

The first team to 5000 or more points wins the game! Score is kept round to round and each round teams will score for: Values from melds - values from cards in hand, Canasta bonuses, red 3's and going out. The team whose player went out to end the round scores an additional 100 points that round. When scoring melds, a team adds each of their meld's card values and then substracts the values from any cards left in their hands.Ĭanastas are melds of 7+ cards and on top of their individual card values, they score an additional 500 points if they are no wilds and 300 points if wilds were used.Įach red 3 a team has is worth 100 points and if a team has all four red 3's, they are worth 800 points. Points are earned from card values among a team's melds, from Canastas, red 3's and from going out to end a round.Ĭard Values (each card in a meld has the following value): A player may only go out if their team has at least one Canasta (meld of 7+ cards) among their melds.Ĭanasta has several areas where teams can earn points. A player may now only draw from the discard pile if they can make a natural meld (no wilds) using the top card of the discard pile.Ī round ends when one player "goes out", meaning they end their turn with no cards in hand. If a wild card is discarded, it is discarded horizontally from the discard pile to signal that the discard pile is "frozen".After playing melds or adding to their team's melds, a player must discard 1 card from their hand.The minimum first meld values are as follows:īlack 3's may only be melded if a player is "going out" at the end of their turn (see below). The first meld each player starts each round must have a minimum value depending on their team's current score (red 3's do not count as melds as they are played automatically). Remember that 2's and Jokers are wild but there can never be more wild cards than non-wild cards in a meld. If there is a wild card in the discard pile (sticking out horizontally), a player may only draw from the discard pile if they can make a natural meld using the top card (no wilds).Īfter drawing from either the discard pile or deck, a player may start new melds (three or more cards of the same rank) from their hand or add to existing melds shared with their teammate.If the top card of the discard pile is a black 3, the discard pile is blocked from drawing from and the player must draw from the deck.

When a player is able to draw from the discard pile, they add the entire discard pile to their hand (but they must be able to use the top card to create a meld or add to a meld).If they cannot/do not want to do either, they must draw their card from the top of the deck instead. On their turn, a player may draw the card from the top of the discard pile if they are able to add the card to one of their team's melds or if they can use the card to create a new meld.Any red 3's that are ever drawn are immediately played into a new or existing meld and the card is replaced with one from the deck. Before a player draws, they must play each red 3 from their hand and replace them with cards drawn from the deck.The structure of a turn in Canasta is: draw, play cards, discard. The player left of the dealer starts the round. *For PlayingCards.io, simply offset the wild card so that it is poking out of the discard pile. If a wild card is discarded, it is placed sideways so that it sticks out horizontally from the discard pile and another card is discarded on top. If a red or black 3 is discarded, another card is discarded on top. The remaining deck is placed in the middle and the top card is discarded to start the discard pile.The deck is shuffled and each player is dealt 11 cards 1 card at a time.Players divide themselves into two teams and sit so that they are opposite of their teammate (EXAMPLE: Team 1 - Player 1, Team 2 - Player 2, Team 1 - Player 3, Team 2 - Player 4).Canasta uses two standard card decks + 4 jokers.However, a meld can never have more wild cards than cards of the actual rank (EXAMPLE: P1 can add Jokers and 2's to their meld of three 9's, but they cannot add any more than three Jokers and 2's because they only have three non-wild cards in the meld). 2's and Jokers are wild cards and may used to help start a meld or be added to an existing meld.To start a meld, a player must have at least three or more matching rank cards (EXAMPLE: P1 starts a meld by placing down three 9's).Cards are scored according to their rank and quantity. In Canasta, the goal is to be the first team to score 5000 points via their card melds (sets of cards).
