INTERNATIONAL CANASTA

I first learned to play Canasta in Panama, back in 1946. shortly thereafter, I wrote a small booklet on the poker rules of the game and added my own observations on how to improve the game. These rules later appeared in the first edition of Scarne on Cards, in 1949. It was obvious to me then that Canasta needed considerable improvement to survive. (After more than twenty years of globe-trotting and Canasta playing in Panama, cuba, England, France, Italy, South America, and I the Caribbean Islands, I have learned the many different variations of the game, most of which appear on the preceding pages. Many of these variations, which were meant (to improve the original game, did the opposite-they made it less interesting. However, each of these variations had one or two good rules that, if applied by themselves to the original Canasta, might have improved the game. I studied every possible method of playing Canasta that came to my attention, took a rule from one game and a rule from another, then created and added several new rules of my own. My new rules include the elimination of stop cards and the first dealt upcard, ,the addition of initial meld bonuses, Schneider bonuses, and blitz bonuses, plus I others. After formulating these rules I presented them to a number of my friends who’ played the game for several months while I watched. During this time I removed the bugs, added some new rules, and improved the old rules. So, after years of Canasta research, I have come up with a set of Canasta’ rules that encompasses the best of all Canasta t variations. I’m sure that Canasta players the (world over, who have been playing their local variations for years, will welcome this new Canasta game which I have taken the inventor’s liberty of naming “International Canasta.” Why did I create International Canasta? It was to give Canasta players the world over a game that combined a lot of ! special features they have proved they liked, but weren’t permitted under the Canasta variation they played. In addition, I want to codify a set of Canasta ‘rules for all players I throughout the world.
Requirements

1. Four players, two against two, as partners.
2. Two regular 52-card decks with four added jokers, shuffled together, and used as one 108-card deck.

Object of the Game. For a partnership to score 10,000 or more points before the opposing partnership does so-by laying down ( melds of three or more cards in the same numerical rank; sequence melds are not allowed.
Game Opening Preliminaries. The game opening preliminaries of selecting partners and seating positions, shuffling and cutting are the same as for Regular Partnership Canasta.
The Deal. The dealer, starting with the player on his left, deals each player (including himself) 13 facedown cards, one at a time, in clockwise fashion. The remainder of the undealt cards are placed face down in the center of the table forming the stock.
If the 108-card deck is too bulky to hold for the deal, the dealer may lift off a portion from, the top of the deck, as close to 52 cards as he can estimate, and deal from this portion. If he holds any cards after the deal, they are replaced on top of the deck. If the dealer took less than 52 cards to begin with, he takes additional cards from the top of the deck to complete the deal and any leftover cards are replaced on top of the deck. A player may not look at or pick up his cards until the deal has been completed. The deal begins with the completion of the cut and ends when the dealer has dealt the fifty-second card and has placed the stock in the center of the table.
Order of Play. Each player at his turn, starting with the player on the dealer’s left and continuing clockwise around the table, does the following: Each turn comprises first a one- card draw from the stock, then a meld (optional), and then a discard. The player in turn is always entitled to draw the top card of the stock, subject to restrictions given in the following text. He may instead take the top card of the discard pile and immediately use it in a natural meld (no wild card). Having so taken the last discard, he must take the entire discard pile and add it to his hand or to his melds; he may lay down other melds. A discard must always be made from the hand, never from a meld. A player is not permitted to discard a wild card unless he fails to hold a natural card. Only then may he discard a wild card. The act of discarding ends a player’s turn at play.
In brief, the order of play is as follows:
(a) the draw(b) the meld (optional) (c) the discard
A player draws when he raises the top card of the stock or discard pile from its former position. The choice is fixed: A player commits himself to draw as soon as he touches either card, unless accidentally or obviously for the purpose of straightening out cards in disordered arrangement. The choice is fixed if he puts cards down on the table for the apparent purpose of taking the discard pile. During his turn of play, however, either before or after the draw, a player has the privilege of moving and looking at the three top cards of the discard pile.
When a player has established his right to take the top card of the discard pile, the remaining cards in the pile become part of his hand, except as provided here. If a player should forget to take all of the pile, it is the duty of all other players to call attention to the oversight. He retains his right to those cards until the next player has drawn, where upon they become part of the new discard pile.
The meld. At his turn of ‘play, a player may place three, four, five, six, or seven cards of the same rank face up on the table; or he may layoff cards (add cards to groups already placed on the table) in front of himself or his partner. These groups are known as melds and the act of placing them on the table or adding to them is known as melding.
A meld comprises a minimum of three cards and a maximum of seven cards-including at least five natural cards and never more than two wild cards. Exceptions may take place (a) when putting down an initial meld or when putting down red and black threes and (b) when melding wild cards in groups of three to seven, apart from natural cards. A side may not meld more than one set of the same rank. After a player has melded a set, all additional cards of the same rank melded by him or his partner must be laid on (added to) this set until a meld is made up of seven cards . It is called a canasta. A player may in turn layoff one, two, three, or four cards on a set or sets melded by his partnership. All melds of a partnership are kept in front of one of the partners and no distinction is drawn between those made by one partner and those made by the other. A player is not permitted to layoff on opponents’ melds. A player may not layoff a wild card on a natural meld until the partnership has a base of five natural cards. Point value of the cards in scoring is the same as given .
All unmelded cards caught in a player’s hand (partner’s or opponent’s) at the end of a hand, even though they form melds, are referred to as penalty cards and are deducted at amounts equivalent to their melding value, except threes.

