Canasta is a card game that originated in Uruguay. It is generally played with 4 players, two sets of partners. There are variations of the game that allow other numbers of players. The game is played with two decks of cards.
The dealer is chosen by a draw of cards. The highest ranked card deals first and the dealer rotates clockwise after this. The dealer takes the two decks of cards including the four jokers and shuffles them. He deals 11 cards to each player in a clockwise motion. The remaining are placed in the middle of the table with the top card flipped starting a separate pile. The flipped card cannot be a three or a wild card. Wild cards are jokers and twos.
The first player in the game is seated left of the dealer, after this player the play goes clockwise. A player draws from the stack in the center of the table or may pick up the entire discard pile. A player may start his meld at this time. Meld is at least three like valued cards or a mix with wild cards. Natural cards have to be the majority. The initial laydown has to meet point requirements. If your score is 0 to 1495 the minimum point total of initial melt is 50. If you have points between 1500 to 2995 the initial meld would be 90. For scores above 3000 you need to start with 120 meld.
Object of the game is making canastas. This is a stack of like valued cards numbering 7. There are natural canastas and mixed canastas, that have wild cards. Scoring for the game is based on all cards played plus bonuses. Bonuses include going out for 100 points, each mixed canasta 300 points, each natural canasta 500 points, each red three 100 points, all 4 red threes 800 points. You take these points and minus the held card values. If you do not have a canasta all points are negative.
To go out you have to play all the cards in your hand. This play must include a discard. If all cards from the draw pile are used the discard pile is flipped over.
Gin Rummy can be played in a number of different ways, but the goal is generally to get all cards as either a triplet or a four-of-a-kind. Play Gin Rummy and learn what cards to throw away with tips from a gaming specialist in this free video on card games.
Spit is a fun, fast-paced card game for two players. To begin, you only need one deck of shuffled cards, not including Jokers. The two players sit facing each other. Each player gets half the cards, but don’t look at them.
To set up, each player should make piles of cards, as if setting up a game of solitaire, but with just five piles. So the first pile is one card, and the second pile is two cards, etc. Only the top card of each pile is turned up. The leftover cards are called your “spit cards.” Lay these off to the side. If you have duplicate cards on your five piles, you can put those cards together and turn up the card underneath. For example, if you have a 2, 3, King, 3, and 10 on top your piles, then pick up one of the 3’s and put it on the other 3. You can do this anytime throughout the game. The top card on each pile should always be turned up. Now you’re ready to begin.
Each player turns up a spit card and lays it in the middle. The players can start laying cards on both spit cards. The card that you lay comes from your upturned cards on your five piles, and it must be a card that comes sequentially before or after the spit card. For example, if your spit card is a 5, either player can lay a 4 or a 6 on top of it. If your spit card is a Jack, either player can lay a 10 or a Queen. For an Ace, you can lay a 2 or a King.
Once a card is placed on the spit card, both players continue laying cards until there are no more possible moves. Then you both “spit” which means you each lay a spit card again. Whoever runs out of cards from their 5 piles wins that round. The winner takes the smallest of the two spit piles, and the loser takes the biggest pile, and you start from the beginning with those cards.
At some point, a player will have all their cards on the 5 piles, with no spit cards to spare. This round will only have one spit pile that both players lay on. When a player completely runs out of cards, they are the winner. In some games of Spit, players are only allowed to use one hand. This rule needs to be agreed upon before the game begins.
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Canasta is a card game that originated in Uruguay. It is generally played with 4 players, two sets of partners. There are variations of the game that allow other numbers of players. The game is played with two decks of cards.
