CANASTA


Meaning of CANASTA in English

card game of the Rummy family and itself the progenitor of a large group of games including Samba, Bolivia, and others. The name canasta, from the Spanish word for basket, probably derives from the tray placed in the centre of the table to hold undealt cards and discards. Canasta originated in Uruguay in the late 1940s. By 1948 it was the most popular game in the fashionable clubs of Argentina, and in 1949 it was introduced in the United States and by the 1950s had become extremely popular. The official laws of the game were made first (1950) by the Regency Club of New York City and subsequently (1951) revised by a committee of American and Argentine authorities. In Great Britain and on the European continent, Canasta experienced only moderate success. Throughout Latin America, Canasta remained the principal social card game long after its North American vogue had ended. The most popular form of the game is played by four players in two partnerships, with partners facing each other across the table. A 108-card pack is used, two standard 52-card packs plus 4 jokers. All jokers and deuces are wild. Eleven cards are dealt to each player, the undealt portion of the pack is placed on the table as the stock, and the top card of the stock is turned up to start the discard pile. Each player in turn must draw, may meld, and must discard one card face up on the discard pile. The melds of partners are combined. A hand ends when a player goes out (melds his last card). The object of the game is to score points by making as many melds as possible.

Britannica English vocabulary.      Английский словарь Британика.