3.       Play

a.       Each team must elect one of its players to hold the Points and another player to hold the canastas.

b.       Play is always clockwise, beginning with the player to the left of the Hand dealer.

c.       No player is ever skipped.

d.       A team may not play any cards to the table (except Red 3s) until one if its players, on their turn, is able to start canastas in such a way that the Minimal Starting Points requirement is met (see Scoring).

e.       On each turn, a player draws two cards from the Draw Pile OR picks up the entire Discard Pile, plays their cards and then discards a card to the Discard Pile. If there are multiple Draw Piles (to help all players reach one), they are collectively considered as one pile.

f.        If a player forgets to draw from the pile or pick up the discard pile at the start of his turn and then continues to play and discards, then the forgetful player must draw two cards from the Draw Pile as soon as the error is discovered.  In this case, they forfeit the right to pick up the discard pile.

g.       Drawing from the Draw Pile

                                                   i.      Two cards are drawn each time

                                                 ii.      If only one card remains in the Draw Pile before the Player’s turn, he must draw that card, complete his play, and discard.

1.       Since there is nothing in the Draw Pile, subsequent players must pick up the Discard Pile if they are able to do so.  When the first player is unable to pick up the Discard Pile, the game is over.

                                               iii.      If a Red 3 is drawn, it is immediately put with the Team’s Points and another card is drawn.

                                                iv.      If a card is drawn that shouldn’t have been drawn (such as a third card or a simple “fumble” of the cards), then the drawn card will be placed back into the middle of any Pickup Pile.

h.       Picking up the Discard Pile

                                                   i.      The Discard Pile may NOT be picked up on a player’s turn if the top card is a Black 3 or a card with a value that is the same as any clean or dirty canasta his team currently has in play which has five or more cards. (See exception in section ii below)

                                                 ii.      If the player has two of the same number as the top card, he must put those two cards on the table where everyone can see them, pick up the entire Discard Pile, put the top card with the other two placed on the table, continue playing cards and then discard.  The two cards he has may not include a wildcard. Even though a wildcard may be used to start a typical canasta, it may not be used to pick up the pile.

                                               iii.      If a player has THREE or more cards that match the top card in the discard pile, he MAY pick up the pile if his team has an in-progress canasta of five or more cards that match the top card in the discard pile IF, and only if, he 1) plays one or two of the cards in his hand to finish the canasta on the table AND 2) uses two additional cards to match the card at the top of the discard pile.  In this case, the completed canasta is turned over to the person holding completed canastas and a new one is started. The player then collects the remainder of the discard pile and continues play.

                                                iv.      If the player’s team has not yet started any canastas, then his team must meet the “minimum points to go down” rule.  If the player sees that he has two cards that match the top card and that those three cards plus other cards in his hand will produce the minimum value to go down (Minimal Starting Points), then he must put all of his cards down (face-up) that he intends to play (to make the minimum) to show the table that he has everything he needs to go down – which would include the cards he puts down PLUS the card at the top of the pile. The card at the top of the pile may then be played and the remainder of the discard pile picked up, merged into the players hand, and then the player may continue playing normally until he discards.

                                                 v.      A player who is considering picking up the discard pile may ask his fellow players whether or not they agree that he should pick it up.  They may discuss overall points (showing on the table), but may not discuss what they have in their hands.

i.         Play

                                                   i.      A player’s goal is to create, play on, and complete canastas.

                                                 ii.      A player’s turn has three parts:  1) draw from the pile or discard pile, 2) play cards or canastas, 3) discard.  The turn must be played in this order.

                                               iii.      A player may rearrange any card they play from their hand to the table, between canastas, or even back to their hand until they discard.  Their turn is over as soon as they have discarded. “A card laid is a card played” doesn’t apply until the player has discarded.

                                                iv.      Creating a Canasta

1.       A canasta may be created by playing 3 or more (up to 7) cards of the same face number (i.e. three 8s, three Queen’s, etc.)

2.       A wild card may be used to create a canasta as long as the following rules are followed:

a.       A maximum of two wild cards may be played in a canasta (except for the canasta of wild cards, where all cards are wild).

b.       Only one wild card may occur in a canasta when the canasta contains 1 to 5 total cards, including the wild card.

c.       A second wild card may be added to a canasta only as the sixth or seventh card.

                                                 v.      Playing on existing canastas

1.       On his turn, a player may add cards to any of his team’s canastas.

2.       No more than two wild cards may be in any dirty canasta.  If used, a second wild card may not be added to a canasta until there are at least five natural cards in the canasta (the second wild card becomes the seventh card).

3.       As soon as a canasta contains six cards, the cards are “rolled up” into a stack.  If the six cards contain no wild cards, a red card shall be placed on top to indicate a “Clean” canasta.  If the six cards contain any wild cards (except for wild card canastas), a black card shall be placed on top to indicate a “Dirty” canasta.

j.         Making Canastas (Completing Canastas)

                                                   i.      A canasta is “made” when the entire seven card canasta is completed, picked up and handed to the team member who is holding the Points.

                                                 ii.      When a team’s first canasta is made, each person on the team may immediately pick up their Foot and merge it into their Hand. The player who made the canasta may continue playing and must discard when he is finished with his play.  If the Player who made the canasta discards before “playing his foot” (the foot and hand merged), his turn is over and he will have to play it on his next turn.

k.       Discarding

                                                   i.      A player may discard ANY card in his hand

                                                 ii.      If a player only has one card at the end of his turn, he must discard it.  He may, at his option, say “Out, but not out” indicating that he’s out of cards but is not ending the game.  However, if he discards the last card with the intention of ending the game, he MUST declare that he is OUT and make it clear that the game is over.

l.         Going Out

                                                   i.      “Going Out” is when a player on a team discards their last card.  This ends the round, unless they player elects to keep playing as indicated in [3k.ii]

                                                 ii.      A team may not Go Out by having a player discard his last card until that team has at least ONE EACH of these three types of canastas:

1.       Wild Canasta.  Contains all Wild Cards (2s and/or Jokers)

2.       Clean Canasta.  A “natural” canasta containing no wild cards (i.e., seven 8s or seven Kings or seven 4s)

3.       Dirty Canasta.  A canasta containing five or six “natural” cards and one or two wild cards.  (i.e., five Jacks and two wild cards or six Aces and a wild card or five 9s and two wild cards).

                                               iii.      When a player has one card left, it is his turn, and he is eligible and capable of going out, he may seek the advice of his team as to whether or not he should go out.  Team members may discuss it as long as all discussion takes place where everyone at the table can hear the conversation and as long as they do not state or provide hints as to what is in anyone’s hand.

                                                iv.      There is a special case where a player may go out and have Black 3’s in his hand count as positive points for his team.  Normally, Black 3’s that remain in a player’s hand at the end of a round are counted as negative points.  However, it is possible for the player who goes out to do so with black three’s in his hand.

1.       Going Out with Black 3s

a.       Player plays all cards and has nothing left in his hand but seven Black 3s and a card to be used as a discard card (this card may be any card, including a Black 3). In this case, the black threes will add 1500 points to the team’s base score.

b.       See Scoring for scoring information.

4.       Ending a Round

a.       A round ends when a player has no cards remaining and has declared that he is OUT.