<p>No.</p>

<p>Any valid meld in Canasta needs to have at least 2 naturals in it, so wilds by themselves are not enough.</p>

<p>From Bicycle:</p>

<blockquote>
  <p>A meld is valid if it contains at least two natural cards of the same rank - aces down to fours inclusive - and not more than three wild cards. Jokers and deuces may never be melded apart from natural cards.</p>
</blockquote>

<p>Note that there is a variation of this rule that is seen in some places; according to canasta.net:</p>

<blockquote>
  <p>However, there may never be more wildcards than natural cards within one meld.</p>
</blockquote>

<p>In most situations, these 2 rules work the same way; they both mean that a meld of 3 -7 cards must have at least as many naturals as wilds.</p>

<p>The difference is that one of the rules allows you to add a 4th wild to a Canasta that has 4 naturals and 3 wilds, while the other does not, but this rarely could matter, as you can likely just add that wild somewhere else instead if you need to.</p>

CC BY-SA 3.0
2018-04-04T13:04:26.387Z
2018-04-04T13:04:26.387Z
GendoIkari
<p>Can you open with 5 wild cards, then use a sixth to put with a pair? </p>

<p>My partner needed 155 points and this is the only way they could open.</p>

CC BY-SA 3.0
2018-04-04T13:05:26.297Z
What do you mean by your partner needing 155 points? That's not one of the possible values of a minimum meld.
GendoIkari
CC BY-SA 3.0
2018-04-04T13:23:44.023Z
We start at 125, the. 155, then 180. Canasta
J notman
CC BY-SA 3.0
2018-04-04T13:29:31.823Z
Just a house rule?
GendoIkari
<canasta>
Canasta opening with jokers
J notman
# Canasta opening with jokers

(Asked by: username_0 on 2018-04-04)

Can you open with 5 wild cards, then use a sixth to put with a pair?

My partner needed 155 points and this is the only way they could open.

**Tags:** canasta

> **Comments:**
> **username_1**: What do you mean by your partner needing 155 points? That's not one of the possible values of a minimum meld.  
> **username_0**: We start at 125, the. 155, then 180. Canasta  
> **username_1**: Just a house rule?  

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## 1 answers

### Answer by username_1 on 2018-04-04. Score: 3

No.

Any valid meld in Canasta needs to have at least 2 naturals in it, so wilds by themselves are not enough.

From Bicycle:

> A meld is valid if it contains at least two natural cards of the same rank - aces down to fours inclusive - and not more than three wild cards. Jokers and deuces may never be melded apart from natural cards.

Note that there is a variation of this rule that is seen in some places; according to canasta.net:

> However, there may never be more wildcards than natural cards within one meld.

In most situations, these 2 rules work the same way; they both mean that a meld of 3 -7 cards must have at least as many naturals as wilds.

The difference is that one of the rules allows you to add a 4th wild to a Canasta that has 4 naturals and 3 wilds, while the other does not, but this rarely could matter, as you can likely just add that wild somewhere else instead if you need to.


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