Canasta

What you need

Four players in two partnerships, partners facing each other, and two standard decks with four jokers shuffled together: 108 cards. Twos and jokers are wild. You play hand after hand, and the game ends when a team reaches 5,000 points.

The deal

Each player gets 11 cards. The rest of the pack goes face down in the middle as the stock, and its top card is turned over to start the discard pile. If that card is a wild card or a red three, turn another onto it until a different card shows. A pile that starts this way is frozen, which changes how it can be taken. The player to the left of the dealer goes first, and the deal passes to the left after each hand.

On your turn

1. Draw one card from the stock, or take the whole discard pile.
2. Meld if you can and want to: start a meld, or add to one your team already has.
3. Discard one card to end your turn.

Melds and canastas

A meld is three or more cards of one rank, from fours up to aces. Both partners build on the same melds, and a team keeps only one meld of each rank. Every meld holds at least two natural cards and at most three wild cards. A meld made only of wild cards is not allowed.

Seven cards or more make a canasta, and a canasta can keep growing.

Canasta	What is in it	Bonus
Natural	Seven or more cards, no wild cards	500
Mixed	Seven or more cards with one to three wild cards	300

Square a finished canasta into a pile with a red card on top if it is natural and a black card if it is mixed. Add a wild card to a natural canasta and it becomes mixed.

Your first meld

The first time your team melds in a hand, the cards you lay down must add up to a minimum. The minimum depends on your team's score before the hand began.

Team score	First meld
Below zero	15
0 to 1,495	50
1,500 to 2,995	90
3,000 or more	120

Only card values count toward the minimum. Bonuses for red threes and canastas do not. If you take the discard pile to make your first meld, the top card counts and the cards under it do not.

Taking the discard pile

You always take the whole pile, and you must meld its top card in the same turn. You can never take it when the top card is a wild card or a black three.

When the pile is not frozen, you can take it in two ways.

1. Play two cards from your hand that make a meld with the top card: two natural cards of its rank, or one natural card and one wild card.
2. Add the top card to a meld your team already has on the table.

When the pile is frozen, you need two natural cards of the top card's rank in your hand. Nothing else takes it.

The pile is frozen	For whom
A wild card is in the pile	Both teams, until someone takes it
The deal turned up a wild card or a red three	Both teams, until someone takes it
Your team has not melded yet	Your team only

Discarding a wild card freezes the pile. Set it sideways so everyone can see.

Threes

Red threes go face up on the table the moment you find one, and you draw a replacement. Each is worth 100 to your team, and all four are worth 800. If your team finishes the hand without a single meld, they count against you instead.

Black threes are stop cards. Discard one and the next player cannot take the pile. You can meld black threes only on the turn you go out, as a set of three or four with no wild cards.

Going out

You go out by melding every card in your hand, or all but one and discarding it. Your team needs at least one canasta on the table first. Without a canasta, you must keep at least one card in your hand after you discard. You may ask your partner whether to go out before you do, and the answer binds you.

Going out is worth 100. Going out concealed, with your whole hand melded in one turn including a canasta, is worth 200.

The hand also ends when the stock runs out. Play goes on as long as each player can take the previous discard and meld it, and stops when a player must draw and no card is left.

Between hands: shuffling 108 cards

More on the two-deck load in the canasta card shuffler guide.

Scoring

Card values

Card	Points
Joker	50
Two, ace	20
Eight to king	10
Four to seven	5
Black three	5

Bonuses

Item	Points
Natural canasta	500
Mixed canasta	300
Going out	100, or 200 concealed
Red three	100 each, 800 for all four

At the end of a hand, each team adds its bonuses and the value of every card it melded, then subtracts the value of the cards left in both partners' hands. When a team reaches 5,000 at the end of a hand, the game is over and the higher total wins.

The cards in a canasta count as well as its bonus. Seven kings in a natural canasta are worth 570: 500 for the canasta and 70 for the kings. To count melded cards quickly, stack them in piles worth 100.

A worked hand. A team goes out with one natural canasta, two mixed canastas and two red threes. Its melded cards add up to 620, and the partner is left holding 45. That is 500 for the natural canasta, 600 for the mixed, 200 for the red threes, 620 in cards and 100 for going out, less 45: 1,975.

Classic and Modern American

The rules above are classic canasta. Many American tables now play Modern American, which changes the game more than a house rule does.

Rule	Classic	Modern American
Deal	11 cards	13 cards
Game	5,000	8,500
First meld	50, 90 or 120	125, 155 or 180
Canastas to go out	One	Two
Discard pile	Starts with a turned-up card	Starts empty
Taking the pile	Two ways when it is not frozen	Always a natural pair from your hand
Meld size	No limit	Seven cards at most
Wild card melds	Not allowed	Allowed, and a wild canasta scores 2,000 or more
Sevens	An ordinary rank	No wild cards, and a canasta scores 2,500
Discards	Any card	No threes, and a wild card only to go out
Going out	With or without a last discard	Always with a last discard

How Modern American scores

Item	Points
Mixed canasta	300
Pure canasta	500
Pure canasta of sevens or aces	2,500
Wild canasta	2,000, or 2,500 with all four jokers, or 3,000 with seven twos
Going out	100
Special hand	2,000 to 3,000
Unfinished meld of sevens or pure aces	Minus 2,500
Unfinished meld of wild cards	Minus 2,000, or 2,500 with all four jokers
Three or more sevens, or aces, left in a hand	Minus 1,500

Threes of each color score 100 for one, 300 for two, 500 for three and 1,000 for all four. A team with two or more canastas adds them, a team with one canasta scores nothing for them, and a team with none subtracts them. A team with no canasta also subtracts its melded cards.

Modern American has no single rulebook, so settle the table rules before the first deal.

With two players, the classic game changes in three ways: each gets 15 cards, you draw two cards a turn and discard one, and you need two canastas to go out.

Rules as recorded by pagat.com, Canasta, classic and Modern American versions.

Common questions

How many cards are in a canasta deck?

108: two standard 52-card decks and four jokers.

How many cards do you deal in canasta?

Eleven each in the classic four-player game. Two players get 15 each, and Modern American deals 13.

What is a frozen pile in canasta?

A discard pile you can take only with two natural cards of the top card's rank from your hand. A wild card in the pile freezes it for both teams, and it is frozen for your team until you make your first meld.

How many points do you need for your first meld?

50 until your team reaches 1,500, then 90, then 120 from 3,000. A team below zero needs 15.

Can you go out without a canasta?

No. Your team needs at least one canasta on the table. Modern American asks for two.

Score keeper

Pick classic or Modern American, enter each team's hand, then add the next hand. It shows the first meld each team needs and keeps the game on this device.