Mergers can become as big as you want. A merge of seven or more cards counts as Canasta. No merge can contain more than three wildcards – so a six-card detector must contain at least three natural cards, and a canasta must contain at least four natural cards. There is no limit to the number of natural maps that can be added to a complete Canasta. A joker added to a pure canasta makes it naturally mixed. Once a Canasta contains three wildcards, no other wildcards can be added. The player to the left of the dealer plays first, and then the movement to play is clockwise. A basic move is to draw two cards from the top of the distribution pile and add them to your hand without showing them to other players. After the draw, but before discarding them, players can sometimes play certain cards with their hand face up on the table.

Playing cards at the table in this way is called fusion, and sets of three or more cards played this way are fusions. These merged cards remain face up on the table until the end of the game. Merging into Canastas is the goal of the game to make as many Canastas as possible. Discarding a card from a player`s hand face up on the discard pile completes each player`s turn. If your hand or pony contains a red three, set aside the red three where your canastas are and draw a card to replace it in your hand. These three reds count for 100 points at the end of the hand. Once a canasta is made by one partner, both partners can pick up their pile of 13 hands immediately. At the end of the game, each team calculates its score for the hand. There are six possible elements to this score, and how they are combined depends on how many canastas the team has completed.

Pony Canasta has been a fairly new and fascinating card game for 10-100 years. The size of the table determines the number of players from 2 to 12+. This card game is perfect for kids, couples, families and friends. It is played in the same way as other Canasta games with additions that make it exciting and fast-paced. If you`re bored with slow canastas and tired family games, Pony Canasta is your new game. It was created by dear friends, a couple who lived for 14 years with their five children in a remote outpost in Ethiopia. They were bored with other card games and developed this one with friends. They taught me how to play it when I was living in Bangkok, Thailand. The game is so fast and intriguing that it quickly becomes a favorite. Everyone who plays Pony Canasta develops unique strategies to win. Have fun with it!| YOU WILL EXPERIENCE THE FIRST TIME THE CANASTA PONY RULES WERE WRITTEN.

YOU WILL ALSO LEARN SOMETHING THAT WILL CHANGE YOUR ATTITUDE TOWARDS CARD GAMES. PLAYING PONY CANASTA WILL BRING LOTS OF SMILES! FEEL FREE TO SHARE THE RULES OF THE GAME WITH OTHERS. Some play that a team can`t get out if they have an incomplete canasta of seven or pure aces. If your team starts a seven-ticket mel or a mel all-as, you will need to complete the canasta before you can go out. Some players allow a team to start a fusion of the same rank as a canasta completed by the opponents. In this case, the cards that match your own closed canasta are not dead and may not be safely discarded. However, cards that match your opponent`s closed canasta are still safe discards. www.irenebaron.com/irene_baron_blog1/pony_canasta_a_new_family_favorite_card_game individual players or a team member can only place cards on the board/table during their turn and AFTER their initial merge for that turn. When playing with a partner, only one person will combine fusions, canastas and red treys on the board/table in front of them. It is only during their own turn that a team member is allowed to play on their shared/team cards. Bonuses for the three reds, canastas, etc. cannot be counted towards the minimum.

Even if you have a full canasta in your hand, you cannot reject it as an initial merge if the total value of each card is not equal to your minimum number. All other rules are the same as in the classic four-player Canasta. The target score is 5000 points; If one or both players reach or exceed these points, the player with the highest score wins. I thank Shirley Schwartz, Mr. Glatt and Lorraine Seman for describing this game to me, Helaine Neiman for teaching Canasta in northern New Jersey for her help and advice, and the former American Canasta Association for briefly posting a partial description of the rules on their website in 1999. The rules have evolved and the following description reflects my understanding of how the game is commonly played at the time of writing (2017). Undoubtedly, many players continue to play according to previous versions of the rules and some of these options are listed in the Variations/Table Rules section. Each team calculates its total score for the hand, as described in 1 to 6 above. This amount is added to its cumulative amount.

It is possible for a team to have a negative score for a hand – this is the case, for example, if it does not complete a canasta, and in this case, its cumulative score will be reduced. It is possible for a team to have a negative cumulative score. CANASTAS: Seven or more cards make one canasta. Once created, additional cards of this denomination can be added to each Canasta. Cards that build a canasta are usually placed vertically on the board and overlap until a canasta is formed. Once a canasta is formed, the cards of that canasta are stacked together and set aside. If it`s a wild canasta, put a deuce or joker on it to label it. If a black canasta put a black card on it. If it is a natural canasta card, put a red card on it. If a seven is Canasta, put a seven at the top. Surprise scanastas should be placed elsewhere on the board to mark their point differences.

A Canasta Surprise is a Canasta held in the player`s hand until the finished Canasta Surprise is placed on the board during its turn to „surprise” everyone. Surprise canastas are worth more points than what can be seen in the scores section. This new version of Canasta includes some features from the Pennies from Heaven and Hand and Foot variants. Those who have adopted it appreciate its stricter rules and find the classic version too simple in comparison.