What you need
Two standard 52-card decks shuffled together with four jokers: 108 cards in all. Four players in two partnerships, partners facing each other, is the standard game; versions for two, three and six players exist. You also need a score sheet with a “We” and “They” column and running totals, because the score decides what you need for your first meld.
This page describes Classic Canasta, the version standardised around 1950 and still played worldwide. Modern American Canasta uses different rules.
Card values
- Joker: 50
- 2 and ace: 20
- K, Q, J, 10, 9, 8: 10
- 7, 6, 5, 4 and black 3: 5
Jokers and 2s are wild. Red 3s are bonus cards, black 3s are blocking cards; neither can be melded normally.
Setup
Deal 11 cards to each player. Put the rest face down as the stock and turn the top card to start the discard pile; if it is a wild card or a red 3, turn another on top of it and the pile starts frozen (see below). Anyone dealt a red 3 lays it face up at once and draws a replacement.
How to play
A turn is: draw, meld if you wish, discard one card.
Melds and canastas
A meld is three or more cards of the same rank (4 up to ace), with at least two natural cards and never more than three wild cards. Melds belong to the partnership and are laid in front of one partner; you may add to your side’s melds but never to the opponents’. A seven-card meld is a canasta, worth a bonus. A canasta with no wild cards is natural (red card on top); one with wild cards is mixed (black card on top).
The initial meld
Your partnership’s first meld of the hand must reach a minimum card count based on your score at the start of the hand: 50 points for 0 to 1,495; 90 for 1,500 to 2,995; 120 for 3,000 or more; 15 if your score is negative. Several melds laid at once may be added together. Bonuses do not count.
Taking the discard pile
Instead of drawing from the stock, you may take the whole discard pile if you can meld its top card right away with cards from your hand: a natural pair of the same rank, or one natural and one wild card, or by adding it to an existing meld of your side. You then add the rest of the pile to your hand and may meld further.
The pile is frozen against you while your side has not made its initial meld, and against everyone when it contains a wild card (turned sideways to show it). A frozen pile can only be taken with a natural pair matching the top card. The pile can never be taken when its top card is a wild card or a black 3; discarding a black 3 simply blocks the next player.
Threes
A red 3 drawn from the stock goes face up on the table and you draw again. Black 3s can only be melded (three or four of them, no wild cards) in the turn you go out.
Going out
You may go out only if your side has at least one canasta (completing it in the same turn is fine). Meld all your cards, with or without a final discard. You may ask “Partner, may I go out?”; the answer is binding. The hand also ends when the stock runs out and a player cannot or will not take the discard.
Scoring and winning
Each side adds its bonuses and the value of its melded cards, then subtracts the value of cards left in both partners’ hands.
- Going out: 100; going out concealed (whole hand melded in one turn, including a canasta, with no earlier melds): 200
- Natural canasta: 500; mixed canasta: 300
- Each red 3: 100; all four: 800. Red 3s count minus if your side never melded.
The game ends when a side reaches 5,000 at the end of a hand; the higher total wins.
Common variants
- Two players. 15 cards each, draw two cards and discard one, two canastas needed to go out.
- Three players. 13 cards each, everyone for themselves.
- Six players. Three partnerships or two teams of three, with three decks.
- Always frozen pile. Only a natural pair can ever take the pile.
- Modern American Canasta. Initial meld from hand only, special hands, wild card canastas and different bonuses. A different game in practice; see pagat.com.
Tips for first games
- Early on, do not discard cards your opponents can obviously use; a big pile taken against you is hard to recover from.
- Freeze the pile with a wild card when the opponents are melding freely and you are not.
- Keep pairs. They are the key to taking a frozen pile.
- Do not rush to go out: a canasta is worth more than the 100 for going out, and your partner’s hand counts against you.
Frequently asked questions
How many cards are used in Canasta? 108: two full decks plus four jokers. With six players, use three decks.
Can you meld runs in Canasta? No. Only sets of the same rank count; sequences are not melds.
What is a frozen discard pile? A pile you can take only with a natural pair matching its top card. It is frozen for your side until you make your initial meld, and for everyone when a wild card lies in it.
Can you go out without a canasta? No. Your partnership needs at least one complete canasta, which may be finished in the going-out turn.
What does a red three do? It is a bonus card worth 100 points (800 for all four), placed face up at once and replaced from the stock. If your side never melds, the bonus becomes a penalty.
