Rules
Royal Canasta – extended melds · Rules
Use three decks and six jokers, with fifteen cards dealt to each player. Four-player games use partnerships.
Objective
Reach 18,000 points by building canastas and runs, including a completed samba.
Deal and setup
Use three decks and six jokers, with fifteen cards dealt to each player. Four-player games use partnerships.
How to play — step by step
- Draw two cards or take the discard pile when allowed by the special rules.
- Prepare matching ranks, same-suit runs or wild-card sets, then confirm the melds. You may add to melds still open.
- Lay down red threes manually. A run of seven natural consecutive cards of one suit completes a samba.
- Finish by discarding. Going out requires two complete melds including a samba; completed sambas and bolivias are frozen.
Important rules to remember
Play example
Seven consecutive natural cards of one suit form a samba. A mixed-rank group is not a samba, even if it has seven cards.
Key terms
- meld
- Group of cards of the same rank
- canasta
- Completed meld of seven cards
- wild card
- Joker or card substituting another rank