Players:

• Usual number is four. (2 sets of partners)
• Minimum of 2, maximum of 8.
• Can play with or w/o partners (some versions play only with partners).
• Can play with odd number of players.

Cards:

• Normal playing cards including two jokers per deck.
• Number of decks used equal to number of players.
• Shuffle all the decks together.

The Deal:

• There are many variations in ways of dealing and you can use the one you like.
• The simplest is for each player to take a portion of the draw pile, and deal out two hands of 11 cards each. He then passes one hand to his left, keeping the other one.
• Player can pick up either hand, and leave the other one for his foot.

Object of Game & Length of Game.

• The object of the game is to get the most points, by forming canastas of seven cards of the same value. (Or with some wild cards)
• Four rounds make up a full game.

Play of the hand

• At each player's turn, he picks up two cards, and discards one.
• Lay downs are minimum of three of a kind. No runs are allowed.
• The first player of a partnership to lay down, must have the minimum number of points per the schedule as shown below.
• A player must play his 'hand' completely, before he can pick up his 'foot'.
• If, to clear his hand, he must discard, he must wait till the next turn to start playing his foot. Otherwise he can go directly into it.
• Threes cannot be played. All other cards in your hand or foot count their point value against you.
• Only one player of a partnership needs to clear his hand to go out, but he must ask his partners permission first.
• All cards in players hands count against the partnerships total score.

Points for initial meld at each round

• First round: 50 points
• Second round: 90 points
• Third round: 120 points
• Fourth round: 150 points

Points:

• Threes are always minus points.
• All other cards are minus if held in the hand at the end of the round, or are plus points if they have been played on the board.
• Red Three's: -500 pts.
• Black Three's: -5 points
• Fours thru seven: 5 points.
• Eight thru King: 10 points.
• Two's and Aces: 20 points.
• Jokers: 50 points.
• For "Going Out": 100 pts.

Types & Values of Canastas

• Each "Clean" pile 500 pts.
• Each "Dirty" pile 300 pts.

Picking up the discard pile:

• To pick up the discard pile, the player must hold two matching cards in his hand, and must play the top card together with his matching pair.
• All cards in the discard pile must be taken.
• Only the top card of the discard pile can be counted toward an initial meld.

Picking up the Foot:

       You can pick up your foot after you get rid of all the cards from your Hand. If you can play all the cards in your hand, you can immediately go into your foot without stopping.

Clean and Dirty Piles: No. of cards allowed, and no. of wild cards allowed.

• Clean - Max. 7 cards
• Dirty - No limit
• Dirty - 1 more natural cards than wild cards

Going Out:

• In order to "go out" the partner going out must get rid of all the cards in his Hand and his Foot and have canastas as follows:
  • One clean meld (Natural)
  • One dirty meld (Unnatural)
  • You must ask your partner if he wants to go out, and abide by his decision.