Spadaccini, Stephanie (2005). The Big Book of Rules, unpaginated. Penguin. ISBN9781440626883. "500 Rum: A direct descendant of basic rummy, and an ancestor of Canasta."
Root, William S. (2016). Fun With Games of Rummy, unpaginated. Read. ISBN9781473356696. "500 Rum: From this popular form of Rummy have developed the new games of Canasta and Oklahoma; also Persian Rummy."
Morehead, Albert H.; Mott-Smith, Geoffrey; and Morehead, Philip D. (2001). Hoyle's Rules of Games, unpaginated. Penguin. ISBN9781101100233. "Canasta is the culmination of many minor features tacked onto Five Hundred Rum." One direction of conquain variations, "emphasize melding, leading to Five Hundred Rum, Canasta, Samba, etc."