canasta newbie

[inkedangel31]

Ive never played canasta before and just started to "try" to play the other day. I am playing against robots for now until I learn the game but I have a quick question. How does the robot hold all his cards then throw them all down at once winning the game? Like I said, I am new to the game but when I get enough to meld (3 cards) I meld them but the computer/robot holds all his.

Thanks in advance!

[C~M]

The computer does it to beat you.  What I always did was wait til there were 9 cards in the pile and then either pick it up or use a wild to freeze the pile until I could pick it up.  If you keep the discard pile below 10 the computer doesn't pick it up and as long as you keep picking it up or freezing it until you can, you should win.

[Hocky]

You can do the same thing.....hold all of your cards and meld out at once.  You just have to be holding the right cards to do it.  Meaning, you have to be holding at least 3 of the same value of cards along with any wild cards to use to meld with your hand (2's and jokers). 

As far as when the bots pick up the cards...when you play in the beginner tab, the bot will not pick up the deck unless there are 10 or more cards in the discard pile.  As you move up in skill tabs....the amount that the bot will pick up will decrease. 

It's a great card game to play once you get the hang of it.