POINT SCORING FOR PENAL TV CARDS

(Card Left in a Player’s Hand at the End of a Hand)

Canastas. A partnership must have melded at least two canastas (with the exception of a Schneider or a blitz) to go out. No canasta may contain more than seven cards. A natural canasta counts 500 points. A mixed canasta counts 300 points. Wild cards may also be melded: A canasta of seven deuces counts 4,000 points. A canasta of wild cards which includes all four jokers counts 3,000. Any other wild-card canasta counts 2,000 points. A partnership needs two canastas to go out (go rummy ).
Natural and Mixed Canastas and Their Scoring Values. This is a natural canasta:
5-5-5-5-5-5-5
or
K-K-K-K-K-K-K

or any seven cards of the same rank regardless of suit. A natural canasta has a value of 500 points. However, a canasta made up of seven 7’s or seven aces has a value of 2,500 points each, such as,
7-7-7-7-7-7-7
or
A-A-A-A-A-A-A

There is no mixed seven (7) canasta because j wild cards cannot be used with sevens in a canasta. If a player goes out and a player is caught with four or more seven’s or four or more aces in his hand, he is penalized 1,500 points for the sevens and 1,500 points for the aces.
This is a Mixed Canasta:
A-A-A-A-A plus two wild cards,
or ,
8-8-8-8-8-8 plus one wild card

A mixed canasta is a combination of seven cards regardless of suit having the same rank (7’s excepted), at least five of which must be natural cards and a maximum of two which
may be wild. A mixed canasta has a value of 300 points.
This is a Seven Deuce Canasta:
2-2-2-2-2-2-2
A Seven Deuce canasta is a combination of seven wild deuces and has a value of 4,000 points.
This is a Four Joker Canasta:
joker-joker- joker- joker- 2- 2- 2
A Four Joker canasta contains four jokers and three deuces and counts 3,000 points.
This is a Mixed Wild Canasta:
joker- joker-joker- 2- 2- 2- 2
A Mixed Wild Canasta contains one, two, or three jokers plus enough deuces to form a canasta and counts 2,000 points.

Red and Jack Threes. At a player’s proper turn of play, should he hold any threes, he places them on the table as if they were a meld (black and red threes must be melded separately). For each three he lays down, he picks a card from the stock. If this drawn card is a three, it is laid on the table and the player draws another card from the stock. This procedure is continued until the player fails to draw a three. This rule holds true for each player at each turn of play. At the end of a hand, if a partnership has placed four same-colored threes (reds or blacks) on the board, their total value becomes 1,000 points. The melding value of either red threes or black threes is progressive poker draw 100 points for one red three, 300 for two red threes, 500 for three red threes, and 1,000 points for all lour red threes. The same progressive melding value procedure holds true for the black threes. Red and black threes cannot be combined into one meld. They are melded and scored separately.
To receive credit for threes, a partnership must have laid down at least one canasta. In the event of failure to meld one or more canastas, the threes become a penalty against the partnership of 100 points for each three. Upon the completion of a hand, if a player is caught with one or more threes in his hand, having failed to put it or them down, he is penalized 100 points for each three.
The Actual Play
First Player. He may pick the top card from the stock. He may then meld if he can and if he wants to do so. Then he must discard one card. His first or initial meld or melds must total 90 or more points. He may make up the 90 points by laying as many or as few melds from his hand as will suffice.
Or the player may pick up the entire discard pile-if the upcard can be used with two other natural cards of its numerical rank to form a meld. Again, a player’s initial meld or melds must total 90 or more points from the hand. Before taking the upcard or the discard pile, the player must lay down from his hand melds totaling 90 points or more. An initial meld must contain at least one natural meld made up of three natural cards.
After the cards are melded, the remainder of the discard pile is incorporated into the player’s hand. The player may now put down any other meld he elects. Having melded, he must discard one card.
Second Player. The rules for the first player as just stated govern the play of the second.
Third and Fourth Players (partners of the first and second). If the partner has not melded cards, the rules as stated above apply to these players.
Once the partnership has melded 90 or more points for its first initial meld, a player or his partner may meld cards of any value until their partnership’s score reaches 2,500 or more points at the end of a hand. Then the next initial meld required must total 120 points or more. Then when a partnership’s score has reached 5,000 or more points at the end of any hand, the following initial meld must total 150 points or more. When a partnership’s score has reached 7,500 or more points at the end of any hand, the next initial meld must total 180 points or more. After that, melds of any value are in order until a score of 10,000 or more is reached at the end of a hand and the online poker game is ended. There are no further complications. That’s game. Bonus cards, such as black and red threes, cannot be counted in amassing the initial required 90, 120, 150, or 180 or more point melds.
To Emphasize: The initial meld must have a minimum count that. depends upon the accumulated total score of that partnership at the beginning of the current deal. These are shown below in tabular form:

