Gamehelpcanasta

GOAL

Score 5,000+ points by melding sets of cards. Every card earns points when played to the table, but they subtract points if still in hand at the end of the round. There are bonus points for completing sets of 7 cards (called Canastas), drawing red 3’s, being the first to empty your hand, and more.

Below are rules for classic 4-player Canasta (two 2-player teams). Be sure to explore the game options for even more fun!

CARDS

2 standard decks of playing cards are shuffled together, including the jokers. That means there are 4 jokers and 8 of every other card in the deck.

• 2’s and Jokers are wild cards.

• The rest of the cards are referred to as “naturals.”

THE DEAL

Everyone is dealt 11 cards. A draw deck is formed with the remaining cards. The top card of the draw deck is turned up to form a discard pile. If the upturned card is a joker, 2, or 3, the discard pile is “frozen” and a special rule applies.

GAME PLAY

A turn consists of:

• • Drawing the top card of either the draw deck or the discard pile.
• • (optional) Melding sets of 3 or more cards onto the table.
• • Discarding one card.

DRAWING FROM THE DRAW DECK

Take the top card into your hand.

If you draw a red 3, the card is immediately added to the table, and you receive a 100-point bonus! Take another card from the draw deck, and add it to your hand.

DRAWING FROM THE DISCARD PILE

You must be able to meld the top card of the discard pile with 2+ cards in your hand OR one of your existing melds already on the table. If you can't make a meld, you cannot take the card.

A MELD is a matching set of 3 or more cards (such as 5-5-5, J-J-J-J-J-J, etc.). The meld can include wild cards, but there must be more natural cards than wilds in a meld. You may not form a meld of just wild cards.

After you meld the top card of the discard pile, you take ALL cards in the discard pile into your hand. You may continue to meld as many cards as you like before discarding a card to signal the end of your turn.

FROZEN PILE

Anytime a Joker, 2 or 3 is added to the discard pile, that card is turned sideways to indicate that the pile is frozen. In order to take the top card of a frozen discard pile, you must be able to meld that card with at least 2 NATURALS in your hand. That “unfreezes” the discard pile so that normal rules apply again.

INITIAL MELD

The first time your team melds, the value of all the cards put on the table must add up to a minimum amount. You can make multiple melds to achieve the amount. The minimum increases as your score increases, as follows:

Score	Initial Meld Value
Less than 0	15 points
0-1495	50 points
1500-2995	90 points
3000+	120 points

Card values are:

Joker	50 points
Ace, 2	20 points
8-King	10 points
4-7	5 points

END OF ROUND (“Going Out”)

The player who empties their hand first wins a 100-point bonus for their team! Emptying the hand is called “going out,” and has a few conditions:

Canastas

Your team must form at least 1 canasta in a 4-player game. A canasta is a meld of 7 cards.

Final Card

The last card in hand may be either discarded or melded.

Black 3’s

’’’Black 3’s may only be melded when you go out.’’’ The meld cannot include any wild cards. Each black 3 is worth 5 points.

Asking to Go Out

On your turn, you may ask your teammate if it’s okay to go out. If you do so, you must accept their decision for the team. The question may only be asked before you draw or after you take a card from the draw deck.

Going Out With a Concealed Hand

If you haven’t melded any cards to the table and then meld all the cards in your hand in a single turn, you earn bonus points for going out with a concealed hand. All of the above requirements for going out must still be met.

Until you are able to go out, you must keep at least 1 card in your hand. If you have only 1 card in hand, however, you cannot draw from/pick up the discard pile!

Draw Deck Runs Out of Cards

The round could also end if the draw deck runs out of cards. If the final card in the deck is a red 3, play immediately ends – no melding or discarding. Otherwise, play continues as long as the discard pile can legally be taken.

Scoring

At the end of the round, each team receives points for all cards melded onto the table, red 3’s, and the following bonuses:

Going Out	100 points
Going Out with Concealed Hand	200 points
Each mixed canasta	300 points
Each natural canasta	500 points

Next, all players subtract the value of the cards in their hand.

Check whether a team has at least 5000 points. If so, the team with the highest score wins the game. If not, a new round begins: Cards are reshuffled, a new hand is dealt to all players, initial meld value is adjusted up or down, and start player rotates clockwise.