What is Bolivia?
Bolivia, also called Bolivian Canasta, is a three-pack canasta game closely related to Samba. It is played with three packs and six jokers, 162 cards in all; everyone holds fifteen cards and draws two each turn. As in Samba you may meld runs of one suit, and a run of seven cards is an escalera, worth 1,500 points. Bolivia adds melds made only of twos and jokers: three to seven wild cards can be melded together, and seven of them make a bolivia, worth 2,500.
To go out, a side needs at least one escalera and one other canasta of any kind: a second escalera, a bolivia or a canasta of one rank. Black threes are costly to hold, since each one left in your hand when the hand ends counts 100 points against you instead of 5. The game is played to 15,000 points.
Here Bolivia is played by two, three or four players: four play in two partnerships with partners sitting opposite, two or three play alone. The rules follow the version most card game references give, with a few simplifications that apply to people and computer players alike: red threes are laid out automatically, a player who may not go out yet keeps two cards in hand, and taking the pile with a pair always starts a new meld of that rank. As in the standard game, you may ask your partner before going out. A tie for the lead at the end is a draw, and a game that somehow reaches 60 hands stops there as a draw.
Rule changes
| Rule | Standard Canasta | Bolivia |
|---|---|---|
| Cards | Standard CanastaTwo packs with four jokers, 108 cards. | BoliviaThree packs with six jokers, 162 cards. |
| Deal | Standard CanastaEleven cards each with four players, thirteen with three and fifteen with two. One card is turned up to start the discard pile. | BoliviaFifteen cards each at every table size. One card is turned up to start the discard pile. |
| Drawing | Standard CanastaOne card from the stock with four players. With two or three players you draw two and still discard only one. | BoliviaTwo cards from the stock at every table size, then one discard. |
| Melds of a rank | Standard CanastaThree or more cards of a rank, with more natural cards than wild cards and at most three wild cards. A meld can keep growing past seven cards. | BoliviaThree or more cards of a rank with at most two wild cards, and at least twice as many natural cards as wild cards. A meld can keep growing past seven cards. |
| Runs | Standard CanastaNot allowed: a meld is always made of cards of one rank. | BoliviaThree to seven cards of one suit in unbroken order, from four up to ace, with no wild cards. A run stops at seven cards, which make an escalera. |
| Melds of wild cards | Standard CanastaNot allowed: every meld needs natural cards. | BoliviaThree to seven twos and jokers can be melded on their own. Seven of them make a bolivia. |
| Taking the discard pile | Standard CanastaWith two cards from your hand that meld with the top card: a natural pair while the pile is frozen (until your side has melded, or after a wild card was discarded), otherwise a matching card and a wild card will do. Never when a black three or a wild card is on top. | BoliviaAlways with a natural pair from your hand matching the top card, never when a wild card or a three is on top. The pair, with any more cards of that rank or wild cards you add from your hand, starts a new meld with the top card, and the rest of the pile goes to your hand. |
| Taking only the top card | Standard CanastaNot possible: you draw from the stock or take the whole pile. | BoliviaInstead of drawing, you may take just the top card when it extends one of your side's runs of fewer than seven cards. |
| First meld | Standard CanastaAt least 15 points with a negative score, 50 from 0, 90 from 1,500 and 120 from 3,000. The top card of the discard pile can count towards it. | BoliviaAt least 15 points with a negative score, 50 from 0, 90 from 1,500, 120 from 3,000 and 150 from 7,000. Several melds, runs and wild-card melds included, can be laid together to reach it, and when you take the pile the top card and the cards melded with it count, but not the rest of the pile. |
| Threes | Standard CanastaRed threes are laid out at once and replaced from the stock: 100 each, 800 for all four, counted against a side that has not melded. A discarded black three stops the next player taking the pile. | BoliviaRed threes are laid out and replaced: 100 each, 1,000 for all six, scored for a side that has what it needs to go out and against a side that has not. Three or more black threes can be melded only on the turn you go out, and each one left in hand costs 100. |
| Discarding | Standard CanastaAny card but a red three. A discarded wild card freezes the pile. | BoliviaAny card, wild cards and black threes included. While a wild card or a three lies on top, nobody can take the pile. |
| Going out | Standard CanastaYour side needs one canasta (two in the two-player game). Going out earns 100, or 200 if you meld your whole hand in one turn without having melded before. | BoliviaYour side needs an escalera and one other canasta of any kind; until then you must keep two cards in hand after melding. Going out earns 100, or 200 if you meld your whole hand in one turn before your side has melded. |
| Bonuses | Standard CanastaMixed canasta 300, natural canasta 500. | BoliviaMixed canasta 300, natural canasta 500, escalera 1,500, bolivia 2,500. |
| Winning score | Standard Canasta5,000 points (7,500 with three players). The setup can set 2,500, 5,000, 7,500 or 10,000 instead. | Bolivia15,000 points. The setup can set 2,500, 5,000, 7,500 or 10,000 instead. |
History
Card game references describe Bolivia as a close relative of Samba, which is itself a three-pack variation of canasta that game catalogues date to around 1950, during the canasta boom. Canasta is commonly said to have been devised in Montevideo, Uruguay, in 1939, though some accounts place its beginnings later in the 1940s; it spread through South America and reached the United States in 1949.
No inventor or date is recorded for Bolivia itself, and its rules differ from one source to the next, above all in how many wild cards a meld may hold and in the bonuses for melds and threes. The version played here takes its escaleras, bolivias, black-three penalty and 15,000-point target from the most widely repeated description of the game.