hand. You end your turn by discarding a card from your hand onto the discard pile.
Be careful not to get rid of too many cards in your hand early on in the game. This limits your options in being able to pick up the discard pile and obtain points. You’ll want to lay down enough points in your melds to get the game going, but strategically hold a few back.
If your team has not yet melded any cards onto the table, or if the top card is a wild card or a black three, the discard pile is frozen and you may not take cards from it. The exception to this rule is if you have two natural cards in your hand and can use the wild card to create a meld.
If you draw a red three from the stockpile, you must place it face up on the table and draw a replacement card from the stockpile. Red threes score you additional points at the end of the hand, but they do not count as points toward laying down an initial meld. If you discard a black three, it freezes the pile until the next discard. The most important strategy in canasta is to be the first team to take the discard pile. This often lets you control the rest of the hand, pick up the pile often, and recycle black threes as discards.
Going Out
The end of the hand occurs with the first player to “go out.” Your team must have at least one canasta before you or your partner can go out. To go out, you must meld all of the cards in your hand, or meld all but one card and use that card as a discard. If you hold any black threes in your hand, you may lay them down in a meld when you go out (the only time you may make a meld containing black threes). The meld must be three or four black threes and cannot contain any wild cards.
At any time that you are able to go out, you may ask your partner first by saying, “May I go out?” after taking a card from the stock or discard pile. Whatever your partner responds (yes or no) is binding, and you must abide by it. Your partner will most often answer with a yes to this question, but if he has extra points in his hand or is close to a canasta, he may ask you not to go out.
If your partnership does not have a canasta, you must manipulate your hand so that you have at least one card remaining after the discard. If you get rid of all the cards in your hand, you would go out illegally and would lose the game or score penalty points depending on what variation you choose to play.
Play immediately ends if the last card drawn in the stockpile is a red three, because there are no replacement cards for you to draw. If the final card drawn is not a red three, play can continue until a player does not wish to draw by taking the discard pile. The game would then end.
Scoring Canasta
Each team now scores their hand. You earn points for any cards you and your partner have melded, lose points for any cards in your hands, and receive bonus points as follows:
Going out receives 100 bonus points.
Going out “concealed” (without having laid any previous melds) receives an extra 100 bonus points.
Each natural canasta (containing no wild cards) receives 500 bonus points.
Each mixed canasta (containing wild cards) receives 300 bonus points.
Each red three receives 100 bonus points if the partnership has at least one meld.
Each red three is penalized 100 points if the partnership did not meld.
All four red threes receive an
Be careful not to get rid of too many cards in your hand early on in the game. This limits your options in being able to pick up the discard pile and obtain points. You’ll want to lay down enough points in your melds to get the game going, but strategically hold a few back.
If your team has not yet melded any cards onto the table, or if the top card is a wild card or a black three, the discard pile is frozen and you may not take cards from it. The exception to this rule is if you have two natural cards in your hand and can use the wild card to create a meld.
If you draw a red three from the stockpile, you must place it face up on the table and draw a replacement card from the stockpile. Red threes score you additional points at the end of the hand, but they do not count as points toward laying down an initial meld. If you discard a black three, it freezes the pile until the next discard. The most important strategy in canasta is to be the first team to take the discard pile. This often lets you control the rest of the hand, pick up the pile often, and recycle black threes as discards.
Going Out
The end of the hand occurs with the first player to “go out.” Your team must have at least one canasta before you or your partner can go out. To go out, you must meld all of the cards in your hand, or meld all but one card and use that card as a discard. If you hold any black threes in your hand, you may lay them down in a meld when you go out (the only time you may make a meld containing black threes). The meld must be three or four black threes and cannot contain any wild cards.
At any time that you are able to go out, you may ask your partner first by saying, “May I go out?” after taking a card from the stock or discard pile. Whatever your partner responds (yes or no) is binding, and you must abide by it. Your partner will most often answer with a yes to this question, but if he has extra points in his hand or is close to a canasta, he may ask you not to go out.
If your partnership does not have a canasta, you must manipulate your hand so that you have at least one card remaining after the discard. If you get rid of all the cards in your hand, you would go out illegally and would lose the game or score penalty points depending on what variation you choose to play.
Play immediately ends if the last card drawn in the stockpile is a red three, because there are no replacement cards for you to draw. If the final card drawn is not a red three, play can continue until a player does not wish to draw by taking the discard pile. The game would then end.
Scoring Canasta
Each team now scores their hand. You earn points for any cards you and your partner have melded, lose points for any cards in your hands, and receive bonus points as follows:
Going out receives 100 bonus points.
Going out “concealed” (without having laid any previous melds) receives an extra 100 bonus points.
Each natural canasta (containing no wild cards) receives 500 bonus points.
Each mixed canasta (containing wild cards) receives 300 bonus points.
Each red three receives 100 bonus points if the partnership has at least one meld.
Each red three is penalized 100 points if the partnership did not meld.
All four red threes receive an
Similar Books
