Note that despite the long description of card game rules, this post is really about Iraq.
During the holidays, my family likes to play this card game called Canasta. If you've ever played Canasta though, this game bears little resemblance to the real game. Supposedly, the variation we play is called Mexican Canasta except the rules have no resemblance to what everyone else calls Mexican Canasta.
So I just call it Wetter Family Canasta, especially since my wife claims that the rules change every time (they don't we just remember a few during play, honest).
Full rules are in the extended entry, but there's a few points you need to know:
- Canasta is one of those games where you can pick up the previous player's discard. The catch in Canasta is that you pick up the entire discard pile if you can use the top card. Since its a “collection” game, picking up the pile is a good thing.
- Red 3's are basically free points, while black 3's are considered the “perfect discard” because they aren't worth anything. So not only can't you use a black 3, but whoever is after you can't pickup the pile if you discard a black 3.
The nice thing about playing Canasta over the holidays is that basically its something to do while you all sit around and visit while having coffee and pie. It gives you something to do then between the first feast (the turkey) and the second feast (the desserts).
After playing this game for a couple of years, my wife, who is quite competitive, asked me “How come I keep losing at Canasta?”. I asked her: “Where are you sitting?”
See, long ago I figured out that where you sit at the table determines how well you do. Sitting right after my mom or dad means you'll lose. The worst is right after my Mom, because she loves to pick up the pile, which means you'll be staring at black 3's all night. My dad is the same, but even when he doesn't pick up the pile, he'll sacrifice his own collections in order to discard stuff you won't be able to use.
So don't sit after my mom or my dad. If at all possible in fact, arrange it so my dad sits after my mom. Then my dad will be looking at black 3's all night. In fact, the perfect spot is just before my mom. Then whenever she run's out of black 3's and there's not much in the discard pile, you can feed her a convenient discard.
Also, never let my dad sit across from my mom if there are a lot of people either in case you end up having teams.
So in other words, long before you make the small tactical decisions about which card to discard and which to play, you've already determined how well you can do by the strategic decision about who you've sat next to.
Which brings us to Iraq. I've been saying for awhile now that the decision by the insurgents to use car bombs, IEDs and suicide bombings was a war-losing move. While tactically it seems to be good (most of the troops killed in Iraq are from IEDs), strategically its a disaster. Actions in war need to accomplish something. Ultimately, that's the difference between a terrorist and a soldier. Both may kill civilians, but soldiers do so accidentally in pursuit of a goal.
Terror is not a goal. That's the strategic mistake the insurgents and terrorists ultimately make. Sure, it gets your cause noticed on the news, but only for one day. To get anywhere in war, life or politics, you need to hold territory. A mine field or IED merely denies territory, and generally from both sides. There's a fundamental flaw in their strategy in that they're assuming that our side _needs that territory.
The thing is though, long term, we don't. From the White House document released this morning:
As security conditions improve and as Iraqi Security Forces become increasingly capable of securing their own country, our forces will increasingly move out of the cities, reduce the number of bases from which we operate, and conduct fewer patrols and convoy missions.
To some extent, in order for an IED to be effective, we have to cooperate. If we don't drive down the street where the IED is implanted, it can't be effective. Long term, we're going to be spending more and more time isolated on our bases in Iraq, leaving patrols and such to the Iraqi Police. As that happens, it's just like going “around” a mine field. If we fly “over” the places we're driving through now with a helicopter, no IED attack.
So the insurgents are basically sitting right after my mom at the Canasta table. They can play their hearts out, but ultimately, they're going to be looking at black 3's all night.
Come to think of it, fighting the US in Iraq has been a “sit after my mom” strategy for Al Quida in general...
(Wetter Family Canasta rules follow)
How to Play Wetter Family Canasta
To start off with, you need a whole bunch of decks of cards shuffled together. Since you need one deck per person (4 people minimum), this means that the start of the game really involves rummaging through the hosts house to find enough cards. When giving people fancy playing cards was a standard Christmas gift, sometimes it involved finding where those had been buried in the house and actually using them. Sometimes it also involves a trip to the local convenience store to buy more decks. Oh, and by the way, the decks have to have both jokers, so its decks of 54 cards, not 52 cards. So sometimes you find decks of cards you can't use...
