Samba

Full rules

1. Overview
2. The cards
3. Melds
4. Setup
5. Playing a turn
6. Going out
7. Scoring
8. Winning the game
9. Tips for beginners
10. Variants

Overview

Samba is a member of the Canasta family: you collect cards and lay them out on the table in scoring groups called melds. The big prizes are melds of seven cards – a canasta (seven of the same rank) or a samba (seven in a row in one suit). A hand ends when a player gets rid of all their cards; then everyone scores what they have laid out. The first side to reach 10,000 points over several hands wins.

• Players: 2–6. With 4 players you play in two partnerships of two (partners sit opposite each other); with 6, in three partnerships of two (partners sit opposite each other, with two players between them). With 2, 3 or 5 players, everyone plays alone. Four players in partnerships is the classic game.
• You need: three standard 52-card decks and 6 jokers (162 cards), shuffled together, and paper and pencil for scoring.

In a partnership game, everything laid out belongs to the whole side: partners share their melds and their score. Below, "your side" means you and your partner – or just you if you play alone.

The cards

• Wild cards (jokers and 2s) can stand in for other cards in some melds.
• Natural cards are all the cards from 4 up to Ace.
• The 3s have special rules (below).

Melds

A meld is a group of at least three cards that you lay face up on the table in front of your side. Its point value is the sum of its cards. Once on the table, a meld can be extended later by you or your partner. There are two kinds.

Groups – three or more cards of the same rank, e.g. K♠ K♥ K♦ or five 8s. Wild cards may be used in a group, but:

• there must be at least twice as many natural cards as wild cards, and
• never more than two wild cards in one group.

So 9 9 Joker is fine, 9 Joker 2 is not. Your side may have two separate groups of the same rank (for example to keep one free of wild cards), and may merge them on your turn if you like.

A group of seven or more cards is a canasta. Square it up into a pile: a pure canasta (no wild cards) gets a red card on top, a mixed canasta (one or two wild cards) a black card. You may keep adding cards to a canasta; adding a wild card to a pure canasta turns it into a mixed one.

Sequences – three or more natural cards of the same suit in a row, e.g. 7♣ 8♣ 9♣. The order is 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 J Q K A (Ace high only). Wild cards and 3s may never be used in a sequence. A sequence can grow to at most seven cards; a seven-card sequence is a samba – square it up, and nothing more can be added. Two sequences on the table can never be joined together.

Setup

1. Choose a dealer; the deal then passes to the left after each hand.
2. The dealer deals 15 cards to each player, face down (with 6 players: 13 each).
3. The next card is turned face up to start the discard pile. The rest form the face-down stock (draw pile).

Playing a turn

The player to the dealer's left starts; play goes clockwise. On your turn:

1. Draw: take the top two cards of the stock – or take from the discard pile (see below).
2. Meld (optional): lay out new melds and/or add cards to your side's melds.
3. Discard one card face up onto the discard pile.

Because you draw two and discard one, hands grow during play.

Your side's first meld

The first time your side lays anything out in a hand, the cards you put down in that turn must be worth at least a minimum, which depends on your side's score so far:

Only card values count – not bonuses. Several melds together may make up the minimum. After that, your side may meld freely for the rest of the hand.

Example: At the start of the game you need 50. Joker 8♥ 8♣ (50 + 10 + 10 = 70) is enough on its own; A♦ A♠ A♣ (60) is too. 5♠ 6♠ 7♠ (15) is not.

Taking the discard pile

Instead of drawing from the stock, you may take from the discard pile in two cases:

• The whole pile: if you hold two natural cards of the same rank as the top card, take the top card, lay it out with the two cards as a new group (plus more cards if this is your side's first meld and you need them to reach the minimum), then take the rest of the pile into your hand. Now you may meld more and then discard.
• Just the top card: if the top card fits onto the end of a sequence your side already has on the table (with fewer than seven cards), you may take only that card and add it to the sequence – instead of drawing from the stock. Then meld further if you like and discard.

You can never take the pile or its top card when it is a 3, a 2 or a joker. You also can't take it to add the top card to a group already on the table (unless you add two naturals of that rank from your hand as above), or to start a new sequence.

Example: Your side has 6♥ 7♥ 8♥ 9♥ on the table. The top discard is the 10♥: you may take it and add it to your sequence. If the 6♥ to 9♥ were still in your hand, you could not take it.

The 3s

• Red 3s: you may lay a red 3 out on its own at any point during your turn. Each laid-out red 3 is worth 100 bonus points – but only if your side reaches the requirement for going out (two sambas or canastas, see below) by the end of the hand; otherwise each costs 100 points. If your side lays out all six, it gets 1000 instead of 600. A player still holding one or more red 3s at the end of the hand costs their side 750 points.
• Black 3s: can be laid out as a group (following the normal group rules) only in the turn in which you go out.
• Blocking: since no one can take the discard pile when a 3, a 2 or a joker is on top, discarding one of these blocks the next player.

Going out

You go out when you have no cards left – either by melding them all, or by melding all but one and discarding it. The hand then ends.

You may only go out if your side has at least two sambas, two canastas, or one of each on the table. Until then you must always keep at least one card: if you meld all but one, you say "pass" instead of discarding.

Before going out, you may ask your partner "Partner, may I go out?" – you must obey the answer. You may also go out without asking.

Stock runs out: if only one card is left, the next player draws just that one. Once a player wants to draw from the empty stock, the hand ends and is scored – nobody gets the bonus for going out.

Scoring

When the hand ends, each side scores:

• plus the value of all cards in its melds,
• minus the value of all cards still in its players' hands,
• plus bonuses (or minus penalties):

Example: Anna goes out. Her side has a samba 6♥–Q♥ (5 + 5 + 10 × 5 = 60), a mixed canasta of six Kings and a joker (110), three 5s (15) and two red 3s. Her partner still holds an 8 and a 4 (15). Cards: 185 − 15 = 170. Bonuses: samba 1500 + mixed canasta 300 + going out 200 + red 3s 200. Total 2370. The other side has a pure canasta of Aces (140), three 9s (30) and one red 3 laid out, but only one canasta; they hold a joker, K, 7 and 4 (70). Score: 170 − 70 + 500 − 100 = 500.

Winning the game

Add each hand's scores to a running total. The first side to reach 10,000 or more at the end of a hand wins. If both sides pass 10,000 in the same hand, the higher score wins.

Tips for beginners

• Sambas are worth three pure canastas. Meld middle runs like 8-9-10 early – your partner may hold the missing cards.
• Every samba contains an 8, 9 or 10 of its suit. If lots of those have gone into canastas, switch to groups.
• Wild cards matter less than in Canasta – they are useful for blocking the discard pile when it holds cards the opponents need.
• Don't hold on to red 3s: lay them out – one left in your hand costs 750.
• Your hand keeps growing; sort 2s, jokers and black 3s separately to keep an overview.

Variants

All optional – agree before you start.

• Red 3s as in Canasta: many rule books have a red 3 laid out as soon as you get it and replaced by a card from the stock; the scoring (+100 each, 1000 for all six, −100 each without two sambas/canastas) stays the same.
• Bolivia: melds made entirely of wild cards are allowed; seven of them make a bolivia worth 2500. To go out, your side needs two seven-card melds, one of them a sequence.