Canasta online

How to play Canasta

Canasta is a rummy game played with two decks and four jokers, 108 cards in all. The classic game is two teams of two, with partners sharing their melds. Each player gets 11 cards.

On your turn, draw one card from the deck or take the whole discard pile, meld if you want, then discard one card. The basics:

• A meld is three or more cards of the same rank. Suits never matter.
• Twos and jokers are wild. A meld needs at least two natural cards and can hold at most three wild cards.
• A meld of seven cards is a canasta: 500 bonus points with no wild cards (natural), 300 with them (mixed).
• Your side needs at least one canasta before anyone can go out.
• Your first meld of each hand has to reach a minimum count, from 15 up to 120 depending on your score.

Taking the pile and freezing it

Taking the discard pile is usually what wins a hand. You can take it if you can use its top card right away: with a natural pair from your hand, a natural card and a wild card, or by adding it to a meld your side already has.

A wild card thrown on the pile freezes it. A frozen pile can only be taken with a natural pair, and the pile is also frozen for a side that hasn't opened yet. Our table shows the freezing card lying sideways so you never miss it.

Red threes, black threes and scoring

Red threes go straight down for 100 each, or 800 for all four, and count against you if your side never melds. Black threes are the safest discard, because the next player can't take the pile over one.

Cards left in your hand count against you. The classic target is 5,000, and you can pick 3,000 or 1,500 for a shorter game.

Two-player Canasta

Head to head, each player gets 15 cards, draws two and discards one each turn, and needs two canastas to go out. If you play differently at home, you can switch to drawing one card or needing one canasta when you start a new game.

Ways to play

• First hand with Pilar: a short lesson hand where your partner explains each idea as it comes up.
• Coast Road: eight venues with two partnership tables and a duel at each, then a final to 5,000.
• Daily Deal: one partnership hand with the same deal for everyone that day and a daily leaderboard.
• Fiesta Week: three new goals every week, like making ten canastas.

The deck is a plain shuffle and the computer players only see their own cards and the table. Our full Canasta Casita guide covers asking your partner to go out, keyboard controls and more strategy.

Canasta tips

• Keep natural pairs early. While the pile is frozen for you, pairs are the only way in.
• Take the pile when it's big. Seven or eight cards usually feed several melds at once.
• Never discard a card that fits one of the next side's melds while the pile is open.
• A discarded two freezes a fat pile. It costs a wild card but can save hundreds of points.

More meld games

Gin Garden is a quick two-player rummy against a friendly rival, and Monsoon Rummy is 13 card rummy with jokers (see our 13 card rummy page). If you like playing with a partner, Pinochle Porch mixes melds with tricks, and our pinochle online page explains how.

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