Play Environment:

104 cards / 2 decks including jokers

Hand Size:

• 2 players = 15 cards each

• 3 players = 13 cards each

• 4 players = 11 cards each

Dealing Bonus:

Each turn dealing rotats one player to the right.

The player to the left of the dealer cuts the cards before dealt.

If the dealer picks and deals the exact amount of cards needed including the discard (31 cards for 2 players) they receive an additional 100 bonus points

Melding:

Before a player is able to play cards on their turn they must first be able to "meld" by laying down the a minium amount of points. (3 kings and a 2 = 30 + 20 points = 50 point meld). Melding may consist of any amount of piles/cards that are playable on a single turn and their combined point total.

• At the beginning of the game: Meld = 50 points

• Once a player has reached 1500 points: Meld = 90 points

• Once a player has reached 3000 points: Meld = 120 points

Playing Cards:

Cards piles must be in groups of 3 or more to be playable (3, jacks).

Card piles including wild cards must have more natural cards than wild.

• 2 jacks and 1 wild = good

• 2 wilds and 1 jack = bad

• 2 jacks and 2 wilds = bad

Canastas:

• A Canasta is any card pile of 7 or more cards.

• Canastas that include wild cards (up to 3) are worth 300 points

• Canastas that do not include wild cards (natural canastas) are worth 500 points

Threes:

• Black threes cannot be Canastas, cannot be picked up from the pile, and cannot be played except on the turn a player goes out.

• Red threes must be played the turn they are picked, each is worth 100 points and 1 additional card. Any turn that a player picked all 4 red threes they are entitled to an additional 400 points or a total of 800 points (400 for the red threes and 400 bonus).

Picking Up The Pile:

• At the beginning of each turn a player chooses to either pick a card, the top card of the discard pile, or pick up the discard pile.

• If a card is picked - a card is discarded at the end of the turn.

• If the top card of the discard pile is picked - a card is discarded at the end of the turn.

• If the discard pile is picked, the top card must be played upon pickup.

Freezing the Pile:

• To freeze the pile a player must discard a wild card.

• When the pile is frozen a player must play the card picked up using cards in a players hand.

It cannot be picked up by playing a card by adding to a pre-existing played pile.

Going Out / Ending a Round:

• To end a round a player must have at least one Canasta, no cards in their hand, and a discard.

• Players may chose to discard a playable card to end a round rather than collect the point and extend the round.

• The player who ends a round automatically recieves 100 bonus points

Counting Points:

• At the end of each round all players with cards still in their hands must subtract the total points of the cards in their hands from the total points acquired in the round.

• Players who have no melded must subtract their entire hand and any red threes played from their total score.