Canasta Casita

What is Canasta?

Canasta is a rummy game that came out of Montevideo and Buenos Aires in the 1940s and swept through card tables everywhere in the 1950s. The name means basket, which is why our discard pile sits in a woven one. You play with two decks and four jokers, 108 cards in all.

The idea is simple. Collect cards of the same rank into melds, grow a meld to seven cards to make a canasta, and grab the discard pile whenever you can, because a big pile is usually what wins a hand. The depth comes from timing: when to take the pile, when to freeze it, and when to go out.

Canasta Casita is free and plays in your browser on a phone, tablet or computer, with no download. The classic game is for two partnerships, so you sit across from Pilar, your computer partner. There is also a two-player game against one rival.

How to play Canasta

The deal

In a partnership game each player gets 11 cards. The rest form the deck, and one card is turned up to start the pile. If that card is a wild card or a three, more cards are turned onto it until a natural card shows.

Each turn

Draw one card from the deck, or take the whole discard pile (more on that below). Then meld if you want, and end your turn by discarding one card onto the pile.

Melds and wild cards

• A meld is three or more cards of the same rank, like three kings. Suits never matter.
• Twos and jokers are wild. A meld needs at least two natural cards, and it can hold at most three wild cards.
• Partners share their melds. Each side has one meld per rank and either partner can add to it.
• Sequences (runs) are not melds in Canasta.

Card values

The opening meld

The first time your side melds in a hand, the cards you put down that turn must add up to a minimum. It depends on your side's score when the hand starts: 15 below zero, 50 from 0 to 1,495, 90 from 1,500 to 2,995 and 120 from 3,000 up. You can lay several melds at once to reach it. Our table shows a live count, like "opening 35 of 50", so you always know where you stand.

Taking the pile

Instead of drawing, you can take the entire discard pile if you can use its top card right away. That means holding two natural cards of the same rank, or one natural card and a wild card, or adding the top card to a meld your side already has. The top card goes into the meld and everything else comes into your hand.

The pile is frozen when a wild card has been discarded into it. We show that card lying sideways under the others. A frozen pile can only be taken with a natural pair from your hand. The pile is also frozen for a side that has not opened yet, so in the early turns your pairs are worth a lot.

A black three on top blocks the pile for one turn, and a wild card on top blocks it until someone discards over it. With one card in hand you cannot take a pile of one card.

Red threes and black threes

Red threes are bonus cards. When you get one, it goes straight down on the table and you draw a replacement. Each is worth 100, and all four in one side make 800. If your side never melds that hand, they count against you instead.

Black threes are the safest discard in the game, because the next player cannot take the pile over one. You can only meld them (three or four together, no wild cards) in the turn you go out.

Canastas and going out

A meld of seven or more cards is a canasta. With no wild cards it is a natural canasta worth 500 bonus points. With wild cards it is a mixed canasta worth 300. On our table a natural canasta wears a red ribbon and a mixed one a dark ribbon, and the little dots under every meld show how close it is to seven.

Once your side has a canasta, you can go out by melding all your cards, or all but one and discarding the last. Going out is worth 100. If you meld your whole hand in a single turn without having melded before, that is going out concealed and worth 200.

In a partnership you may ask your partner for permission to go out first, and the answer is binding. Pilar answers honestly: she says no when she is holding a lot she could still meld. The computer players ask you too, and it is your call.

Scoring

When someone goes out, or the deck runs out, each side adds up its melded cards, canasta bonuses, red threes and the going-out bonus, then subtracts every card still in its hands. We show the whole breakdown after each hand. The first side to reach the target wins: 5,000 in the classic game, or 3,000 or 1,500 if you want a shorter game.

Two-player Canasta

Head to head, each player gets 15 cards, draws two cards from the deck and discards one, and needs two canastas to go out. Everything else works the same. In New game you can switch to drawing one card or needing one canasta if that is how you play at home.

Modes in Canasta Casita

First hand with Pilar

Your very first game is a short lesson hand. The deal is set up so you can open by taking the pile on your first turn, and Pilar explains each idea the moment it matters.

Coast Road

Travel eight venues along the coast, from the Garden Patio to the Seaside Rambla, then play the Grand Veranda final to 5,000 against Ines the heron and Vera the flamingo. Each venue has two partnership tables and a two-player duel. The players get sharper as you go, and every table has three stars: win, win by a third of the target, and make a natural canasta. Clearing a venue earns its tablecloth.

Daily Deal

One partnership hand with the same deal for everyone in the world that day (it changes at midnight UTC). Your score is 1,500 plus your side's hand minus theirs, so winning the hand always beats 1,500. Your first finished deal of the day goes on the board, and it counts once: reloading or opening a second tab will not let you play it again for a score.

Fiesta Week and keepsakes

Every week brings three goals, like making ten canastas or taking the pile fourteen times. Finish all three for a fiesta tablecloth. Keepsakes mark lifetime milestones such as your first natural canasta, holding all four red threes, or going out concealed. Card backs you unlock here are shared with every card game on our site.

Controls

Your hand is grouped by rank, with a count on each stack, so it stays readable even after you take a huge pile. Tap a stack to pick it up (tap a wild stack again to add another wild), then tap Meld, tap one of your melds to add to it, or tap the basket to discard one card. You can drag cards too. Undo takes back melds during your turn, and in a quick game you can take back your last discard.

On a keyboard, use the arrow keys and Space to pick stacks, D to draw, P for the pile, M to meld, X to discard, U to undo and H for a hint.

Canasta tips and strategy

• Keep natural pairs. Early in a hand the pile is frozen for anyone who has not opened, and pairs are the only way in.
• Take the pile when it is big. Seven or eight cards usually feed several melds at once. In the two-player game a tiny pile is often worse than drawing two cards.
• Watch what the next player discards. They are unlikely to hold a pair of a rank they just threw away, so that rank is a safer discard for you.
• Never discard a card that fits one of the next side's melds while the pile is unfrozen. That hands them the whole basket.
• When the pile gets fat and the other side looks set to take it, a discarded two freezes it. It costs you a wild card but can save hundreds of points.
• Save black threes for the moment you need a safe discard.
• Finish your first canasta early, even with wild cards. It is your ticket to go out, and going out while the others hold big hands is a big swing.
• Before you let your partner go out, count the points in your own hand. They will count against your side.

Questions