Canasta rules

How to Play Canasta

Classic Canasta is a four-player partnership game. You and your partner build sets of matching cards, aim for seven-card "canastas," and try to be first to go out. Here is the whole game, step by step.

Which version this page describes

This page covers classic partnership Canasta, the version found in Hoyle-style rule books and on the Bicycle card company's website. It is the version that swept the United States in the 1950s, and it is still widely played today.

There is also a newer, quite different game called Modern American Canasta, popular in clubs. We cover it briefly near the end. If your group deals 13 cards and needs two canastas to go out, you are probably playing a modern or house version.

What you need

• Four players, in two teams of two. Partners sit across from each other.
• Two standard 52-card decks plus four jokers, shuffled together (108 cards).
• A score sheet, or our free scorekeeper.

Not sure about decks for other group sizes? See how many decks you need.

The cards at a glance

Full details of points and bonuses are on our Canasta scoring page.

The deal

1. Each player gets 11 cards, dealt one at a time, clockwise.
2. The rest of the cards go face down in the middle. This is the stock.
3. Turn the top stock card face up next to it. This starts the discard pile.
4. If that first card is a wild card or a red three, turn up another card on top of it, and keep going until you reach a regular card. The wild card or red three stays in the pile, turned sideways. This means the pile starts out frozen.

The player to the dealer's left goes first. Play moves clockwise. The deal passes to the left after each hand.

Your turn

Every turn has three parts:

1. Draw. Take the top card of the stock, or take the whole discard pile if you are allowed to (see below).
2. Meld (optional). Lay down new sets of cards, or add cards to your team's sets.
3. Discard. Put one card from your hand face up on the discard pile.

Red threes

Red threes are bonus cards. You never keep one in your hand.

• If you are dealt a red three, put it face up in front of you at your first turn and draw a replacement from the stock.
• If you draw one from the stock, lay it down and draw again.
• Each red three is worth 100 points to your team, as long as your team has melded something by the end of the hand. If your team has not melded at all, each one counts against you instead.

More on these in red threes and black threes.

Melds

A meld is a set of three or more cards of the same rank, laid face up on the table. Sequences (like 5-6-7) do not count in Canasta.

• Every meld needs at least two natural cards (not wild).
• A meld may have no more than three wild cards.
• Your team keeps all its melds together in front of one partner. Either partner may add to them.
• Your team can have only one meld of each rank. Extra kings go on your existing kings.
• You may never add cards to the other team's melds.
• Threes cannot be melded, except black threes when going out (see below).

Wild cards

Jokers and twos are wild. They can stand in for any card from four up to ace. A wild card cannot stand in for a three, and you cannot meld wild cards on their own.

Your team's first meld

The first time your team melds in a hand, the cards you put down must add up to a minimum number of points. The minimum depends on your team's total score so far:

Only the point values of the cards count. Red threes and canasta bonuses do not help. You may use more than one meld to reach the total. Once your team has made its first meld, either partner can meld freely for the rest of the hand.

Canastas

A canasta is a meld of seven or more cards. It must contain at least four natural cards.

• A natural canasta has no wild cards. It earns a 500-point bonus. Square it up with a red card on top.
• A mixed canasta has one, two or three wild cards. It earns a 300-point bonus. Put a black card on top.

You can keep adding natural cards to a finished canasta. Adding a wild card to a natural canasta turns it into a mixed one.

Freezing the discard pile

When the pile is frozen, it is harder to pick up. The pile is frozen:

• For everyone, once anyone discards a wild card onto it. Turn the wild card sideways so it shows under the cards above it. It stays frozen until someone takes the pile.
• For everyone, if a wild card or red three was turned up at the start.
• For your team only, until your team has made its first meld.

Picking up the discard pile

The discard pile can grow large, and taking it is the main way to get ahead. You may never take it when the top card is a wild card or a black three.

When the pile is not frozen

You may take it if you can use the top card in one of these ways:

• With two natural cards of the same rank from your hand, or
• With one natural card of that rank plus one wild card from your hand, or
• By adding it to a meld your team already has on the table.

When the pile is frozen

You must hold two natural cards of the same rank as the top card. No wild cards allowed. Lay them down with the top card.

Then what?

Meld the top card first, then pick up the rest of the pile into your hand. You may then make more melds, and you must finish your turn with a discard.

If your team has not melded yet, the top card counts toward your minimum, but the other cards in the pile do not.

Black threes

A black three is a "stop" card. When you discard one, the next player cannot take the pile on that turn. Once another card covers it, the pile can be taken as normal.

Black threes cannot be melded, except in a set of three or four (no wild cards) on the turn you go out. A black three left in your hand at the end costs you 5 points.

Going out

You go out by getting rid of your last card, either by melding it or by discarding it. Going out ends the hand.

• Your team must have at least one canasta before you go out. You may complete it on the same turn.
• If your team has no canasta yet, you must always keep at least one card in your hand.
• Going out earns your team a 100-point bonus.

Asking your partner

Before you meld on your going-out turn, you may ask, "Partner, may I go out?" Your partner answers yes or no, and you must follow that answer. Asking is optional. You may also go out without asking.

Going out concealed

If you meld your whole hand in a single turn, including at least one complete canasta, and you have not melded anything earlier in the hand, you have gone out concealed. This earns an extra 100 points, for 200 in total. You cannot have added cards to your partner's melds earlier in the hand.

When the stock runs out

If the last card of the stock is drawn and nobody has gone out, play carries on only while each player can take the previous player's discard and use it on a team meld. You must take a discard that fits one of your team's melds, unless the pile is frozen. As soon as a player cannot or chooses not to take the discard, the hand ends. If the last stock card is a red three, the hand ends at once.

Scoring and winning

At the end of each hand, each team adds up:

• Bonuses for canastas, red threes and going out, plus
• The point values of all the cards it has melded, minus
• The point values of all cards still in both partners' hands.

The game ends when a team reaches 5,000 points at the end of a hand. If both teams pass 5,000, the higher score wins. See Canasta scoring for a full worked example.

Common variants

Two-player Canasta

Each player gets 15 cards. On your turn you draw two cards from the stock and discard one. You need two canastas to go out. The game is still to 5,000. Full details: Canasta for two players.

Three-player Canasta

Each player gets 13 cards (some groups use 11), draws two from the stock and discards one. Everyone keeps a separate score. In the Hoyle-style version, the first player to take the pile plays alone and the other two team up against them for that hand. Play to 7,500. Both versions are explained in Canasta for three players.

Six-player Canasta

Use three decks and six jokers, and deal 13 cards each. Play as three teams of two or two teams of three. Two canastas are needed to go out.

Modern American Canasta

This is a different game with the same name. Players get 13 cards, the first-meld minimums are much higher (125 and up), a team needs two canastas to go out, and there are large bonuses for special canastas. The game is played to 8,500. If your group uses these rules, our classic pages will not match.

Agree your rules before you start

Canasta has been played in American homes for over 70 years, and many families have their own twists. A quick chat before the first deal saves arguments later. Common things to settle: whether the black three freezes the pile or only blocks the next player, and whether you must ask before going out.

New to the game? Our Canasta strategy tips will help you win more hands. Curious how it compares to the other big family meld game? Read Canasta vs. Hand and Foot.