Canasta rules

Quick start

1. Play in 2 teams of 2, partners facing. Shuffle 2 decks with 4 jokers. Deal 11 cards each and turn the top card of the stock face up to start the discard pile.
2. Jokers and 2s are wild. A red three you are dealt or draw from the stock goes face up on the table, and you draw a card to replace it. Each one is worth 100 points.
3. On your turn, draw the top card of the stock. Or, when the rules allow it, take the whole discard pile by melding its top card. Lay down melds if you want, then discard 1 card.
4. A meld is 3 or more cards of one rank, with at least 2 natural cards and no more than 3 wild cards. Your team’s first meld must reach a minimum point count.
5. A meld of 7 or more cards is a canasta, worth 500 with no wild cards or 300 with some. To go out, your team needs a canasta, which may be finished on that same turn.
6. When someone goes out, each team adds up its bonuses and the cards it melded, then takes off the cards left in its hands. The first team to 5,000 wins.

Rule sheet and score sheet

Print the whole game on one page, and a score sheet made for Canasta. Both are free PDFs for Letter paper.

Download the rule sheet

PDF, 1 page. The whole game on one page.

Download the score sheet

PDF, 1 page. Laid out for Canasta.

Setup

4 players in 2 teams of 2, with partners sitting across from each other. Versions for 2, 3 and 6 players are further down.

You need: Two standard 52-card decks shuffled together with 4 jokers.

• A card’s points count for your team when it is melded and against your team when it is still in a hand at the end.
• Natural cards are the 4s up to the aces. Wild cards and threes are not natural cards.

1. Shuffle 2 standard decks and 4 jokers together, 108 cards in all.
2. Each player draws a card. The two highest team up against the two lowest, and partners sit facing each other. The player to the right of the highest card deals first. The deal then passes left.
3. Deal 11 cards each, one at a time. Stack the rest face down as the stock and turn its top card face up beside it to start the discard pile.
4. If that card is a joker, a 2 or a red three, set it crosswise and turn the next card onto it until another card shows. The pile is then frozen.

Each player’s hand

Stock

The cards left after the deal, face down

Discard pile

Starts with one face-up card

• For the draw, aces are high and suits rank spades, hearts, diamonds, clubs. A joker or a tie means drawing again.
• Some groups choose the first dealer at random instead of drawing.
• Rule books differ on a black three as the first upcard. One covers it with another card, the same as a wild card, and counts the pile as frozen. Others leave it on top as the first discard. Nobody can take it while it is on top either way.

How to play

Turns go clockwise, starting with the player on the dealer’s left. Partners play as one side: they share their melds, their bonuses and their score.

1. Draw, meld, discard

   Draw the top card of the stock or take the whole discard pile. Lay down melds if you want. Then discard 1 card face up.

   • Taking the discard pile has its own rules, set out below. When you take it, you meld the top card at once and pick up all the other cards in the pile.
   • You discard from your hand, never from a meld. The one turn with no discard is the turn you go out by melding every card.

2. Lay out red threes

   Red threes are never kept in a hand. Lay each one face up and draw a replacement from the stock, on your first turn for any you were dealt. Each is worth 100.

   • A red three that you pick up with the discard pile also goes face up, but you do not draw a card to replace it.
   • If your team has all four red threes, they are worth 800 in all.
   • Red threes count against your team instead, 100 each, if your team has not made a single meld when the hand ends.
   • A red three is not a meld, and it does not help you reach the first meld minimum.

3. Make melds

   A meld is 3 or more cards of one rank, 4s up to aces, with at least 2 natural cards and no more than 3 wild cards. Partners share their melds.

   • Your team can have only one meld of each rank. Extra cards of that rank go onto the meld you already have.
   • The other team may meld a rank that your team has melded. You can never add cards to the other team’s melds.
   • Wild cards cannot be melded on their own. Each one stands for a card of the rank it is melded with.
   • Black threes can be melded only on the turn you go out: 3 or 4 of them, with no wild cards.
   • Only cards laid on the table count for you. A complete meld still in your hand counts against you.

4. Meet the first meld minimum

   Your team’s first meld must reach the minimum in the table below, which rises with your team’s score. Only card values count, never bonuses.

