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Trug

Partnership Canasta, solo -- you and a computer partner against two computer opponents. Melds, canastas, real Canasta scoring.

Deal me in?

Choose your seats, then deal.

"South & North" gives you both partnership hands to play -- useful for learning the game, or just not leaving your side's discards to chance. Canasta has no dummy/takeover moment like Brug's, so this is a standing choice made up front rather than something offered mid-hand.

How Trug works

Why "Trug"? It's the English word for a basket -- a trug, the shallow wicker garden basket -- echoing "canasta", which is Spanish for basket, the same way "Brug" (Afrikaans/Dutch for bridge) echoes the card game it's built on. One English name, one Afrikaans -- fitting for the Lower Albany region both games are named after.
Tip: you can drag a card from your hand straight onto a meld or the discard pile instead of tapping to select then pressing a button -- tap-to-select still works exactly as before either way. (A beta the admin can switch off.)
2 decks + 4 jokers, 11 cards each, partnerships fixed North+South vs East+West.
Meld 3+ of a rank; 7+ becomes a canasta. Wild cards (2s, jokers) can't outnumber naturals in a meld, and no meld holds more than 3 wilds.
Take the discard pile with two matching cards -- two naturals if it's frozen (a wild was discarded onto it, or your side hasn't melded yet), one natural + one wild otherwise -- and those cards go straight onto the table as a meld with the picked-up card, immediately. (See The Haven Rules below for the full detail, and one deliberate exception.)
Red threes are exposed automatically the moment you draw or are dealt one -- they're never melded by choice. They score 100 each once your side has melded, or cost 100 each if your side never does; 200 each if your side holds all 4.
Black threes can't be melded during play. Go out with them melded and they're +100 each to your side -- +300 for three, or +800 (doubled) if you meld all 4. Still stuck in a hand when someone else goes out, it's -100 each against that player's side -- -800 (doubled) if one player alone holds all 4.
Go out once your side has two canastas down; going out concealed (your whole hand melded in one turn, nothing melded earlier) doubles the going-out bonus to 200.
Scoring -- every card has a point value that counts toward your melds (and against you if it's still in your hand when the hand ends), canastas earn a flat bonus on top, and the meld you open your side's account with has to clear a minimum that climbs as your score does.
Card point values (melds, and the leftover penalty if still in hand at hand end)
Joker 50

Ace or 2 (wild) 20

8, 9, T, J, Q, K 10

4, 5, 6, 7 5
- Canasta bonus, on top of the cards' own face value: 500 for a natural canasta (no wild cards in it), 300 for a mixed one (1-3 wild).
- Opening meld minimum -- your side's very first meld of the match (not later extensions, and not a brand-new meld once you've already got one down) has to be worth at least 50 points if your running score is 0-1,499, 90 from 1,500, or 120 from 3,000 -- just 15 if your side is actually in the negative. (See The Haven Rules below -- it doesn't have to be one meld's worth in one go.)
- Red threes: 100 each once your side has melded that hand (200 each if you hold all 4) -- but -100 each against you if your side never melds at all that hand.
- Black threes can only be melded as part of the meld that goes out: +100 each then (+300 for three, +800 if you meld all four together). Still stuck in a hand when someone else goes out, they're -100 each against that seat's side (-800 if one player alone holds all four).
- Going out: +100 to your side, doubled to 200 if you go out concealed (your entire hand melded on that one final turn, with nothing melded earlier in the hand).
First partnership to 5,000 wins the match (or first to go out twice, in quick mode).
The Haven Rules -- Trug isn't trying to match tournament Canasta rule for rule; it's trying to match a specific family game, played on the deck of a cottage overlooking the ocean, with my father and grandfather. Where a rule here deliberately departs from the ruleset above to match how it was actually played, it's called out here rather than changed quietly.
- Free pickup once your side already has that rank down. Normally, taking the pile needs two matching cards from your hand even once your side has that exact rank melded -- the discount there is only being allowed one wild in place of one of the two naturals. Here, if the pile isn't frozen and your side already has a meld of the rank sitting on top of it, the whole pile is yours for the taking -- nothing required from hand. A frozen pile (a wild's been discarded onto it, or your side hasn't melded at all yet) is untouched by this -- it still needs two real naturals, same as always.
- Opening-meld combos across any number of ranks. Standard rule above: your side's very first meld has to clear the threshold by itself. Here, it doesn't -- lay down a meld worth less than the threshold and it still goes down, counted toward a running total for the hand; your side isn't open yet, but the next meld (any rank) that tips that total over the line opens you, same turn or a later one. Each individual meld still has to be legal on its own (3+ of a rank, never more wild than natural) -- this only removes the requirement that one single meld carry the whole threshold alone.
- Taking the pile immediately melds it. The matching cards you offer, plus the card you picked up, go straight onto the table as a meld the moment you take the pile -- a new one, or laid onto an existing meld of that rank -- not just absorbed into your hand to maybe meld later. Anything else sitting under that top card in the pile still lands loose in your hand, free to use however you like. The free pickup above works the same way now too: the card you pick up for free joins your side's existing meld of that rank immediately, instead of sitting loose.

Trug

You & North

East & West

Card point values (melds, and the leftover penalty if still in hand at hand end)
Joker	50
Ace or 2 (wild)	20
8, 9, T, J, Q, K	10
4, 5, 6, 7	5