A 'canasta' is a collection of at least seven cards of the same rank. To finish the game, players must get at least one 'canasta' (“2 on 2”), or at least two 'canastas' (“1 on 1”). It ends when a player or team gets 5000 points. The object of the game is to have the highest score possible and get rid of all your cards. Two decks of cards that contain two jokers in each deck are used to play the game. With two players, the game is played '1 on 1', with four players, it's played '2 on 2'. The game described here can be play with 2 or 4 players. This metaphorically refers to the main goal of the game, which is to collect cards of the same rank. 'Canasta' in Spanish means 'shopping basket'. The game's biggest draw is when multiple players participate. Since then, a number of variants of the game have come about. Its popularity then spread throughout the countries of South America, and in the 1950s, gained immense popularity in the United States. The rules for canasta were first written in 1939 in Uruguay. 10 ♣ J ♣ Q ♣).Ĭanasta prototypes such as: 'Comet', 'Ronda', and 'Manila' were already in existence in the eighteenth century. Unlike in rummy, players are not allowed to meld sequences using consecutive cards (eg. The object of the game is to meld sets that consist of at least three cards of the same rank (eg Q♠, Q♠, Q♥).
