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Canasta Rules & How To Play
Classic Canasta

Canasta was the
most popular card game in the United States in the
1950's despite it being quite complex compared to
other Rummy games. There are many versions of
Canasta such as Samba, Bolivia, Burraco and it is
sometimes spelled Canaster or Kanasta in european
countries. The original, official Canasta rules
describe a game which is known as "Classic
Canasta". This is the game we cover here and we
have tried to make the rules simple and easy to
understand.

Canasta may be played with 2,
3, 4, 5 or 6 players but is best played with four
persons as a partnership game. The word "Canasta"
actually means "Basket" in Spanish and probably
referred to the tray that was originally used to
hold the discards. It is still often referred to
as "Basket Rummy". Canasta has a number of rules
which are both specific to Classic Canasta and in
variance with other Rummy card games.

The
Deck - Canasta is played with two decks of
54 cards or a total of 108 cards including 4
jokers. All are shuffled together as one deck
before the game begins. Note that in Canasta, both
Jokers and Deuces (twos) are wild cards. Treys
(threes) are special as you will see
later.

The
Deal - The dealer shuffles, cuts and deals
the cards face down, clockwise beginning with the
player to the dealer's left. Each player gets 11
cards in a game with 4 or more players as per the
table below. The dealer then places the next card
face up (the "upcard") on the table, starting the
discard pile.

Next to the discard pile, the
rest of the deck is placed face down to form the
stock or stock pile. All subsequent discards are
laid face up in one pile, on the upcard, if the
first player does not take it. No previous
discards are seen and only the upcard is visible
at the top of the discard pile.

If the
upcard is a wild card (a joker or a deuce) or a
trey (three) one or more cards must be turned upon
it until a natural card appears. Also each player
must immediately place, face up in front of them,
any red threes they were dealt and draw an equal
number of cards from the stock pile to replace
them. We will talk about red threes later.

Number of players

Deck of
Cards

Number of
cards dealt to each player

2
Players

2 Decks

15 cards
each

3
Players

2 Decks

13 cards
each

4 +
Players

2 Decks

11 cards
each

Object
of the Game

The goal of Canasta is to
obtain the most points by melding, or creating
sets out of one’s cards. Going out sooner than
your opponent and discarding your last card is
somewhat less important in Canasta than in other
Rummy games.

How The
Game Is Played Turn By Turn

(1)
Draw (Compulsory) - When it is your turn,
you may draw the top card from the stock and put
it into your hand without showing anyone. A
player in turn is always entitled to draw the
top card from the stock pile or, subject to
certain conditions, you may take the top card
from the discard pile (see "Drawing From The
Discard Pile" later). You can then meld or end
your turn with a discard:

(2)
Melding (Optional) - Cards may then be
placed in combinations of three or more of the
same rank (sets) such as placing
K K K, from a hand face up on the
table. A player may make as many melds as he
wishes on his turn or he may keep his melds in
his hand. All the melds of both partners in a
partnership game are placed in front of one of
them. Note that Sequences (or runs) are not
valid melds in Canasta.

One side may not
have more than one meld of the same rank. Also,
remember that in Canasta, both jokers and deuces
(twos) are wild cards. A set consisting entirely
of wild cards is not valid. Also, a meld must
contain at least two natural cards and not more
than three wild cards. See the table below for
an idea of what kind of melds are
valid:

Example of a Valid Set

Example of
an Invalid Set

4 4 2

3 2 2

6 6 2 2

6 6 2 2 2 2

K K 2 2 2

2 2 2

A player may add one or
more cards of the same rank or wild cards to a
meld previously placed by them on the table but
they may not add more cards to melds placed by
their opponents. Wild cards in any number may be
added to a completed Canasta but no other meld
may contain more than three wild cards, as per
above.

Important
Note About Treys - A trey is a card of
rank three and all threes have a special
relevance in Canasta. Firstly, threes may not be
melded except that a set of three or four black
threes may be melded on a turn in which that
side is ready to go out. If a black three is
discarded, the next player cannot draw it and
must take his next card from the stock pile.
This is known as the "stop card".

Red
threes are bonus cards, counting either for or
against the side to which they fall, but are not
added to the eleven card hand and cannot be
melded under any circumstances. As previously
mentioned, at the first turn to play each player
must withdraw from his hand any red three and
put it face up on the table, then draw a card
from the top of the stock pile to restore his
hand to eleven cards. On drawing a red three
from stock, a player must immediately place it
on the table face up and draw a replacement from
the stock. Finally, a player who takes the
discard pile and finds a red three in it must
place the red three face up in front of him but
does not draw a replacement from
stock.

(3)
Discarding (Compulsory) - Unless you
melded all the cards in your hand, you must then
end your turn by placing a card from your hand
face up on top of the discard pile. A discard
must be made from the hand and never from a
meld. Once the player has discarded, his turn is
over and he may not play any cards until it is
his turn again. If a player goes out, a discard
is not required.

