gortonasta.org - About Gortonasta

About Gortonasta | The Rules | Unwritten Rules and Form | Snacks

Once called Canasta, those who frequent this variation of the game have renamed it to the reflect the family name of those who originated it, Gorton--thus, Gortonasta. In some ways the game resembles canasta, but there are also many great departures from it as well. Find out more...

What's in a Name ?

Gortonasta began its roots being known as 'canasta' by those who played it. Only upon some careful research did it become understood that although known by that name, Gortonasta bears only moderate resemblance to other card games commonly known as canasta. So, players began to colloquially refer to the game no longer as canasta, but instead as Gortonasta, a play on the family name of those who spent much of their time engrossed in the game.

Comparisons

Many versions of traditional 'canasta' are played with anywhere from 2-6 players, so Gortonasta falls right in the middle of that spread with four players at a time.

Examining scoring in Gortonasta versus other canasta variants differs shows some similiarities but differences as well. Cards Ace through 4 have the same point values in each version of the game as well as jokers, but the values of 3's vary (namely that red threes have a value of either 100 or 200 depending on how many are held or a value of 5 for black threes whereas in the Gortonasta rules black threes have no point value and red threes are worth somewhere between 300 and 500 points depending on where the card falls into gameplay. A traditional canasta game ends at 5,000 points while a game in Gortonasta is 15,000 points. In addition, the point ranges needed to open up vary with the values needed in Gortonasta being much higher than in traditional canasta. In traditional canasta each play hand involves 13 cards but only 12 in Gortonasta.

The concept of 'going out' differs a bit between the two variations-- Gortonasta requires two canastas to go out, at least one of which must be red; traditional canasta a team only needs one. In Gortonasta a player must ask permission from their partner to go out but this is allowed but not required in traditional canasta. In traditional canasta any black threes remaining in the hand can be combined into one card for the purposes of discarding to go out, but no such rule exists in Gortonasta.

There are other minute differences, this has only been a primer of sorts.

This discussion uses information from the Wikipedia page on canasta.

About Gortonasta | The Rules | Unwritten Rules and Form | Snacks