Canasta rules
Canasta is a card game from the rummy family in which you never build runs, only sets of the same rank. It is best with four players in two partnerships and lasts long enough to fill a whole evening.
These are the classic rules for four players. If you know rummy, most ideas will feel familiar: you draw a card, meld combinations and discard one card at the end of your turn.
Cards and the deal
Canasta uses two 52-card decks plus four jokers, 108 cards in all. Partners sit opposite each other. Each player gets eleven cards, the rest goes face down in the middle, and the top card is turned up to start the discard pile.
On each turn a player draws one card from the stock or, under the conditions below, takes the whole discard pile, then melds what they want and finishes by discarding one card.
Wild cards and threes
Jokers and twos are wild and can stand for any card from four to ace. A meld needs at least two natural cards, may not hold more wild cards than natural ones, and never more than three wild cards.
Red threes are bonus cards: as soon as one reaches your hand you lay it in front of you and draw a replacement. Each is worth 100 points, all four together 800. A black three freezes the pile for the next player when you discard it, and it may only be melded on your last turn, when you go out.
Melds and canastas
A meld is three or more cards of the same rank, such as three kings or four sevens. Partners share their melds on the table, so you can add cards to your partner's melds.
A meld of seven or more cards is a canasta. A natural canasta, with no wild card, is worth 500 points and a mixed one 300. A partnership may not go out without at least one canasta.
The first meld
A partnership's first meld must be worth enough points, and the minimum rises with the score: 15 points while the side is below zero, 50 up to 1,495, 90 up to 2,995 and 120 from 3,000.
Card values: joker 50, two and ace 20, king to eight 10 each, seven to four and the black three 5 each.
Taking the pile
The discard pile is the big prize in canasta. You take it by melding its top card at once, with cards from your hand or onto an existing meld of your side. The whole pile is then yours.
The pile is frozen until your side has made its first meld and whenever it holds a wild card. A frozen pile may only be taken with two natural cards of the same rank as the top card.
Going out and scoring
A hand ends when a player melds or discards their last card while their side has at least one canasta. Going out earns 100 points, or 200 if the player melds the whole hand at once without having melded before.
Each side adds its canastas, red threes and the value of the cards it melded, and subtracts the value of the cards left in its hands. The first partnership to reach 5,000 points wins.
Canasta tips
Early on, keep pairs of natural cards, because they are what lets you take a frozen pile later. When the opponents are building big melds, discard black threes and ranks that are already on the table so the pile does not help them.
Spend wild cards with care: a natural canasta is worth almost twice a mixed one.
Canasta at the table and in the browser
House rules differ in the details, so agree on the meld minimums and the number of wild cards before the first hand.
Online igre does not have canasta yet, but related rummy games are ready to play: gin rummy and Classic Gin Rummy against the computer, with more card games in the Table games world.