Once you have enough cards, shuffling is usually a team effort as you pass stacks around between all the players to shuffle.
Once all the decks are shuffled together the person to the left of the dealer cuts the deck to try to guess how many cards the dealer will need. If they're successful, they get 100 points.
The dealer then deals two hands to each player of 13 cards each. Basically, you've dealt a little under half the cards, because each player has been dealt 26 cards. The dealer turns over the top card to start the discard pile, each person picks up one of their two hands and you're off.
The goal of the game is basically to collect 7 of something. Seven 6s, seven 5s, whatever. 2s and Joker's are wild. Seven of something is called a “canasta” and comes in 2 flavors: Natural or Red canastas don't have any wild cards, while black canastas have 1-3 wild cards in them.
Most natural canastas are worth 500 points. Black canastas are worth 300 points. Special canastas are worth more:
Seven 7s are worth 3000 points. Wild canastas (seven wild card) are worth 2000 points. Runs (7 card straight flushes) are worth 1500 points.
Other ways to score points:
Going out: You get 100 points for going out.
Red 3s are worth 100 points, and you get a new card (on your turn). Four red 3s are worth 800 points.
At the end of a round, you get points for the individual cards in your hand as follows:
4-8: 5 points per card
9-K: 10 points per card
A: 20 points
2: 20 points
Joker: 50 points
Ways to lose points:
Cards in your hand count against you when someone goes out. Usually what you do is pair cards in your hand against cards on the table in front of you and discard both.
Basic play consists of either drawing two cards from the stack, or picking up the discard pile if you can use the top card. Usual play etiquette is that you first take the top card of the discard pile, use that on the table, then pickup the rest of the pile. Then you discard. You must always discard, even when going out.
During your turn, you can place 3 or more of anything on the table in front of you or add to things you've already put down in previous turns. However, you can't do this until you've “melded” which is the part most beginners have the most trouble with.
Melding: Basically, melding handicaps the people who are ahead in the game a bit by slowing down their play in the beginning of later hands. To “meld”, you have to be able to put down a certain number of points on the table during your turn. Red 3's don't count. Once you do that, you can pick up your second hand. The melding targets depend on how many points you've already earned in previous rounds:
0-1499: 50 points. 1500-2999: 90 points. 3000-4999: 120 points. 5000+: 150 points.
So not only are you stuck using only half of your initial set of 26 cards, but you can't pickup the pile until you've melded. Except, if you can use the top card to meld, then you can pickup the pile.
That's pretty much the play, until someone goes out. To go out you need:
No cards in your hand. A discard. At least 2 canastas and 1 Natural canasta
After that, you add up everyones points (to count the card points its easiest if you sort them into piles of 100 points), and do another round until someone has 10,000 or more points.
Special rules:
- You can “bury” cards by adding them to an existing canasta. Those cards then count towards your card total.
- If you have seven black 3's, you can put them on the table to go out. (Still need a discard though.)
- Freezing a pile. If you discard a wild card, that freezes the pile, which means that you can't pickup the pile unless you have 2 of the top card in your hand. That means that the player to your right can discard anything you already have on the table!
Variants:
Sometimes we play teams. Then each teammate can add to the table on their turn. One of the teammates will have to meld on their own, but the other teammate can't pick up their second hand until they've played.
Sometimes we play 3-hands to start, where the 3rd hand you pick up after your first canasta.
Comments (1)
The Producer Price index (PPI) last week showed a bigger-than-expected rise in wholesale prices, coeh org but little in the way of so-called core inflation, which strips out volatile food and energy prices. Iran directly funds the activities of the terrorist groups Hamas and Hizbullah. zoieswebdesign http://www.zoieswebdesign.com/ZoiesWeb_Links2.html
Posted by zoieswebdesign | July 17, 2006 12:52 PM
Posted on July 17, 2006 12:52