Canasta

How to play Canasta

Partnerships and melds

Four players sit in two partnerships; your partner sits opposite. Use two standard decks plus four Jokers, 108 cards total, with eleven cards each. Twos and Jokers are wild. A meld has at least three cards of one natural rank, at least two natural cards and at most three wilds. Your team keeps one meld of each rank. Seven or more cards make a canasta: 500 bonus for all-natural, 300 with wilds. Adding a wild to a natural canasta changes its bonus to 300. No all-wild melds.

Draw one card, meld if desired, then discard. Your first team melds in a hand must total 15 points if your team score is below zero, 50 below 1,500, 90 below 3,000, or 120 otherwise. Stage multiple groups and submit them together. Jokers count 50, Twos and Aces 20, Kings through Eights 10, and Sevens through Fours 5. Black Threes count 5.

The discard pile and Threes

A wild card freezes the pile until it is taken. Red Threes in the initial pile also freeze it. Before your partnership has opened, treat the pile as frozen for your team. To take a frozen pile, meld its top card with two matching natural cards from your hand. An unfrozen top card may join your team’s existing meld, or form a new meld using two natural cards or one natural and one wild. The top card must be used immediately and any opening minimum met without cards buried below it.

Wilds and Black Threes block pickup while they are on top. Black Threes do not permanently freeze the pile in this classic version. Red Threes are set aside, with replacement draws when dealt or drawn from stock. Buried Red Threes collected from the pile do not get replacement draws. Red Threes score 100 each, or 800 for all four, positive if your team has melded and negative otherwise.

Going out and scoring

Your team needs a canasta before you can empty your hand. You may meld your last cards, or select a final discard in the meld dialog. Black Threes can only be melded as a natural group of three or four while going out. Asking a partner’s permission is optional in classic Canasta; Glintwick uses going out without asking.

Going out earns 100. Going out concealed—melding your entire hand with a canasta without having previously melded—earns an extra 100. A concealed stock-drawn finish need not meet the opening minimum; a pile pickup must. Add meld values, canasta bonuses and Red Threes, then subtract cards still held. If the last stock card is a Red Three, the hand ends immediately. Otherwise, with stock empty you can take a qualifying pile; you must take an unfrozen top card that matches your existing team meld, or may end the hand. Play to 5,000, highest score wins; tied totals continue another hand.

Celeste’s tips

Watch your partner’s melds before discarding. Keep two natural cards when a frozen pile is worth waiting for. A pure canasta is valuable, but going out at the right moment may matter more.

Solo, friends and Quick Match

Solo saves automatically on this device. Private rooms begin in a lobby: everyone presses Ready, then the creator starts. Empty seats become computer guests. At match end, return to the same lobby for another game. Quick Match searches for twenty seconds, then fills empty seats. No open chat or wagering.

Settings include Relaxed, Normal and Fast motion, sounds off by default, light/dark and flat mode. Reduced motion is respected. Hints are suggestions; you choose your own move.