Ultimate Book of Card Games: The Comprehensive Guide to More Than 350 Games (59 page)

If you go out, all cards in your partner’s hand count against your total score—so it’s not always wise to go out too quickly. If you are able to go out but are unsure if it’s a good time (e.g., your partner may be holding high-point cards such as jokers and aces), you are allowed to ask your partner, “should I go out?” You may ask this question only immediately after drawing from the stock or taking the discard pile, and before making any melds (not including the required meld of the top discard, if applicable). Your partner answers “yes” or “no,” and the answer is binding. If your partner says “yes,” you must go out.

If the stock is exhausted and neither team has gone out, play continues as long as all players take the previous player’s discard and meld it. In other
words, players
must
take the discard if the pile is not frozen and if the discard matches any previous meld of that player’s side. The game ends when a player is allowed to draw from the stock but cannot because the stock is empty.

IRREGULARITIES & DISPUTES
You lose 100 points any time you are forced to retract a card from the table—for example, if you mistakenly meld an invalid card, or if you accidentally expose a card from your hand during melding. If you play a meld that does not meet the initial melding requirements, your minimum initial score is increased by 10 points as a penalty. If you fail to declare a red 3—assuming you had a valid chance to declare it—you lose 500 points.

VARIATION 1: SAMBA CANASTA

Samba is team-based and closely follows the rules of the standard game. Start with three fifty-two-card decks, add six jokers (162 cards total), and deal each player fifteen cards. When drawing cards from the stock, players
always
take two cards and
always
discard only one.

In Samba, you may meld sequences of cards (8 of clubs-7 of clubs-6 of clubs). Aces are always high, and 4 is the lowest card you may legally meld in a sequence. A seven-card sequence is called a
samba
, and it may not contain any wild cards. When melding sets, no more than two wild cards are allowed.

You may add natural cards from your hand to an existing canasta, but you may not take the top discard for this purpose. You and your partner may, however, meld more than one set of equal rank and use these cards to create canastas. So you may also mix and meld two sequences of cards to create a samba, as long as no more than seven cards are involved (e.g., you may not create a samba from a sequence of four with another sequence of four).

You are only allowed to take the topmost card in the discard pile in two situations: you immediately meld it with two natural cards of equal rank from your hand, or you immediately meld it with an
existing
sequence of fewer than seven cards. In the former scenario, you take the entire pile into your hand; in
the latter, you take only the top card and leave the remainder of the discard pile “as is.”

The initial melding requirements in Samba are:

Scores below 0 must meld at least 15 points

Scores from 0 to 1,495 must meld at least 50 points

Scores from 1,500 to 2,995 must meld at least 90 points

Scores from 3,000 to 6,995 must meld at least 120 points

Scores of 7,000 or more must meld at least 150 points

To go out, each team must meld a minimum of two canastas or sambas. The bonus for going out is 200 points. Sambas are worth 1,500 points. The bonus for declaring all six red 3s is 1,000 points. All other scoring is the same. Games of Samba are typically played to 10,000 points.

VARIATION 2: BOLIVIA CANASTA

This is exactly like Samba Canasta, except that three or more wild cards may be melded on their own. And if you meld seven wild cards, it’s called a
bolivia
and scores 2,500 points. The initial melding requirements are standardized at 150 points. When going out, a team must have at least one canasta and one samba. Games are played to 15,000 points.

VARIATION 3: BRAZILIAN CANASTA

Brazil meets Bolivia in this screwball Canasta variation. Follow the rules of Bolivia and score bonuses of 2,000 points for a bolivia and 1,500 points for a samba. However, if you have melds on the table that are incomplete versions of the bolivia or samba (for example, if you meld six wild cards but not the seventh), deduct 1,000 points each from your score if the other team goes out.

The discard pile may not be taken to make the initial meld, and the initial meld requirements are steep: below 6,995 points you must meld 150 points; from 7,000 to 7,995 you must meld a canasta; from 8,000 to 8,995 you must meld a canasta within a meld of at least 200 points; and above 9,000 you must meld a natural canasta. Games are played to 10,000 points.

VARIATION 4: JOKER CANASTA

This is another team-based variation. Deal thirteen cards to each player. The discard pile is always frozen and may be taken only with a natural pair (you must meld the top card immediately with two natural cards of equal rank from your hand). You may meld wild cards as canastas, and each team needs two canastas to go out. Canastas, though, may never contain more than seven cards total.

The initial meld requirements are 100 points for scores below 2,995 points; 130 points for scores between 3,000 and 4,995; 150 points for scores above 5,000.

Black 3s function exactly like red 3s but are scored separately. The first 3 you declare in either color is worth 100 points; 300 points for the second; 500 points for the third; and 1,000 points for the fourth. The score for 3s is automatically subtracted from your game score, unless your team melds at least one canasta. If you hold seven 2s, score your team 4,000 points. Four jokers and three 2s are worth 3,000 points. Games are played to 8,500 points.

VARIATION 5: MEXICANA CANASTA

Follow the basic Canasta rules with the following twists. Start with three fifty-two-card decks plus six jokers (162 cards total). Deal thirteen cards to each player. The first member of each team who melds draws thirteen cards from the stock and adds them to his hand. The discard pile may not be taken when the top card is a 7. A canasta of 7s is worth 1,000 points. To go out, a team must meld two canastas and declare as many red 3s as they have canastas.

