How to play Canasta

Two standard 52-card decks plus four jokers (108 cards), four players in partnerships, and a score pad. These rules follow the classic game.

Be the first partnership to 5,000 points, scored from melded cards, canastas, red threes, and going out.

1. 1Deal 11 cards to each player. Put the rest face down as the stock and turn the top card up to start the discard pile.
2. 2Jokers and 2s are wild. Red 3s are bonus cards: place any you hold face up straight away and draw replacements. Black 3s can only be melded when going out.
3. 3Card values: jokers 50; aces and 2s 20; kings down to 8s 10; 7s down to 4s and black 3s 5.

1. 1On your turn, either draw the top card of the stock or take the whole discard pile, then meld if you want, and end by discarding one card.
2. 2A meld is three or more cards of the same rank, with at least two natural cards and no more than three wild cards. A meld of seven or more is a canasta.
3. 3Your side’s first meld must reach a minimum count: 50 points while your score is 0–1,495, 90 from 1,500, and 120 from 3,000 (no minimum if you are below zero).
4. 4You can take the discard pile only by melding its top card with cards from your hand. If the pile is frozen—it contains a wild card, or your side has not melded yet—you need two natural cards of the same rank as the top card.
5. 5You can never take the pile when its top card is a wild card or a black 3.

• You can go out only once your side has at least one canasta. Going out earns 100 (more if you go out all at once, “concealed”).
• Scores: natural canasta 500, mixed canasta 300, each red 3 100 (all four 800), plus the value of melded cards. Cards left in hand count against you, and red 3s count against a side that has not melded.
• Keep playing hands until a side reaches 5,000.

• Modern American Canasta draws two cards from the stock, needs two canastas to go out, and adds special hands.
• Two-player and three-player versions change the deal and the number of canastas needed.
• Hand and Foot is a popular cousin played with even more decks.

• Freezing the pile with a wild card is the standard defense when opponents are about to take a big pile.
• Keep pairs in your hand; they are what let you take a frozen pile.
• Do not rush to go out if your partner is close to a natural canasta—500 points is worth another turn.