Online card games – Canasta

Most online card games can be played singly with computer as opponents,  also as partner. 

There are countless games that are available on the Net a sure way to pass time when there is time on one’s hands. 

Canasta is one such game

Canasta is a card game belonging to the
Rummy family. There is no betting in this game. 

Canasta could be played online where the computer could play the role of both opponent and partner. It is a team game consisting of one, two or three in a team. Canasta is played using all the 52 cards in the deck where two is treated as a wild cardwhich plays the same role as the joker.

The object of the game is to form melds of three cards of the same rank. Each player is dealt with the number of cards depending on the option one chooses. Normally it is 11 or 13. The remaining cards are treated as ‘stock pile’ which are not seen by the players. After dealing the required number of cards one card is placed in the ‘discard pile’ with face open. The player has the option to pick a card from the stock pile or from the ‘discard pile’. Each time a card is picked it is used to form a meld. The player can discard the same card if it is of no use or retain the card in the pile on hand and discard any card from the pile in hand. The game on hand is over when either team has atleast one meld of 7 straight cards without the help of the wild card or the joker, and all the cards the player has on hand are used of as per rules of the game.

The game is played in a clockwise direction. The rules to form the first meld change as the game progresses in that the team needs to have the very first meld having a certain value. For example at the start of the game where teams have no score there the initial meld should have a value of atleast 50. If the team has scored 3000 or more then the value of the first meld should be 120. The meld values are clearly defined in the game structure. The value of a meld is calculated based on the type of cards one uses to form melds. The value for each card is different. Joker has a value of 50, two – 20, Ace 20, King to 8, 10, and the cards from 7 to 3 of black is 5. The red 3 is normally used to replace it with a better card.

By placing a joker or a two on the ‘discard pile’, the pile gets frozen. Only if the player has two cards of the same rank in his hand as the top card on the ‘discard pile’, can the ‘discard pile’ be picked up.

Black 3 can be melded only at the end of the game. If the black 3 is on the top of the ‘discard pile’ the pile cannot be picked up.

The game is over when any team reaches the winning score. While the value of the cards that have been used in the melds are added to the score those that are on hand have a negative score and that score is calculated based on the value of each card remaining on hand.