Multiplayer Canasta

Can you demonstrate clever teamwork and use the wild cards wisely? In this 4-player game, your target is to form canastas, i.e. groups of at least 7 cards of the same rank, and then "go out". 2 decks of playing cards and 4 jokers will be used in the game, and two players sitting opposite to each other will become teammates such that 2 partnerships are formed. At the start of each hand, each player will be dealt 11 cards, then 1 face-up card will be dealt to the discard pile in the middle of the screen, and the remaining face-down cards will be placed to the stock pile on the left of the discard pile. 2 tables are located on the two sides of the screen, and the two teams can place the legitimate cards onto the tables. All 3's cannot be used to form canastas, and if a red 3 is dealt to a player, it will be automatically moved to the corresponding table of the team, and another card will be dealt to the player. Before forming canastas, you need to use your cards to form melds, i.e. 3 or more cards of the same rank. The 2's and jokers are wild cards, and a meld can include at most 2 wild cards plus at least 2 natural cards. Note that the very first meld that a team forms must fulfill the initial requirement as shown at the bottom of the team's table, which is 50 points at the start of the game. In each meld, each 4, 5, 6 and 7 is worth 5 points; each 8, 9, 10, J, Q and K is worth 10 points; each A and 2 is worth 20 points; and each joker is worth 50 points.

During your turn, you need to pick either the topmost card on the discard pile or the topmost card on the stock pile. Note that you can only pick the topmost card on the discard pile if it can form a meld with cards in your hand or be combined to an existing meld. After that, if some of the cards in your hand can form melds, you can click and drag them to the corresponding positions on the table of your team. Then you need to click and drag a card from your hand to the discard pile to end your turn. Note that you must finish your moves within the given time limit, as indicated by the timer on the screen, or you will lose. If you have picked the topmost card on the discard pile which can form melds with cards in your hand or the existing melds of your team, you can also take all cards from the discard pile, form melds if available, and then discard a card from your hand to the discard pile. If a wild card is placed to the discard pile, the discard pile will be frozen. In this case, cards on the discard pile cannot be picked unless the topmost card can form a meld with 2 or more natural cards in a player's hand. If the first card dealt from the stock pile to the discard pile is a red 3 or a wild card, the discard pile will also be frozen.

If your team has formed a canasta, either you or your teammate can click the "go out" button on the screen by playing all cards in hand so as to end the current hand. But before doing so, a player needs to ask for his teammate's permission. If the stock pile has run out of cards, the hand will also end. After that the scores of the two teams will be calculated according to the points mentioned above. For each card that remains in a player's hand, points will also be deducted according to the same method. The team which goes out will be awarded 100 points. Each mixed canasta (canastas with wild cards) is worth 300 points, and each natural canasta (canastas without wild cards) is worth 500 points. If a team has formed canastas, each red 3 is worth 100 points, and if a team which has canastas holds all of the red 3's, each of them is worth 200 points. But if a team does not have canastas, points will be deducted based on the same method. The total score of a team will affect the initial requirement for the first meld in the next hand. If a team has a total score of 0 to 1499, the initial requirement will be 50; if the total score is between 1500 to 2999, the initial requirement will be 90; and if the total score is greater than or equal to 3000, the initial requirement will be 120. When a team reaches 5000 points, the game is won.

This game was suggested by Jose Silva.

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