Month completed: March 2010

I seem to be in card playing mode at the moment, so in this current frame of mind, I was taught how to build canasta by Andrew and Phillip, two of the guys I met at the bridge course I did recently.

I know what you are thinking. Canasta – that’s for old people, right?

Well, if that is right, then the old people have a good thing going. Canasta was great fun, and quite easy to pick up. We ended up playing for over six hours, and although I came dead last, I did get a few dirty canastas (not as dodgy as it sounds).

The game is sort of a combination of gin rummy, go fish and a game called Up to Ten, which no one outside of my family seems to have heard of. You play with two decks, including the jokers, with the aim to get canastas (eight of the same number) and then get rid of your cards. If you haven’t played it before, I would definitely recommend it.