The table

You and your computer partner Milo sit across from each other, against two computer opponents, Rosa and Tess. Two 52-card decks plus 4 jokers (108 cards) are dealt 11 to each seat; the rest form the stock, with one card turned up to start the discard pile.

Melding

A meld is 3 or more cards of the same rank (4 through Ace). 2s and Jokers are wild and can join any meld, but a meld can never hold more wild cards than natural ones. A canasta is a completed meld of 7 or more cards of one rank — a natural canasta (no wilds) scores far more than a mixed one.

Your team's very first meld(s) of a hand must total at least a minimum number of points (shown at the table) — you can lay down several groups in the same turn to clear it together. After that, add to any of your team's melds freely.

Your turn

• Draw 2 cards from the stock — or take the whole discard pile if its top card is a natural rank and you hold a matching natural pair (or just one matching card to extend a meld your team already has).
• Meld as many cards as you like.
• Discard exactly one card to end your turn. Wild cards can never be discarded.

Threes

Red 3s are bonus cards — the instant one is dealt or drawn, it's set face up and replaced. Black 3s can't be melded during ordinary play — only as your very last action when going out, as a stand-alone group of 3 or 4, once your team already holds a canasta.

Going out

Emptying your hand ends the hand immediately — but your team must hold at least one canasta first. The stock running out before that ends the hand too, with no going-out bonus for anyone.

Scoring a hand

• Every melded card scores its point value (Aces & 2s 20, 8-K 10, 4-7 & black 3s 5, Jokers 50).
• Each canasta bonuses 500 (natural) or 300 (mixed).
• Each red 3 scores +100 (all four together: 800) — but -100 each if your team never melded anything that hand.
• Going out scores a further +100.
• Every card still in your team's hands when the hand ends counts against you, at the same point values.

Winning

Hands are dealt until a team's match score reaches 5000 — whichever team then has the higher score wins the match.

Your record

Games played and won, your highest winning score, your best single-hand score, career canastas made, and your current and best win streaks are all saved locally on this device.