Canasta: the 1939 Uruguayan game that conquered the world
Full canasta guide: seven-card melds, red threes, freezing the discard pile and partnership strategy in the game invented in Montevideo in 1939.
Canasta is that rarity: a card game with a birth certificate. Invented in Montevideo in 1939 by attorney Segundo Santos and architect Alberto Serrato — who wanted something faster than bridge and less luck-bound than rummy — it crossed to Argentina, polished its rules, and by 1950 had become the greatest card-game craze the United States ever saw. Two partnerships, two decks plus jokers, and three signature ideas: the canasta itself (a seven-card meld worth a 300 or 500 bonus), the red threes that score on sight, and the frozen discard pile — drop a wild card on it and the growing pot can only be claimed with a natural pair from the hand.
Our full guide — history, complete rules, scoring and strategy — is in Spanish: Reglas de la canasta. You need two matching decks with jokers from our playing cards collection.
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