Canasta Card Game

Canasta is a game from the Rummy family that enjoyed immense popularity in the 1950's and is still popular today.

Overview
Canasta is played with two full decks plus 4 Jokers. The Jokers and Twos are wild. A wild card can only be melded with natural cards and becomes a card of that rank.
Eleven cards are dealt to each player (15 in a two-handed game). The remaining cards are placed in the center and form the Stock. The top card from the Stock is flipped over to start the Discard pile. If it's a Joker, Two, or Three a new card must be flipped.

Red Threes
A player who is dealt a red Three must place it face-up on the table and receive a new card from the deck. A player who draws a red Three from the stock must place it on the table and draw a replacement. A player who takes the Discard pile and finds a red Three must place it on the table, but receives no replacement.
Each red Three is worth 100 points, unless one side has all of the red Threes, then they are worth 200 points each.

Object of Play
The main objective is to form Melds (combinations of three or more cards of the same rank) with or without wild cards.
Each player in turn draws from the Stock or Discard pile (see Canasta Play for details on taking the Discard pile), melds combinations (optional), and discards to end their turn.

Melds
A meld is valid if it contains at least 2 natural cards of the same rank and not more than 3 wild cards. A set of 3 or 4 black Threes (without wild cards) can only be melded when going out.
A player may meld as many cards as they wish during their turn, either forming new melds or adding cards to existing melds. All the melds for a partnership are placed in front of one player and can be added to by either partner.

Canasta
A meld of 7 or more cards with at least 4 natural cards is called a Canasta. A Canasta earns a bonus or 500 points if it's natural or 300 points if it uses wild cards. Additional cards can be added to a Canasta but do not increase the bonus value.

Initial Meld
The first meld made by a side is called its Initial Meld. This meld must meet a minimum score requirement that is based upon the teams score at that current time. To meet the minimum requirements a player may make more than one meld. If they take the Discard pile the player may count the top card, but no other. Bonuses for red Threes and Canastas do not count towards the minimum score. After the initial meld is completed, either partner can make any legal meld from that point on.

Discard Pile
A player can take the Discard Pile to meld the top card with a natural pair, meld the top card with one natural card and one wild card, or to add the top card to an existing meld. If the Discard Pile is Frozen (see below), a player can only pickup the pile if they can meld the top card with a natural pair.
The pile is frozen for both sides when it contains a red Three or a wild card. Additionally, the pile is frozen for a partnership until one of the partners makes its initial meld.

The Discard Pile cannot be picked up if the top card is a wild card or a black Three.

Going Out
A player goes out when he gets rid of his last card by discarding it or melding it. When any player goes out, the hand ends and the scores are calculated. A player can go out only if his side has melded at least one Canasta.
A player can't play a meld that leaves them with only 1 card if the partnership does not have a Canasta. Since discarding their final card would be illegal, the player must keep more than one card in the hand.


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