The classic game is for four players in two partnerships of two.

( May 2020) ( Learn how and when to remove this template message) Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. Please help improve this section by adding citations to reliable sources. Santos and Serrato never patented the game rules, and thus never received royalties from the later Canasta boom. Interest in the game began to wane there during the 1960s, but the game still enjoys some popularity today, with Canasta leagues and clubs still existing in several parts of the United States. Ĭanasta became rapidly popular in the United States in the 1950s with many card sets, card trays and books being produced. In 1949/51 the New York Regency Club wrote the Official Canasta Laws, which were published together with game experts from South America by the National Canasta Laws Commissions of the US and Argentina. Reilly in 1949 and Michael Scully of Coronet magazine in 1953. It was introduced to the United States in 1949 by Josefina Artayeta de Viel (New York), where it was then referred to as the Argentine Rummy game by Ottilie H. Īfter a positive reception of Canasta at their local bridge club, the Jockey Club, in the 1940s the game quickly spread north throughout South America in myriad variations to Chile, Peru, Brazil and Argentina, where its rules were further refined. They tried different formulas before inviting Arturo Gomez Hartley and Ricardo Sanguinetti to test their game. The game of Canasta was devised by attorney Segundo Sanchez Santos and his Bridge partner, architect Alberto Serrato in Montevideo, Uruguay, in 1939, in an attempt to design a time-efficient game that was as engaging as Bridge. It is 'the most recent card game to have achieved worldwide status as a classic'. Players attempt to make melds of seven cards of the same rank and 'go out' by playing all cards in their hands. Although many variations exist for two, three, five or six players, it is most commonly played by four in two partnerships with two standard decks of cards. Red-3 Joker 2 A K Q J 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 Black-3Ĭanasta ( / k ə ˈ n æ s t ə/ Spanish for 'basket') is a card game of the rummy family of games believed to be a variant of 500 Rum. ( Learn how and when to remove this template message)

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