Over the next 20 years, he produced several small production runs in New Zealand (totaling about 4,000 games) that he sold to family, friends and some local shops.Īt the age of 87 he relocated to Australia’s Gold Coast with his wife Ola and they continued to play the game for several more years. He called the game Canasta Five (based on the maximum number of cards allowed to be picked up from the discard pile). The response was overwhelming and in the early 1970’s he was encouraged to go into production so more people could enjoy the game. Then he added some subtle enhancements and asked his friends and family to test it out. He also changed the power of some cards and removed most of the negative rules. He changed the game’s target values to higher levels. He increased the stack pick-up to 2 cards each turn, and limited pickup off the discard pile to 5 cards.
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He added another deck of cards and more jokers. The remaining players waited and waited and waited some more, for the lucky person to sort all their cards (yawn, boring) and then lost the game as well!” “It was a lucky person who picked up the middle (discard pile), got lots of cards and often went on to win the game usually by a large margin (very exciting for them, but not very fair). However, he was continually frustrated with the lopsidedness of the original 2-pack canasta game (which had become very popular worldwide during the 1950’s). New Zealand born John Murphy enjoyed a good game of cards, particularly canasta.
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You are welcome to contact us for clarification at any time. There is only one set of clear rules (and we wrote them). Some players disagreed over rule interpretations?
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No longer “giving away” the whole middle - maximum 5 card pick-up Partners got upset with each other for throwing out a card and “giving away the middle” to the opposition? This is a happy game - most of the penalties have been removed. We got penalty points against us for innocent mistakes? We weren’t lucky enough to pick up the discard pile and often didn’t have enough cards to complete melds or canastas?Įach player picks up between 2 and 5 cards every turn - a more even card distribution. Three decks of cards and 9 jokers - quick to meld and get the game going. It took too long to get enough points for the initial meld and great opportunities to “pick-up the middle” were lost? No more bad luck - players use strategy to win. We got stuck with all those cards in our hand that became negative points? Most players acquire a similar number of cards throughout the game – anyone can win. The majority of us were bored or frustrated while the “lucky one” dominated the whole game? Turns are quick – maximum of 5 cards to sort. They took forever to sort their cards, usually made high scores and often went out quickly, sometimes without any other players having another turn
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Pick-up from discard pile limited to the top 5 cards – plenty of cards left for the others Someone picked up the huge discard pile? Your heart sank and you thought “it’s all over”. The complete Official Rules for Jonola Canasta are included in your game box.įor those who have played the original 2-pack canasta – here’s the good news. Each play their own hand but partners combine their tabled cards.Ī game consists of 3 or 4 hands, each about 20 minutes. The turn is ended by discarding one card.įor 2 or 3 player games each player competes against the other and have their own collection of cards in their hand and on the table.įor 4 players, partnerships are made up of 2 teams of 2 players. The player then has the option of melding or adding to tabled cards. The game is won by the player or team having the most points past the target.Īt each turn, players draw cards from the stacks or the discard pile. The object of the game is to make up the required canastas and “go out” by melding all the cards from your hand. Jonola Canasta has other variations that eliminate the lopsidedness and predictable play that occurred in the original 2-pack canasta The close scoring means each player has the chance to win the game right up until the last card is played. The game uses 3 decks of cards (including 9 jokers). This allows the game to progress quickly. One feature of the game is the maximum of five cards allowed to be picked up from the discard pile at any one time. Jonola Canasta has been carefully planned to keep the interest of all the players throughout the game.