VARIATION 6: HAND & FOOT CANASTA

Here’s another team-based variation, but unlike standard Canasta, this game only lasts for four deals (one by each player). Start with five fifty-two-card decks plus ten jokers (270 cards total), and deal each player two thirteen-card hands; the first is called the
hand
, the second is called the
foot.
The foot may not be played (or looked at) until the hand is played out. The remaining cards are the stock.

All players take two cards from the stock, and then discard only one. When picking up the discard pile, you may only take up to seven cards—and you may not take any cards at all if the top card is a 3. If you have not met your initial melding requirements, only the top discard counts against your minimum. And if the top discard is wild, you may pick up that card only with a matching set of wild cards from your hand.

Melds are known as either
clean
(no wild cards),
dirty
(up to two wild cards), or
wild
(nothing but wild cards). To go out, each team must have at least one wild meld. Seven-card melds are called
piles
—stack them in a neat pile, and top it with a red card (for a clean pile), a black card (for a dirty pile), or a joker (for a wild pile; use a 2 if it contains no joker).

In order to go out, a team must meld at least two dirty piles, two clean piles, and one wild pile with exactly seven cards in each. Each player also must have played at least one turn from his foot. If you meld all cards from your hand, immediately pick up your foot and continue play. Otherwise, meld all cards from your hand but one, discard it, then pick up the foot and use it on your next turn.

If you are going out, you must ask your partner’s permission and, if it’s given, meld all your remaining cards, or all but one and discard the last card. If your partner says “no,” you must wait until the next turn to go out.

Card values are the same as those in standard Canasta. Bonus points are as follows:

1,500 points for each “wild pile”

700 points for each “clean pile”

300 points for each “dirty pile”

100 points for each red 3

100 points for going out

The game lasts four rounds only, so each player deals once. The initial melding requirements are: 50 points in Round 1; 90 points in Round 2; 120 points in Round 3; 150 points in Round 4.

VARIATION 7: OKLAHOMA CANASTA

Rummy meets Canasta in this superb—and popular—Canasta variation. There are no teams here. Instead, two to five players compete as individuals. Two decks are used, plus one joker (105 cards total), and all players are dealt thirteen cards.

The standard rules of melding apply, but in Oklahoma Canasta you may also meld sequences of three or four cards. Aces are played high or low in sequences. Another key difference from standard Canasta is that melds may not grow to more than four cards.

The joker and all 2s are still wild. The only difference is that—as in Rummy—you must nominate a suit and rank when playing a wild card. Other players may subsequently take the joker into their hand (not the 2s, just the joker), as long as they swap it with the nominated card.

The Q of spades may be discarded only on your last turn (e.g., you may not discard Q of spades as long as you can discard any other card). Each player calculates score by adding the value of the cards melded and subtracting it from the value of the cards left in her hand. The player who goes out earns a 100-point bonus. Card values are:

Games are typically played to 1,000 points, and the winner earns a 200-point bonus (used for multigame campaigns).

VARIATION 8: TWO-HAND CANASTA

Follow the rules of the basic game, but obviously there is no team play—players compete head to head. Deal fifteen cards each, and always draw two cards from the stock (but still discard just one). Players may not go out until they have melded at least two canastas.

VARIATION 9: THREE-HAND CANASTA

In Three-Hand Canasta, everybody plays for themselves. However, in each round, two players form a temporary partnership against the
lone hand
. Deal thirteen cards each, and always draw two cards from the stock (but discard just one). Players may not go out until they have melded at least two canastas. The first player to take the discard pile becomes the lone hand. The others play in temporary partnership and may combine melds and work together. If a player goes out before the discard pile is taken up, that player is by default the lone hand.

The initial meld requirements are player specific, so each player is likely to have a different point requirement. The players each have a column on the score pad—the lone hand scores his own points, the opposition scores their total points. However, red 3s only score for the individual players and not for the ad hoc team.

Once the stock is exhausted, the round ends once the player who drew the last card of the stock discards. If the stock is empty and the discard pile was never taken, there is no lone hand, and each player earns his individual score. Games are played to 7,500 points.

1. DIFFICULTY
   :
   medium
   
2. TIME LENGTH
   :
   medium
   
3. DECKS
   : 2
   

Euchre is a quintessentially American game, even though it is played throughout English-speaking countries and owes many features to ancient German trick-taking games. The first references to Euchre came from the Pennsylvania Dutch; thereafter it moved up the East Coast and into the American Midwest, where it is still among the most popular and commonly played games.

There is no global standard for Euchre. The game is played differently in Canada, Britain, Australia, and even within the United States. The rules below cover the four-player partnership version of Euchre, a.k.a. “standard” Euchre, sometimes called North American Euchre.

HOW TO DEAL
Start with a fifty-two-card deck, and remove all 2s through 6s, for a total of thirty-two cards. Deal each player five cards in batches of 3-2. The dealer finishes by turning up the bottom card of the deck (this is the turn-up card).