Canasta

How to play Canasta

Canasta is a rummy game for four players in two partnerships. It was invented in Montevideo, Uruguay, in 1939, and it swept across the United States in the 1950s. The name is Spanish for "basket". Here you play with Ben, sitting across from you, against Anne and Carol. Partners share their melds and their score, and the first side to reach 5,000 points wins.

The cards

Canasta uses two ordinary packs and four Jokers: 108 cards. All the 2s and Jokers are wild, so they can stand in for any card in a meld. Threes are special, as explained below. Every card has a value, which counts for you when it's melded and against you when it's left in your hand at the end of a hand:

The deal

Each player gets eleven cards. The next card is turned up to start the discard pile (if it's a wild card or a red three, another card goes on top of it), and the rest form the stock. The player on the dealer's left goes first, and the deal moves one place to the left each hand.

Your turn

• Draw the top card of the stock, or take the whole discard pile (see below).
• Meld if you can and want to: put down sets of three or more cards of the same rank, or add cards to your side's melds. Melding is optional after drawing from the stock.
• Discard one card to end your turn.

Melds and canastas

• A meld is at least three cards of the same rank, such as three Kings. There are no runs in Canasta. Suits don't matter.
• A meld needs at least two natural cards (not wild), and it can hold three wild cards at most. Kings, a Joker and a 2 is a meld; a King and two wild cards is not.
• Your side has one meld of each rank. If Ben has melded Kings, your Kings go onto that meld. Anne and Carol can have a meld of the same rank at the same time.
• A meld of seven or more cards is a canasta. With no wild cards it's a natural canasta, worth a 500-point bonus; with any wild cards it's a mixed canasta, worth 300. In our game, a natural canasta has a red edge and a mixed one a black edge.

Red threes and black threes

A red three is never played. When you're dealt or draw one, it's laid out at once for your side and you draw another card. Each is worth 100 points, or 800 for all four, but only if your side has melded by the end of the hand; if it hasn't, they count against you instead. A black three is a blocker: when you discard one, the next player can't take the pile. Black threes can be melded only when you go out.

Taking the discard pile

The pile can grow large, and taking it all is the best move in the game. To take it, you must meld its top card straight away:

• with two natural cards of the same rank from your hand,
• with one natural card and a wild card, or
• by adding it to your side's meld of that rank.

You can never take the pile when a wild card or a black three is on top. Once a wild card is in the pile, it's frozen: then only the first way works, with two natural cards. The pile is also frozen against your side until your side has made its first meld. Our game marks the pile "frozen" whenever it's frozen against you.

Your side's first meld

The first meld your side makes in each hand must count enough points, from the card values above (bonuses don't count), and it can be several melds put down together. The amount depends on your side's score so far:

If you make it by taking the pile, the pile's top card counts, but the rest of the pile doesn't. In our game, select the cards for the whole first meld, including the two that go with the pile's top card, then tap the pile.

Going out and the end of a hand

You may go out, by melding all your cards or all but one and discarding the last, only once your side has at least one canasta. Until then you must keep at least one card after you discard. Going out earns 100 points, or 200 if you go out concealed: melding your whole hand, including a canasta, in one turn without having melded before. The hand also ends if the stock runs out and the next player can't or won't take the pile. Once the stock is gone you must take the pile if its top card goes on one of your side's melds.

Scoring

At the end of each hand, each side scores:

• the value of every card it has melded,
• 500 for each natural canasta and 300 for each mixed one,
• 100 for each red three (800 for all four), or minus that if it hasn't melded,
• 100 for going out (200 concealed),
• less the value of every card left in both partners' hands.

Scores add up hand by hand and can go below zero. When a side reaches 5,000, the side with more points wins. A game to 5,000 took about seven hands in our tests. For a shorter game, choose 2,500 points in Settings, which took three or four hands.

Tips

We tested these by letting computer partnerships play thousands of games against each other. Our Canasta strategy guide has all the numbers.

• Take the pile whenever you can. A partnership that never took it won only 8 games in 100, and waiting for a bigger pile made no difference.
• Finish canastas with wild cards. Your side can't go out without a canasta. A partnership that saved its wild cards for natural canastas won only 32 games in 100.
• Go out once your side has a canasta. A partnership that waited for a second canasta before going out won only 39 games in 100.
• Keep your pairs and throw low singles. Two natural cards of a rank let you take a frozen pile. Breaking up pairs won 40 games in 100, and throwing high cards first 43.

Questions

Is this the Canasta my family played?

Most likely. We play the classic partnership game: two packs and four Jokers, eleven cards each, one card drawn at a time, the minimum first meld and frozen piles. Some families let a player ask their partner "May I go out?"; that's optional in the classic rules, and we leave it out. Hand and Foot, Samba and other later games are relatives with different rules.

Who are the other players?

Ben, across from you, is your partner. Anne, on your left, and Carol, on your right, are partners too. Play goes to the left, so Anne plays after you, then Ben, then Carol. The computer players see only their own cards and what's on the table, including which cards each player took with the pile, and they follow exactly the same rules as you.

What does the Hint button do?

It suggests what the computer players would do in your place: whether to take the pile and with which cards, which meld to make next, when you can go out, and which card is safest to discard, with the reason.

Is there any betting or money involved?

No. Canasta here is played just for fun: there's no betting, no prizes and no real money, and nothing to buy.

Can I take back a move?

Yes. Undo takes back your moves one at a time during a hand. Your game saves itself as you play, so you can stop and come back later.

What is the game number?

Every game has a number, and the same number always deals the same cards. Share the link to play the same game as a friend, or try today's game, which is the same for everyone.