This game is played by 4 players with two decks of cards and 4 jokers , you and the player sitting opposite are partners. At the start of a hand 11 cards are dealt to each player, and then one card is turned from the stock cards to form the discard pile.
In this game, 2 and jokers are wild cards, and the basic objective of this game is to form melds. A meld is 3 or more cards of the same rank with at most 2 wild cards and at least 2 natural cards (non wild cards). When a meld is formed, it is laid out on the table for everyone to see.
During a player's turn, he can either take the top card from the stock pile, form melds if he can, and then discard a card to the discard pile; or use the top card from the discard pile to form a meld with cards on his hand or with existing melds, and then take the entire discard pile, and then form melds if he can, and then discard a card to the discard pile. 3's are special cards and cannot form melds, when a red 3 is received, it is immediately laid out on the table and a new card is drawn.
When a wild card is played on the discard pile the discard pile becomes frozen, meaning that the pile cannot be taken unless the top card can be melded with 2 or more natural cards on hand. If the first card dealt from the stock card is a red 3 or a wild card, then the discard pile is also frozen. A meld of 7 or more cards is called canasta, if a team has canastas, then either one of the team members can choose to "go out", meaning ending his turn by playing all his cards, and then the hand is over. Before going out, a player needs to ask for his partner's permission.
A hand also ends when there are no more cards in the stock pile. When a hand ends, the scores are calculated, in each meld, 4, 5, 6, 7's worth 5 points, 8, 9, 10, J, Q, K worth 10 points, A and 2 worth 20 points, jokers worth 50 points. Each mixed canasta (canastas with wild cards) worth 300 points, each natural canasta (canastas without wild cards) worth 500 points, the team who goes out get an extra 100 points, if a team has canastas, then each red 3 worth 100 points (200 if all 4 red 3's are held) otherwise the scores for red 3's are deducted rather than added, the scores for the cards on hand are also deducted.
The total score affects the required points for the first meld in a hand, which is 50 if the team has total points below 1500, 90 if the team has total points below 3000, and 120 if the team has total points equal to or above 3000. The game ends when one team gets more than 5000 points, and the team with higher score wins.