How The
Discard Pile Works In Canasta

Drawing
From Discard Pile - On your turn you may
draw from the discard pile but you can only do
this if you are able to meld the top card and in
doing so, you must also:

(1)

Place the
cards from your hand required to form that meld
face up on the table.

(2)

Add the top
card of the discard pile to these in order to
form a valid meld or melds.

(3)

Take all
the cards remaining in the discard pile and add
them to your hand.

(4)

If you
wish, make further melds from the cards you now
have in your hand.

(5)

Discard one
card face up on the discard pile to end your
turn.

As regards point (2), you
must show that you can form a valid meld or
melds with the upcard before you are permitted
to take the discard pile, after which point you
may make further melds. For clarification on how
this works if, for example, you have two cards
5 and 5 in your hand and the
top card of the discard pile is 5 then you place both your
fives on the table face up and add the top card
of the discard pile to form 5 5 5 which is a valid set of
three. You may then take the discard pile into
your hand and you may form other melds before
finally discarding to end your turn. You can
never take the top card of the discard pile if
it is a wild card or a black three.

Frozen
Discard Pile - There are three main ways
that the discard pile can be frozen against your
partnership:

(1)

The discard
pile is frozen against all players when it
contains a wild card.

(2)

If your side has not
yet formed a meld, the discard pile is frozen
against you.

(3)

If a red three is the
card to start the discard pile after the deal,
the discard pile is frozen against all players.
The red three is placed at a right angle to show
this.

When the discard pile is
frozen against you, you may only take it if you
hold in your hands two natural cards of the same
rank as the card at the top of the discard pile
(the "upcard") and you use these to make a meld.
When it is not frozen, a player may draw the top
card of the discard pile to match with two cards
in the hand - either two natural cards or one
natural and one wild or to add the top card to a
meld of his own side.

This meld can be a
new one or the same rank as an existing meld in
which case they can be merged. For example, in a
situation where the discard pile is frozen and
my side has a meld of 6
6 6 6 already on the table. If the player
before me discards a 6, I can pick it up if I have
6
6 in my hand. In which case, I can add
the set of three to the set of four, thereby
forming a Canasta, and take the pile.

How to Go Out
In Canasta

The hand ends as soon as a
player goes out. You can only go out if your side
has melded at least one Canasta. You can go out by
melding all your cards or by melding all your
cards but one and discarding the last card on your
turn. You can complete your Canasta and go out on
the same turn.

If you do not have a
Canasta, you cannot discard all your cards and be
left with one as this could lead to a situation
where you can go out illegally, having not formed
a Canasta. Also it is not always advantageous to
go out when you are able to. Since a partners
cards left in hand will count against that team,
in this situation a side may score more by
continuing play.

Therefore in a partnership
situation, you may ask the other partner "May I go
out?". If the partner answers "no" then this is
binding and you may not go out and if the partner
answers "yes" then you may. However, it is
important to note that consulting your partner is
not compulsory and you may go out without asking
your partner. In any event, a partnership must
have a Canasta to go out.

Stock Pile
Runs Out of Cards

The game also ends if the
stock pile runs out of cards. As soon as a player
who is entitled to draw from stock, chooses to do
so and there are no cards left in stock then play
ends at this point. Also if a player draws a red
three from stock, the red three is put face up on
the table but as there is no card that can be
drawn as a replacement from stock, play ends
there.

Forcing
- After the last card of stock is drawn,
play continues provided that each player in turn
can legally take and meld the card discarded by
his opponent. In this situation where the stock is
exhausted, it is compulsory to take the discard if
it can be legally added to a meld. In this way,
making a discard that must be taken up by an
opponent is known as "forcing". Play ends when a
player in turn does not take this discard, either
because he cannot legally meld it, or because he
does not choose to do so.

Scoring: Card
Values In Canasta

Each card in Canasta has a
different value as appropriate according to the
following table and applicable in terms of the
addition of each card value in a meld:

Cards

Value

Example
1

Example
2

Jokers

50 points

is worth 50 points

is worth 50
points

Aces

20 points

A is worth 20 points

A is worth 20 points

Deuces
(Twos)

20 points

2 is worth 20 points

2 is worth 20 points

K,Q,J,10,9,8

10 points

J
is worth 10 points

8 is worth 10 points

7,6,5,4
& black 3

5 points

4 is worth 5 points

3 is worth 5
points

The
Initial Meld Requirement In Canasta - The
first meld made by one side is called the "initial
meld". The initial meld must have a minimum count
(see point scores in above table) that depends on
the total score that side has accumulated at the
beginning of the current deal, as follows (below
table):

Total Score

Minimum Count

Negative
Score

0
points

0 to
1495

50
points

1500 to
2995

90
points

3000 or
more

120
points

A player may make two or
more different melds in the same turn to achieve
the minimum count, which is calculated by adding
up the point values of all the component cards.
Not even a Canasta may be melded at first unless
the count of its cards achieves the minimum count
as per the above table. Remember, that the discard
pile is frozen against you until you have made
your initial meld. Therefore, in order to reach
this minimum, you must either meld entirely from
your hand by drawing from stock, or you must use
two natural cards from the hand to match the top
card of the discard pile.

