How can a player go out in canasta?
Created from Britannica articles
using AI.
AI can make mistakes, so verify using Britannica articles.
In the card game canasta, a player "goes out" by melding, laying off, or discarding the final card from their hand. To do so, the partnership must have completed at least one canasta (a meld of seven or more cards).
Key rules regarding going out include:
- Permission: A player may ask their partner for permission to go out; if asked, the player must follow the partner's "yes" or "no" response.
- Restrictions: A player cannot go out if the partnership has not yet made a canasta. Additionally, a player cannot go out if they hold two black 3s and no other cards.
- Concealed Bonus: A player earns a bonus for going out "concealed," which occurs when they go out by melding their entire hand at once without having previously made any melds or layoffs (excluding red 3s).
- Ending the Game: If the stock is exhausted and no one has gone out, play continues until a player cannot use the previous discard, at which point the hand ends.