Canasta

Brazil · USA

Eleven cards, twos wild, sets only, and a meld of seven is worth a fortune.

Played here as cut-throat rather than in partnerships, and the discard pile is simpler.

Play Canasta onlineFree, no account needed. The table starts from exactly the rules on this page, and the host can change any of them to match how your family plays.

How to play

The idea

Get rid of every card in your hand by laying down melds. The first player out ends the hand and everyone else is penalised for what they are still holding. The match ends when somebody reaches 5000. Here the score counts winnings, so a high score is a good score.

Melds

Only one kind here, and it needs at least three cards.

  • Set — the same rank, like 9♠ 9♥ 9♦. Suits do not matter here and the same card may appear twice, so a set can grow as long as you like.

The deal

2 decks are shuffled together — 108 cards, including 4 jokers. The player to the dealer’s right cuts, choosing how far down to take it. Everyone gets 11 cards.

Your turn

  1. Draw one card — from the face-down stock, or the top of the discard pile. Click the stock to draw.
  2. Lay down what you can — new melds, cards added to melds already on the table, or a swap for a joker.
  3. Discard one card to end your turn. Drag it onto the discard pile, or select it and press Discard.

Opening

Before you can put anything on the table you must open: one lay-down, worth at least 50 points. Until then you cannot meld, add to anyone else’s melds, or take a joker off the table.

Jokers count as whatever card they stand for towards that total.

Jokers

A joker stands in for any card, 3 per meld at most.

Left in your hand at the end, a joker costs you 50 points — the most expensive card in the game.

Going out and scoring

You go out by getting rid of everything. That earns you 100.

Everyone else counts what is left in their hand: pip value for the numbers, 10 for a picture card, 20 for an ace, 50 for a joker.

The rules in full

Canasta Brazil · USA

Cards

  • 11 cards each.
  • 2 French packs — 108 cards, 4 of them jokers.
  • Every 2 is wild.
  • An ace sits at either end of a run: 20 points high, 1 low.
  • A joker left in hand costs 50.

Melds

  • Sets only — no runs. 3 cards at least.
  • At most 3 wild cards in one meld.
  • Every meld needs 2 real cards.
  • A meld of 7 is a canasta: 500 clean, 300 with a wild card.
  • A joker on the table stays there.
  • You may add to anybody’s melds.

Playing

  • Your first lay-down must be worth 50.
  • You may take any depth of the discard pile, melding the card you went in for.
  • Otherwise a card taken from the pile must be played that turn.

Finishing and scoring

  • You may go out by melding your last card, with no final discard.
  • You need a meld of 7 before you can go out.
  • Your melds count for you; what you are caught holding counts against.
  • Going out is worth 100.
  • The match ends when somebody reaches 5000.
  • The highest total wins.

Other ways to play