Variations

The 2 feet 6 canastas version a.k.a. the Collin variation

When setting up the game, instead of dealing a Hand and a Foot to each player, you deal one Hand and two Foot piles. Therefore each player has three sets of thirteen cards to play instead of the regular two. Players must play their Hand before getting to their first Foot, and play all cards in their first Foot before getting to their second Foot. And, you guessed it, the player that finishes their second Foot first wins that round.

Another big difference is that you also have to complete three black canastas and three red canastas instead of the regular two of each. All other rules remain unchanged.

Suggestion: When playing this version one-on-one you should be ok with only five decks of cards but we recommend adding decks when playing this version in teams.

The easy run twist a.k.a. the Emercio amendment

In this version we allow wildcards to be used in runs, but doing so reduces the value of the completed run: it becomes a black canasta worth only 300 points. Cards in this meld (wildcards excluded) must still be of the same suit. And the regular pure run (no wildcards) remains an option and is still a red canasta worth 1,500 points.

The half dozen adaptation a.k.a. the Brian inclusion

If there are six of you, you can still play by splitting into three teams of two. Add one or two extra decks on top of the regular five, because six players will burn through the cards faster and need a larger draw pile.

You still try to alternate teams around the table so that no two teammates sit side by side. For teams A, B, and C it would look like this: A1 – B1 – C1 – A2 – B2 – C2

All other rules remain unchanged.

The threesome vectorization a.k.a. the Gilbert curve

Same as The Half Dozen adaptation (#3) except you play 3 against 3. Seating around the table could look like this for teams A and B: A1 – B1 – A2 – B2 – A3 – B3