I tried to find the source of wikipedia rule suggestions for 2-3 players but only found this archive page from 2001. My questions took me to lots of websites, Google Books such as this one and I tested to play Canasta Online here (recommended once you know how to play). I became obsessed with it for a few days and I wanted to answer questions such as: how was the game originally played? Why is the game not so popular today like it was before? How do people play it today? How do people play 2-3 player Canasta in the early days and today? My uncle and his wife introduced the game to me and my wife in April 2019 and it became an instant hit in our family. The game is always interesting and often reaches a level of excitement I seldom see in any of the games I play.
It is one of my absolute favorite games to play - and I play a lot of different card and board games.
Canasta is a card game that was created by two bridge players in 1939 and was extremely popular at the end of the 1940s, 'In the peak year of the game one hundred million packs of cards were sold' - When Canasta Was the Craze, article from 1952.
