| Cards | Point value |
|---|---|
| Jokers | 50 points each |
| A, 2 | 20 points each |
| K, Q, J, 10, 9, 8 | 10 points each |
| 7, 6, 5, 4 | 5 points each |
Canasta is normally played with standard 52 card decks plus two jokers.
The cards A, K, Q, J, 10, 9, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4 are called natural cards. All of the deuces (twos) and jokers are wild cards. With some restrictions, wild cards can be used during the game as substitutes for a natural card of any rank.
The threes have special functions and values: Black threes are used as discards as they cannot be picked up. Black three's (3♠ / 3♣) held in a player's hand at the end of the game count minus 100 points (subtracted from the player's score). Red threes (3 ♥ / 3 ♦) are not to be used to meld a Canasta, but are set into the meld area and have a value of 100 points each. Black three's may only be melded by the player going out at the end of the hand.
Read more about this topic: Ponytail Canasta
Famous quotes containing the word cards:
“Oft have I played at cards and dice,
Because they were so enticing;
But this is a sad and sorrowful day
To see my apron rising.”
—Unknown. The Rantin Laddie (l. 1–4)
“Skill sheets, workbooks, basal reader, flash cards are not enough. To convey meaning you need someone sharing the meaning and flavor of real stories with the student.”
—Jim Trelease (20th century)
“A revolution is not the overturning of a cart, a reshuffling in the cards of state. It is a process, a swelling, a new growth in the race. If it is real, not simply a trauma, it is another ring in the tree of history, layer upon layer of invisible tissue composing the evidence of a circle.”
—Kate Millett (b. 1934)