The initial meld may be made as follows:

1. A meld of three or more wild cards.
2. A meld of three or more natural cards.
3. One or more melds of two or more natural cards plus a wild card. Such an initial meld must contain at least one meld of three or more natural cards to be valid.

Going Out. A player goes out (goes rummy) when he (legally) gets rid of the last card of his hand by meld or discard. When a player goes out, play ends for that hand and the hands are scored. A player may go out only if his partnership has melded at least two canastas. Failing this requirement, he must retain at one card in his hand. A player need not discard a card in going out, he may lay off or meld all cards in hand. A player going out receives a 100 going-out (rummy) bonus. If a player legally goes out by melding his entire hand (13 or 14 cards) in one turn, having made no previous meld, he receives a having made no previous meld, he receives a “once-out bonus ” of 200 points plus any other bonuses attributed to the hand.
Initial Meld Bonus. Immediately after putting down an initial meld and before discarding, a player has the privilege (optional ) of taking three cards off the top of the stock and adding them to his hand. this is known as an “initial –meld bonus ” or “three-card bonus,” a reward for fulfilling the initial count requirement. If a player for reasons of his own refuses to accept the three cards, he simply says “I refuse.” After the acceptance or refusal, the player discards and ends his turn of play.
Schneider and Blitz Going-Out Hands
Schneider Hand. If a player for his first meld of a deal puts down his entire hand of 14 cards and it is made up of seven pairs of different rank cards (no wild cards), he calls “Schneider.” This ends the hand and the player receives a 2,000-point Schneider bonus. In such an instance, the two-canasta rule requirement to go out is waived.
Blitz Hand. If a player for his first meld of the deal puts down his entire hand of 14 cards and it is made up of 13 cards in sequence plus a joker , he calls “Blitz.” He goes out, receiving a blitz bonus of 2,500 points. A blitz hand is as follows: ace, deuce, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, nine, ten, jack, queen, king, and joker. Deuces and jokers are not wild in a blitz hand. in such an instance, the two-canasta rule requirement to go out is waived. If partners score any points, they are deducted.
Exhausting the Stock. If no one goes out and the entire stock pile is exhausted, the player picking the last card from stock must discard one card. If the next player does not hold a pair to match the upcard of the discard pile, the hand ends then and there. If the player holds a matching pair and the poker partnership has put down their initial meld, he takes the entire discard pile and lays down his melds and lay-off, if any. He discards a card and the hand ends.
End of the Game. At the end of each hand, new hands are deal until one partnership reaches a score of 10,000 or more points. But the partnership reaching the winning score cannot call out; the hand must be completed. If both partnerships have 10,000 or more points, that partnership with the highest score wins. If the teams tie at 10,000 or more points, new hands are played until the tie is broken. There is no game bonus for winning the game.
The Score. At the end of a hand, each partnership’s score is counted as follows: The partnership is credited with bonuses for canastas, for red and black threes, and for going out. Then the total value of all cards melded is counted. These points are added, and from that sum is subtracted the total point values of the cards remaining in the partners’ hands. The net balance is the partnership score at the end of the hand, and this may occupationally be a minus score. Note that all cards left in the hand count against the player, regardless of whether or not they could have been melded.
The scores are entered on a scores are entered on a score sheet in “We” and “They” columns, after which the next hand is dealt. A cumulative total score is kept of each hand scored