   • You may lay down several melds at once to reach the minimum.
   • If you take the discard pile to make the first meld, its top card counts toward the minimum. The other cards in the pile do not, even if you meld them in the same turn.
   • Bonuses never count toward the minimum, so red threes and canastas do not help.
   • Any legal meld is worth at least 15, so a team below zero can meld anything.

5. Build canastas

   A meld of 7 or more cards, with at least 4 natural cards, is a canasta. It is worth 500 with no wild cards, or 300 with some.

   • Square up a finished canasta with a red card on top if it is natural, or a black card on top if it is mixed.
   • You can keep adding natural cards to a canasta. Each one adds its points but does not change the bonus.
   • A wild card added to a natural canasta turns it into a mixed canasta, worth 300. A canasta can never hold more than 3 wild cards.

6. Take the discard pile

   To take the pile, meld its top card with a natural pair from your hand, a natural and a wild card, or your team’s meld of that rank. Then take the rest. A wild card or black three on top blocks it.

   • Nobody may take the pile while its top card is a wild card or a black three. A black three blocks only the next player. Once another card covers it, the pile can be taken as usual.
   • Show the cards from your hand before you touch the pile.
   • After you take the pile, you may meld any of its cards in the same turn, then discard.
   • A player holding only 1 card may not take a pile that has only 1 card in it.

7. Know when the pile is frozen

   The pile is frozen against a team that has not melded, and against everyone while it holds a wild card or a red three. Then you need a natural pair of the top card’s rank from your hand to take it.

   • A frozen pile cannot be taken with a wild card, and its top card cannot be added to a meld already on the table. You lay the pair down with the top card. If your team already has that rank, they all go onto that meld.
   • Set a discarded wild card crosswise so it still shows when cards are piled on top.
   • The pile stays frozen until someone takes it. Your team’s first meld lifts only the freeze against your team.
   • For a team that has not melded, the pair and the top card can be part of the first meld, along with any other cards from hand needed to reach the minimum.

8. Go out

   Once your team has a canasta, you may go out by melding or discarding your last card. You may ask your partner first, and the answer binds you. Going out scores 100.

   • You may complete the canasta on the same turn you go out.
   • Before you go out you may ask your partner, “May I go out?” Their yes or no is binding. You do not have to ask. Ask before you lay down any melds that turn. Rule books differ on whether you may still ask after taking the discard pile.
   • Going out concealed means melding your whole hand in one turn, with at least 1 canasta in it, when you have not melded anything earlier in the hand or added to your partner’s melds. It scores 200 instead of 100.
   • If your team has not melded and you go out concealed after drawing from the stock, you do not need the first meld minimum. If you took the discard pile, you do.

9. When the stock runs out

   With no stock left, play goes on while each player takes the discard. You must take it if it fits your team’s meld and the pile is not frozen. The hand ends when someone cannot or will not.

   • If the last card of the stock is a red three, lay it face up. The hand then ends at once, and that player may not meld or discard.

Example: a frozen pile

Your team has already melded and has three 9s on the table. Earlier, a player discarded a joker, which lies crosswise in the pile, so the pile is frozen for both teams. The top card is now the 9 of spades. You hold one 9 and a 2. If the pile were not frozen, you could add the 9 of spades to your meld of 9s, or meld it with your 9 and your 2. A frozen pile allows neither, so you draw from the stock instead. To take this pile you need two natural 9s in your hand. You would lay them down with the top card, put all three on your team’s meld of 9s and pick up the pile.

Discard pile

The joker freezes it. The 9♠ is on top.

Your team’s meld

The 9♠ cannot be added to it

Your hand

One 9 is not enough, and the 2 cannot help

Scoring

Both teams score at the end of every hand. Each team adds its bonuses to the points of the cards it melded, then takes off the points of the cards left in its two hands.

• Cards melded count for your team. Cards left in both partners’ hands count against it, even if they would make a meld.
• A team that made no meld scores its red threes as minus 100 each, or minus 800 for all four.
• A hand score can be below zero, and so can a running total. A team below zero needs only 15 for its first meld.
• There is no extra bonus for winning the game.

The first team to 5,000 points at the end of a hand wins. If both teams pass 5,000 in that hand, the higher total wins.

Use a sheet with a column for each team. After each hand, write each team’s bonuses and its card points, add them for the hand total, then add that to the running total. Check the running total before each deal, because it sets the team’s first meld minimum.

