How to Play Canasta

By the Card Sunday team · Updated November 8, 2026

Canasta is a much-loved partnership rummy game. Work with your partner to meld cards of the same rank, use jokers and twos as wild cards, and build canastas of seven cards for big bonuses. Long, relaxing games make it a favorite for an evening of cards.

Play Canasta now

Players

You and a computer partner vs 2 computer players

Cards

Two decks plus four jokers (108 cards)

Game length

45–60 min

Difficulty

Hard

The goal

Canasta is played by two teams of two, partners sitting across from each other. Teams lay down melds of cards of the same rank and build them into canastas of seven cards. The first team to 5,000 points wins.

The cards

• Two standard decks plus four jokers: 108 cards. Each player gets 11 cards.
• Jokers and 2s are wild: they can stand in for any card in a meld.
• Red threes are bonus cards. They are put face up in front of your team at once and replaced with a new card.
• Black threes cannot be melded. Discarding one blocks the next player from taking the pile.

Your turn

1. Draw the top card of the stock, or take the whole discard pile (see below).
2. Lay down new melds or add cards to your team's melds, if you like.
3. Discard one card face up on the discard pile.

Melds and canastas

• A meld is three or more cards of the same rank (4 up to ace). It needs at least two natural cards and may have at most three wild cards.
• Your team has one meld per rank and both partners can add to it.
• A meld of seven or more cards is a canasta: 500 bonus points if it has no wild cards (natural), 300 if it does (mixed).
• Your team's first meld must be worth a minimum number of points, depending on your score: 15 if below 0, 50 below 1,500, 90 below 3,000, and 120 from 3,000.

Taking the discard pile

• To take the pile you must meld its top card right away. Usually that means two natural cards of the same rank from your hand.
• If your team has already melded and the pile is not frozen, you may also use one natural card and one wild card, or add the top card to your team's meld of that rank.
• The pile is frozen for a team that has not melded yet, and for everyone once a wild card has been discarded into it.
• You cannot take the pile when a wild card or a black three is on top.

Going out

You go out by melding or discarding your last card, but only if your team has at least one canasta. Going out ends the hand and is worth 100 points. Until your team has a canasta, you must always keep at least two cards after melding. The hand also ends if the stock runs out.

Scoring a hand

• Add the points of every card in your team's melds, plus canasta bonuses.
• Red threes are worth 100 each, or 800 for all four. If your team has not melded at all, they count against you.
• Add 100 for going out.
• Subtract the points of all cards still in both partners' hands.

How our version differs

Canasta has many house rules. To keep the game clear we count the first-meld minimum only for the cards melded in one move, we do not freeze the pile at the start of a hand, and a game to 5,000 takes about 45 to 60 minutes.

Strategy tips

• Taking a big discard pile is often worth more than anything else you can do in a turn.
• Keep pairs in your hand: they let you take the pile.
• Discarding a wild card freezes the pile and makes it much harder for the next player to take it.
• Do not discard cards your opponents have melded when the pile is not frozen.

Frequently asked questions

Card games have many house rules. This page describes the most common way Canasta is played, and the version you play on Card Sunday. Does your family play differently, or have you spotted a mistake? Tell us and we will check it.

Practice Canasta against the computer