Can(Am)Asta: The Official Handbook

By Hinda Packard and Nancy Kaplan

Clubs, hearts, spades and diamonds are the four suits of any card game. But Can(Am)asta is no ordinary card game. It combines Canadian rules with American rules, and leads to a whole lot of fun for anyone who embraces the competitive spirit that comes with playing cards with friends and family.

Hinda Packard and Nancy Kaplan love the game of canasta. Yet as they learned to play, it soon became evident that every person followed a different set of rules; some easy and others quite challenging. In a comprehensive handbook tailored to canasta players of all levels, Packard and Kaplan outline easy-to-follow guidelines that include instructions on how to play Can(Am)asta using insider tips and strategies, information on rules and scoring, definitions of special hands, strategies to make the game more interesting, and optional rules for playing for money. Through their teachings, it is their hope that others will derive as much enjoyment from the game as they have.

I (Heart) Canasta shares proven insider tips, strategies, and easy-to-follow instructions for anyone interested in learning and winning a new version of canasta.

• Language: English
• Publisher: iUniverse
• Release date: Dec 28, 2018
• ISBN: 9781532048708

Hinda Packard

Hinda Packard has been playing and teaching canasta for years, and is the creator of Can(Am)asta a new version of canasta. Hinda is author of a multi-ethnic cookbook, mother of two daughters, and grandmother to four. Now retired, she lives with her husband in Cote St. Luc, Quebec. Nancy Kaplan was born in New Brunswick, and grew up in Cape Breton, Nova Scotia. She has been playing—with great enjoyment—the game of Canasta for the last several years. Nancy is happily married and has one daughter and three-step-sons. She is also the grandmother of seven grandchildren.

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Copyright © 2019 Hinda Packard and Nancy Kaplan.

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced by any means, graphic, electronic, or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, taping or by any information storage retrieval system without the written permission of the author except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews.

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ISBN: 978-1-5320-4869-2 (sc)

ISBN: 978-1-5320-4870-8 (e)

iUniverse rev. date:   12/27/2018

Acknowledgments

Our special thanks to our husbands, who have been extremely tolerant of our time away for the preparation of this book and, of course, our time away playing this wonderful game.

Just for your interest, our husbands have also learned the game from us, and as a result of playing, they have cemented a wonderful friendship between them.

We would like to thank the countless number of people who began as our eager students and became skilled and talented players. As with every learning experience, the inspiration goes both ways. As a result, we have built strong mutual friendships along the way. We would also like to thank Patti Greenberg for her photography expertise as well as Marlene Reich and Isobel Salmanovich for their valued input in the preparation of this handbook.

After reading this book, should you have any questions, please feel free to contact us at [e-mail]. Watch for our exciting new webpage, coming soon to Facebook, "CCL : (Canadian Can[Am]asta™ League).

About the Authors

Hinda was born and raised in Montreal. She attended McGill University and later founded the Diabetic Association of Ville St. Laurent in Quebec, Canada. During that time, she coauthored, at the request of Health Canada, a multiethnic cookbook entitled Taste-Tingling Ethnic Dishes: Recipes from Ten Ethnic Groups. She has two married daughters and four beautiful grandchildren. When she is not teaching or playing canasta, she is playing with her grandchildren. She is retired and discovered the love of canasta over the past many years. She is married and currently living in a suburb of Montreal.

Nancy was born in New Brunswick. She grew up in Cape Breton, Nova Scotia. A graduate of Dalhousie University, work brought her to Montreal, where she began her profession as an educator and dental hygienist in the public system. Her expertise in teaching throughout her forty-five-year professional span has contributed to the writing of this handbook. She is happily married and has one daughter and three stepsons. She is the grandmother of seven grandchildren.

Contents

Introduction

Chapter 1     Two-Deck Canasta—History

Chapter 2     Definitions

Chapter 3     Objectives

Chapter 4     How to Play the Game (Four Players)

Chapter 5     Explanation of Play

Chapter 6     Scoring

Chapter 7     Rules

Chapter 8     Strategies

Chapter 9     Special Hands and Canastas

Chapter 10   Playing Canasta with Two Players

Chapter 11   Playing Canasta with Three Players

Chapter 12   Playing Canasta with Six Players

Chapter 13   Samba Canasta Rules

Chapter 14   Variations / Table Rules

Chapter 15   FAQ

Chapter 16   Playing Canasta for Money

Conclusion

Introduction

When my friend Hinda Packard asked me to collaborate on writing a book on canasta, we thought, What a perfect partnership for us! Our friendship is just like a Can(Am)asta™ game—a partnership where if we follow the rules, we can win. Can(Am)asta™ is like this friendship. One has to communicate clearly to get what one wants. One has to listen well, follow rules, and develop strategies. In the game of life and friendship, those rules are cardinal.

We love canasta, yet as we were learning to play, it became obvious to us that every person we spoke to had a different set of rules, some very easy and some very challenging. For this handbook, we accumulated an endless number of handouts from many sources, both Canadian and American canasta groups of players, and then extrapolated and perfected the information to formulate this handbook. Through this combination of rules, we hope you will find the game of Can(Am)asta™ fun and, at the same time, competitive and stimulating.

Today is the start of a Can(Am)asta™ day with your friends. The cards have been shuffled and dealt, and now the fun begins.

This handbook combines the American canasta teachings with more challenging modifications to make the game more thought-provoking and intriguing. In this handbook, you will learn the basics. Once you have mastered them, this handbook will teach you strategies to make your game more interesting. Of course, luck plays a part, as in any other game, but with the addition of jokers and wild cards, the game is more viable and accepting.

If you have ever played canasta or taken any structured canasta courses, this book will help you learn and cement the strategies of the