A worked example: one team’s hand

Your partner goes out by melding every card, not concealed. Your team has the melds and red threes shown, and you are left holding a queen, a 6 and a 2. Your team scores 1,315 for the hand.

Natural canasta

7 kings: 500 bonus, 70 in cards

Mixed canasta

300 bonus. Cards: 50 + 20 + 50 = 120

Meld of aces

20 + 20 + 20 = 60

Red threes

100 each

Left in your hand

10 + 5 + 20 = 35 against you

What happened	Points
Natural canasta of kings	500
Mixed canasta of 9s	300
Two red threes, 100 each	200
Going out	100
Cards in the canasta of kings: 7 kings at 10 each	70
Cards in the canasta of 9s: five 9s, a 2 and a joker	120
Cards in the meld of aces: 3 aces at 20 each	60
Cards left in your hand: a queen, a 6 and a 2	−35
Your team’s score for the hand	1,315

Scorekeeper

Two teams playing to 5,000. After each hand, enter each team’s score for the hand, which can be below zero. Each team’s column shows the first meld minimum for its current total, so you can check it before the next deal. For the 3-player and 6-player versions, add a third side if you need one and change the target to 7,500 or 10,000. It works in this browser, keeps the game if the page reloads, and needs no account.

Other ways to play

House rules and other versions

A black three freezes the pile

One rule book lists a discarded black three as freezing the pile, the same as a wild card. Once it is covered, the pile can be taken only with a natural pair of the top card’s rank. Under the main rules here, a black three blocks only the next player.

The pile is always frozen

The discard pile counts as frozen at all times. You can take it only with a natural pair of the top card’s rank from your hand.

Two naturals to take the pile

To take a pile that is not frozen, you must use 2 natural cards from your hand. One natural card and one wild card is not enough.

No taking the pile for a finished canasta

You may not take a pile that is not frozen just to add its top card to a canasta that is already complete.

Wild card melds

Some groups allow melds made only of 2s and jokers. A canasta of wild cards then earns a large bonus, typically 2,000 points. A team that has begun a wild card meld usually may not use wild cards in its other melds. In some groups, a team that starts a wild card meld and does not finish it loses 1,000 points.

Red threes laid out at the deal

Players put down any red threes they were dealt as soon as the deal ends, and draw replacements then, before the first turn.

Rule questions

Words used in Canasta

Meld

3 or more cards of the same rank laid face up on the table. To meld is to lay one down.

Natural card

Any card from 4 up to ace. Jokers, 2s and threes are not natural cards.

Wild card

A joker or a 2. It can stand for any natural card in a meld.

Canasta

A meld of 7 or more cards with at least 4 natural cards.

Natural canasta

A canasta with no wild cards, worth 500. Also called a red canasta. A red card goes on top to mark it.

Mixed canasta

A canasta with 1 to 3 wild cards, worth 300. Also called a dirty or black canasta.

Stock

The face-down pile of cards left after the deal. Players draw from it.

Discard pile

The face-up pile where every turn ends. It can be taken whole.

Upcard

The card turned face up after the deal to start the discard pile.

Frozen pile

A discard pile that can be taken only with a natural pair of the top card’s rank from your hand.

Red three

The 3 of hearts or diamonds. It is laid face up as a 100-point bonus and never melded.

Black three

The 3 of spades or clubs. On top of the pile it blocks the next player from taking it.

First meld minimum

The points a team’s first meld must be worth. It rises as the team’s score rises. Also called the minimum count.

Going out

Getting rid of the last card in your hand. It ends the hand and scores 100.

Going out concealed

Melding your whole hand in one turn, including a canasta, without having melded before in that hand. It scores 200.

What you need

• Two standard decks of playing cards with jokersYou need 2 decks and 4 jokers. Canasta sets come with all 108 cards, and some add a card tray.Find it on Amazon (Two standard decks of playing cards with jokers, opens in a new tab)
• A card tray or discard holderOptional. Keeps the stock and the discard pile tidy, since the pile can grow large.Find it on Amazon (A card tray or discard holder, opens in a new tab)
• A score pad and pencilScores reach the thousands, so a printed pad with team columns helps.Find it on Amazon (A score pad and pencil, opens in a new tab)
• Card holdersOptional. A hand can grow large after you take the discard pile.Find it on Amazon (Card holders, opens in a new tab)

As an Amazon Associate, we earn from qualifying purchases. How the site is paid for.

Checked against