How to Play Canasta

Canasta came to the United States from South America in the late 1940s and quickly became one of the most popular card games in the country. Many of us first watched it played at a grandparent's card table, with stacks of melds spread out and a running score on a notepad. The name means "basket" in Spanish, a nod to the big sets of seven cards that are the heart of the game.

This page explains the classic four-handed partnership rules our free online game uses. Where families commonly play differently, we point it out, and our Canasta rule variations page covers those options in detail.

What You Need

• Four players in two partnerships. Partners sit across from each other.
• Two standard decks plus four jokers, shuffled together: 108 cards.
• A pencil and score pad. Online, the scoreboard keeps track for you.

In our online game you sit South, your partner is North, and your opponents are West and East. Play goes clockwise: you, West, North, East.

The Deal

Each player gets 11 cards. The rest go face down in the middle as the stock. The top card of the stock is turned face up beside it to start the discard pile. If that first card is a wild card or a red 3, another card is turned up on top of it, and the pile starts out frozen (explained below).

Card Values

Taking a Turn

1. Draw one card from the stock, or take the entire discard pile (if you're allowed; see below).
2. Meld if you want to.
3. Discard one card face up on the discard pile.

Melds and Canastas

A meld is three or more cards of the same rank laid face up on the table. Partners share melds, and each team has only one meld of each rank: if you already have kings on the table, more kings go on that meld.

• Jokers and 2s are wild. A meld needs at least two natural cards and may have no more than three wild cards.
• 3s can't be melded in the usual way (see the section on threes).
• A meld of seven or more cards is a canasta. The cards are squared up, with a red card on top for a natural canasta and a black card on top for a mixed one.

A canasta can keep growing past seven cards. Adding a wild card to a natural canasta turns it into a mixed one, and the three-wild-card limit still applies.

Your Team's First Meld

The first meld your team makes in a hand must add up to a minimum, counted with the card values above. The minimum depends on your team's total score so far:

You may put down several melds at once to reach the total. After your team's first meld, there's no minimum for either partner for the rest of the hand.

Example: your team has 1,600 points, so you need 90. You hold king-king-joker (10 + 10 + 50 = 70) and three 5s (15). That's only 85. Add a 2 to the 5s (another 20) and you're at 105, enough to go down.

Taking the Discard Pile

Taking the discard pile is the biggest play in Canasta, because you get every card in it. To take it, you must use the top card in a meld right away. You can never take the pile when its top card is a wild card or a black 3.

When the Pile Is Not Frozen

You may take it if you can:

• match the top card with a natural pair from your hand, or
• match it with one natural card and one wild card, or
• add the top card to a meld your team already has on the table.

When the Pile Is Frozen

A frozen pile can only be taken with a natural pair from your hand that matches the top card. The pile becomes frozen for everyone as soon as a wild card is discarded into it (or a wild card or red 3 was turned up at the start). It is also always frozen for a team that hasn't melded yet in this hand. Taking the pile unfreezes it.

Example: the top card is a 9, and your team already has a meld of 9s. If the pile isn't frozen, you can simply add the 9 to your meld and take the pile. If someone has discarded a 2 into the pile earlier, it's frozen, and you'd need two natural 9s in your hand.

If your team hasn't melded yet, the top card counts toward your minimum, but the other cards in the pile don't. Say you need 50 and the top card is an ace: an ace pair from your hand makes ace-ace-ace for 60 points, so you can take the pile. Then you may meld more from your new cards.

House rule: some families treat the pile as always frozen, so you always need a natural pair. You can switch to that in Settings → House Rules. See the frozen pile.

Red 3s and Black 3s

Red 3s

A red 3 is a bonus card. Whenever you get one, from the deal or from the stock, it's laid face up in front of you and you draw a replacement. Our game does this automatically. Each red 3 is worth 100 points, and a team holding all four gets 800. But if your team hasn't made a single meld by the end of the hand, your red 3s count against you.

Black 3s

Discarding a black 3 blocks the next player from taking the pile on their turn. Black 3s can only be melded when you go out, as three or four black 3s with no wild cards. Left in your hand, each costs 5 points.

Going Out

A hand ends when a player goes out. To go out, your team needs at least one canasta. You then meld all your cards, or meld all but one and discard it. Going out earns 100 points.

If you go out concealed, melding your whole hand in a single turn when you hadn't melded anything before, the bonus is 200 instead. It's rare, but a real thrill when it happens.

In our default game you don't need to ask your partner "May I go out?" first. Some families require asking, and the partner's answer is binding; you can switch that on in Settings → House Rules (see asking to go out).

In our game, a hand also ends when the stock runs out. Classic rules have a special way of handling that moment, which we explain on the variations page.

Scoring

A Worked Example

You go out (not concealed). Your team has a natural canasta of seven queens (70 in cards), a mixed canasta of five 8s and two jokers (50 + 100 = 150), and a meld of three 4s (15). You have two red 3s. Your partner is left holding a king and a 7.

• Canastas: 500 + 300 = 800
• Melded cards: 70 + 150 + 15 = 235
• Red 3s: 200, going out: 100
• Partner's cards: −(10 + 5) = −15
• Your team scores 1,320.

The other team has no canasta, but they melded ace-ace-ace-2 (80) and three 6s (15), and they have one red 3. West is left with 60 points in hand, East with 35. They score 80 + 15 + 100 − 60 − 35 = 100.

The game continues hand after hand until a team reaches 5,000. If both teams pass 5,000 in the same hand, the higher score wins.

Playing Canasta Online

• Press Draw to take a card from the stock, or Discard Pile to take the pile when you're allowed.
• Tap cards to select them, then press Make a new meld, or tap one of your team's melds to add to it.
• Your hand is sorted by rank, with wild cards at the end. While your team still needs its first meld, the minimum is shown on screen.
• Press Hint for a suggestion, and tap Why? beside a computer move to see the reason for it.
• Every deal has a number. After a hand, Show All Hands reveals everyone's cards and the rest of the stock, and Replay This Deal lets you try the same shuffle again.
• Pick Easy, Normal or Hard computer players, set your family's House Rules, and turn on four-color cards or reduced motion in Settings.
• Your game saves automatically after every move.

Next, read our Canasta strategy guide. If your family loves big games, try Hand and Foot, the five-deck cousin of Canasta where every player has a second hand waiting.