Here is an
example. There is a K on top of the discard pile and a
K and a J hidden in the pile. You have
K K
J J and 2 in your hand. If your initial meld
requirement is 50 points, you can meld
K K K using the K from the top of the discard pile and
J J 2 with the cards in your hand for a total
of 70 points. You can then add the
K from the discard pile to the first meld
and J from the discard pile to the
second meld both in the same turn. However, you
cannot include these towards your initial meld
score even though K and J are worth a further 20
points.

After a side has made its initial
meld, either partner may make any valid melds
without reference to any minimum count. And of
course, the discard pile is unfrozen for that
side. However, note that the discard pile is still
frozen for a side, whether or not that side has
made an initial meld, if it contains a red trey or
a wild card (both as an upcard or a later
discard).

Scoring a
Deal, Canastas & Bonuses

The side that goes out
calculates the net score for the deal as
follows:

(a)

Point
values of the cards in its melds are added
up.

(b)

Points of
the bonuses as per schedule in below table added
up.

(c)

Point
values of the cards left in the hand of other
partner added up.

(d)

Subtract
item (c) from the sum of items (a) and
(b).

Opponents of the side that
went out, use the same schedule as per (b) above,
to calculate their scores with the difference that
they cannot score for a concealed hand or for
going out if they have made no meld. In this case,
the value of the red treys is deducted from their
score and not added. Also point values of cards
left in both hands of the opposing side are
deducted. The applicable bonus schedule is as
follows:

Bonus Type

Point
Value

Example
1

Example
2

Natural
Canasta

500 points

9 9 9 9 9 9 9

4 4 4 4 4 4 4

Mixed
Canasta

300 points

9 9 9 9 2 2 2

K K K K K 2

Each Red
Trey

100 or 200
points

3 = 100 points

3 3 3 3 = 800 points

Going
Out

100 points

Discarding the last
card = 100 points

Discarding the last
card = 100 points

Concealed
Hand

100 points

Melding entire hand
in a single turn

Melding entire hand
in a single
turn

Concealed
Hand - Note that when a player uses or
discards his last card, that hand is over and is
considered “Going out Unconcealed”. Whereas a
"Concealed Hand” is when a player melds his entire
hand in one turn where that hand contains at least
one Canasta, without having made an earlier meld
and without previously having added any cards to
melds that his partner has built. If his partner
has not made an initial meld, the player must meet
the minimum count (without the Canasta bonus) if
he has taken the discard pile but need not if he
has drawn from the stock pile. A player going out
in this way scores 100 points for "going out" in
addition to 100 points for "Concealed Hand".

Red
Trey - A red three has a bonus value of 100
points but if one side has all four red threes
they score 200 points for each (a total of 800
points). At the end of a hand, the value of the
red threes is credited to a side that has made at
least one meld or deducted from a side that has
made no meld. They count for or against a side.

Canasta
Value - When a
meld achieves 7 (seven) or more cards including at
least four natural cards (called a "base"), it is
a Canasta. If it contains no wild cards, it is a
"Natural Canasta" (aka "Pure Canasta") and is
worth 500 points. If it contains between 1 and 3
wild cards, it is a "Mixed Canasta" and is worth
300 points. Additional cards may be added to a
Canasta to gain the point value of the cards
added, but this does not affect the amount of
bonus earned. The only exception is that adding a
wild card to a Canasta, reduces it from a Natural
Canasta to a Mixed Canasta and therefore reduces
the amount of bonus earned for it from 500 points
to 300 points.

This is no "Game Bonus" as in the
rules of other Rummy games such as Gin Rummy. The
first team to score 5000 points wins the game.
If both sides reach 5000 points in the same
deal then the side with the higher total wins. In
this case, the final deal is played out, even
though it is known that one side will reach 5000
after play ends.

Some Extra
Rules to Keep in Mind:

(1) Should the stock be used before anyone has gone
out, a player can take upcards if they can be melded.
Game ends until a player cannot make a play.

(2)
If the last card in the stock is a red three, game ends
immediately. The person who has drawn this card may not
discard.

(3) A player who has accidentally drawn
an extra card must discard it in a future turn without
drawing a new one.

(4) Should anyone forget to
draw a card but discards one, he or she must select from
the top stock card before the next player’s
turn.

(5) A player must show all others a card
that may be accidentally exposed when drawing from the
stock, and then replace in the stock.

(6) Any
cards accidentally exposed must be left face up on the
table until they can be melded or discarded.

(7)
An accidental 4th wild card to a meld must be removed
and added to another meld or discarded. Should the
player choose to return it to his hand, there is a 100
point penalty.

(8) A player can take the card on
top of the discard pile except for a black three or wild
card.

(9) A sole card in the discard pile cannot
be chosen if the player is only holding 1 card.

If you have feedback on these
Classic Canasta rules or consider yourself an
expert, please get in touch. We are looking to
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