Canasta

How to play Canasta

Classic Canasta is played by four people in two partnerships, with partners sitting opposite each other. Each player is dealt 11 cards, the rest form the stock, and one card is turned face up to start the discard pile. You score by melding cards, completing canastas, turning up red threes and going out first. A match is played to 5,000 points by default.

Every turn has three steps:

• Draw the top card of the stock, or take the whole discard pile if the rules allow it.
• Meld if you want to: lay down new melds or add cards to your team's melds.
• Discard one card face up on the pile. This ends your turn.

Canasta rules for beginners

A meld is three or more cards of the same rank, such as three Kings or five 7s. Suits do not matter. Jokers and 2s are wild, but every meld needs at least two natural cards and may hold no more than three wild cards.

Partners build melds together, so your team has only one meld of each rank. A meld of seven or more cards is a canasta, and you cannot go out until your team has at least one. The discard pile is the real prize: by the middle of a hand it can hold fifteen or twenty cards, and the team that takes it usually gets the cards for several canastas.

How many cards in Canasta?

Canasta uses 108 cards: two standard 52-card decks plus four jokers. With four players each person gets 11 cards; in the 2-player game each gets 15. Each card has a value that counts for you when melded and against you when left in your hand:

• Joker: 50 points
• 2 and Ace: 20 points
• King down to 8: 10 points
• 7 down to 4, and black 3: 5 points
• Red 3: 100 points as a bonus card (never melded)

Red threes and black threes in Canasta

Red threes are bonus cards. When you are dealt one or draw one, it goes face up in front of your team at once and you take a replacement from the stock. Each is worth 100 points, and all four together are worth 800. If your team has made no meld by the end of the hand, the red threes count against you.

Black threes are blocking cards. When you discard one, the next player cannot take the pile on their turn, which makes it a strong defensive discard when the pile is large. Black threes can only be melded when you go out, as three or four black 3s with no wild cards. On screen, the pile shows a STOP badge while a black 3 is on top.

Freezing the pile: when can you pick it up?

When you take the discard pile you must use its top card in a meld at once; the rest goes into your hand.

The pile is frozen when it contains a wild card or a red 3, and it is always frozen for a team that has not melded yet. A frozen pile can only be taken with a natural pair from your hand that matches the top card. An unfrozen pile can also be taken with one natural card plus a wild card, or by adding the top card to your team's existing meld of that rank.

Discarding a wild card freezes the pile, and on screen a frozen pile is turned sideways. You can never take the pile when its top card is a black 3 or a wild card. If the first upcard of a hand is a wild card or a red 3, another card is turned and the pile starts frozen.

How much do you need for the first meld in Canasta?

Your team's first meld of each hand must reach a minimum count that depends on your team's score:

• Below 0: 15 points
• 0 to 1,495: 50 points
• 1,500 to 2,995: 90 points
• 3,000 or more: 120 points

Counting the opening meld

Only card values count, not bonuses. Several melds laid down in the same turn are added together: three Kings (30) plus Ace, Ace, Joker (90) make 120. When you open by taking the pile, only its top card plus the cards from your hand count. Your team's requirement is shown on screen, and you can stage several melds and press Lay down to place them together.

How do you go out in Canasta?

Once your team has at least one canasta (two in the 2-player game), you go out by melding all your cards, or all but one and discarding it. Going out ends the hand and earns 100 points. A concealed going out, melding your whole hand in one turn without having melded before and without taking the pile, earns 200.

In the 4-player game you may ask "Partner, may I go out?" before you meld. This house rule is on by default and the answer is binding. If your partner says yes you must go out, and if you then do not, your team loses 100 points.

If the stock runs out, or the last card is a red 3, the hand ends. After the stock is empty a player may still take the pile if they legally can; otherwise the hand ends.

Canasta scoring explained

At the end of each hand each team scores:

• 500 for each natural (clean) canasta and 300 for each mixed (dirty) canasta.
• 100 for each red 3, or 800 for all four, counted as minus if the team made no meld.
• 100 for going out, or 200 for a concealed going out.
• Plus the value of every melded card, minus the value of every card left in hand.

Winning the match

Scores carry over until a team reaches the target: 5,000 in the classic game, or 1,500 for a quick game and 2,500 for a medium one in the house rules. If both teams pass it in the same hand the higher total wins, and a tie means another hand. After each hand a summary shows each team's breakdown and the score history.

2-player Canasta rules

Canasta for two uses the same deck, card values and pile rules with three changes: each player gets 15 cards, each turn you draw two cards from the stock and discard one, and you need two canastas to go out. Without a partner, it becomes a duel of reading one opponent: watch what they pick up and what they never discard.

Canasta strategy tips

A few habits win more hands, with friends or against the computer:

• Keep natural pairs early. They are what let you take a frozen pile.
• Do not rush your opening meld when the pile is small. Opening by taking a big pile is often worth the wait.
• Watch the discards and avoid feeding the next player a card they can use to take the pile.
• Freeze the pile with a wild card when the other team is about to take it.
• Save black threes for the moment the pile is large.
• Aim for natural canastas: a clean one is worth 200 more than a dirty one.
• Go out when you are ahead, not just because you can. Ask your partner if you are unsure.

Play Canasta online with friends or against the computer

Play alone against Easy, Normal or Hard computers. Hard computers track the discards and the pile, avoid giving you a pile you can take, hold black threes for big piles, freeze the pile when needed and feed their partner. An unfinished game against the computer resumes when you return, and your stats are saved in this browser.

To play with friends, tap Invite friends and share the link on WhatsApp, or send the room code. Computers fill empty seats and cover a friend who drops out. There is text and emoji chat and optional voice chat, on phones and computers alike.

On a computer, click to select cards and drag to reorder. D draws, P takes the pile, M melds, L lays down staged opening melds, S sorts, Enter discards the selected card, arrow keys move focus, Space selects and Esc clears. On a phone, tap to select, drag to rearrange and use the Draw, Take pile, Meld, Discard and Ask partner buttons.

Canasta vs Rummy

Canasta belongs to the rummy family, so the rhythm of draw, meld and discard is familiar. The differences: Canasta allows only sets of the same rank, never runs in a suit; it uses two decks with jokers and many wild cards; it is played in partnerships with shared melds; and the discard pile is taken whole, which turns every hand into a battle over the pile. Rummy is usually quicker, while Canasta rewards long-term planning.

Canasta variants: Hand and Foot, Samba and Bolivia

The game here is Classic Canasta for 2 or 4 players. Its best known relatives are not available here, but are worth knowing:

• Hand and Foot: a North American variant where each player gets two hands and plays the second, the foot, after using up the first. It uses more decks and needs several canastas to go out.
• Samba: a three-deck version that also allows sequences in one suit.
• Bolivia: a close cousin of Samba where a seven-card sequence is an escalera and a canasta of only wild cards is a bolivia.

A short history of Canasta

Canasta was created in Uruguay around 1939. The usual story credits Segundo Santos and Alberto Serrato of Montevideo, who wanted a partnership game quicker than bridge. It spread through Argentina and South America in the 1940s, reached the United States, and by the early 1950s was a full craze, briefly rivalling bridge in American homes.

Canasta en español: resumen

Aquí puedes jugar Canasta online gratis, la canasta clásica en parejas con dos barajas y cuatro comodines. Juega contra la computadora en nivel fácil, normal o difícil, o invita a tus amigos con un enlace o un código de sala. Funciona en el navegador del móvil o del ordenador, sin descargas y sin registro. También puedes jugar la canasta para dos, con 15 cartas cada uno.