Samba

This is a popular variation of Canasta invented during its craze of the 1940's and 50's. As the official rules from the Association of American Playing Card Manufacturers says, "It offers wider melding opportunities than regular Canasta played with two packs, and is preferred by many players on that account."

The major differences are:

• Three packs are used rather than two.
• Sequences of cards are allowed as valid melds (in addition to sets of the same rank).
• Fifteen cards are dealt, instead of 11.
• Two cards are drawn at a time, rather than one.

There are dedicated Samba decks published, some of which include the cards' scoring values on them.