Canasta
Meld. Build. Make a canasta.
The partnership rummy game with the big bonuses: collect sets of cards, add to them with wilds, and build a canasta of seven for a bonus of up to 500. Grab the discard pile when it is big enough. Here is everything you need to know before you sit down.
- Free practice
- No sign-up
- Play in your browser
Join a Game Room
CanastaGot a room code?
- Players
- 4, in two teams
- You need
- Two packs and four jokers
- Style
- Rummy
- Goal
- Reach the target score
What is Canasta?
Sets, wilds, and the big bonus.
Canasta is a rummy game for four players in two partnerships, played with two packs of cards and four jokers. Everyone is dealt eleven cards. Each turn you draw a card or take the discard pile, lay down sets of three or more of a kind, and discard.
Twos and jokers are wild. Seven cards of one rank make a canasta, worth a big bonus, and your team needs one before anybody can go out. Whoever goes out first ends the hand, and each team scores what it has melded, less what is left in its hands.
The practice table
Try itLearn it with the cards in your hand.
Play with a bot partner against two bots, with our Classic rules. Tap cards to select them, then meld, discard or take the pile. The coach shows the play it would make and why.
- Easy, Normal, or Sharp bots. Sharp bots watch your melds and keep the cards you could use.
- Quick game goes to 1,500. Full game goes to 5,000.
- No account, no host, nothing saved.
Scoring chart
| In a hand of Canasta | Points |
|---|---|
| Natural canasta (seven cards, no wilds) | 500 |
| Mixed canasta (with wild cards) | 300 |
| Each red three (all four: 800) | 100 |
| Going out (concealed: 200) | 100 |
| Joker, 2 or Ace in a meld | 50, 20, 20 |
| K to 8 in a meld, and 7 to 4 | 10, 5 |
| Black three (it blocks the pile) | 5 |
| Your first meld must be worth, by your score | 50 · 90 · 120 |
A little history
A craze from South America.
Canasta was invented in Uruguay in the 1930s and swept through Argentina before reaching the United States in the 1940s, where it was one of the most popular card games of its day. The name is Spanish for “basket”, after the tray that held the discards.
It has many versions: two-hand, three-hand, Samba, Bolivian. These are our Classic rules, the standard four-player partnership game.
Fun facts
- Two packs and four jokers make 108 cards, and everyone is dealt eleven.
- Twos and jokers are wild.
- Seven cards of one rank make a canasta, and your team needs one before anybody can go out.
- Red threes are worth 100 each, and 800 if one team holds all four.
Why people love it
Build big. Score bigger.
The pile is a prize.
Every card thrown on the pile can be yours, if you can use the top one. A fat pile can swing a hand.
Wilds bend the rules.
Twos and jokers finish melds and canastas, but too many and a canasta is only worth 300.
A partnership game.
Your partner’s melds are yours too. Build the same ranks, and pass them the cards they need.
The freeze.
Throw a wild card on the pile and the other side needs two natural cards to take it.
How to play
Draw. Meld. Discard.
Setup
- Players: four: you and North against West and East.
- Cards: two packs and four jokers, 108 cards. Eleven each.
- Wild cards: twos and jokers.
- The pile: one card is turned up to start the discard pile.
Winning
The first team to reach the target score wins: 5,000 in the Full game and 1,500 in our Quick game.
- 1
Draw or take
Draw the top card of the stock, or take the whole discard pile if you can meld its top card.
- 2
Meld
Lay down three or more cards of one rank, with two natural cards and at most three wilds. Your team’s first meld has to reach a minimum.
- 3
Make a canasta
Seven cards in a meld make a canasta: 500 if natural and 300 if mixed.
- 4
Discard
End your turn by throwing one card on the pile. A wild card freezes it.
- 5
Go out
With a canasta on your team’s table, use your last card to go out. That scores 100.
- 6
Count the hand
Each team adds up its melds and bonuses, and takes away the cards left in its hands.
These are our Classic rules, and they'll be shown in every room before the game starts. Printable rules card →
Lessons
Learn it in a few minutes.
4 quick lessons, one idea each. Make the call, see why it works, and move on. Your progress is saved in this browser.
Wild cards
Which cards are wild in Canasta?
Scoring
What a hand is worth.
You score for the cards in your melds, the bonuses for canastas and red threes, and for going out. The cards you are left holding count against you.
| In a hand of Canasta | Points | |
|---|---|---|
| Natural canasta (seven cards, no wilds) | 500 | |
| Mixed canasta (with wild cards) | 300 | |
| Each red three (all four: 800) | 100 | |
| Going out (concealed: 200) | 100 | |
| Joker, 2 or Ace in a meld | 50, 20, 20 | |
| K to 8 in a meld, and 7 to 4 | 10, 5 | |
| Black three (it blocks the pile) | 5 | |
| Your first meld must be worth, by your score | 50 · 90 · 120 |
Our Classic rules: red threes are 100 each and 800 for all four, and count against a team that has not melded. Some tables go to two decks of different bonuses, or need two canastas to go out; those are house rules.
Strategy
Play it smart. Then play it feral.
Tip 1
Meld early, and meld what your partner melds.
Cards of a rank your team already has are easy to add, and never wasted.
Tip 2
Keep your wild cards.
A wild card is worth far more finishing a canasta than starting a pair. Use them to reach seven.
Tip 3
Freeze the pile when they want it.
A wild card on the pile stops the other side taking it with one natural card.
Tip 4
Do not feed the other side.
Throw cards of ranks they have not melded. A black three blocks the pile completely.
Tip 5
Go out when you are ahead.
Going out is worth 100, and ends a hand while the cards in the other hands still count against them.
What would you do?
One decision. Every day.
A new Canasta puzzle every day, the same for everyone. Solve it, then send it to the group chat and see who gets it right.
Want more? See today's puzzles for every game →
Your path to game night
Learn it here. Play it with friends.
Finish the lessons or win a practice game and you're ready to sit down at a real Canasta table with your people.
The Feral Worlds community
Play-testing Canasta? Tell us in Discord.
Found a bug, a rule that feels off, or a house rule your family swears by? Our Discord is where we collect play-test feedback, and where game nights are starting to happen.
Glossary
Talk like a regular.
- Canasta
- A meld of seven or more cards.
- Meld
- Three or more cards of one rank laid on the table.
- Wild card
- A 2 or a joker, standing in for any rank.
- Frozen pile
- A pile that can only be taken with two natural cards.
- Red three
- A bonus card laid down at once, worth 100.
- Black three
- A discard that blocks the pile. It can never be melded.
The Feral twist
Still under the hat.
Every game can be played Classic. In Feral mode, the host writes the house rules: the opening meld, the freezing rules, the bonuses. We'll show you what Canasta can do when it's ready.
In the Card Games pack
Canasta is on the ballot.
Backers vote on which card games join the Card Games pack. Owning the pack means every one that joins is yours too.
$9.95, one time, to host every game in it. Playing is always free. Packs go on sale when the full game launches.
Canasta is on the ballot
Save me a seat.
Hear when the Kickstarter opens so you can vote Canasta into the Card Games pack, and when you can host it with friends.