🃏 How to Play Canasta 🃏

What You Need

2 decks of cards (including Jokers)
Usually 4 players (2 teams), but you can play with 2 or 3
Paper and pencil to keep score

Goal of the Game

Make groups of cards called "melds" to score points. Try to make a Canasta (a group of 7 or more cards of the same number) and reach 5,000 points to win!

Setup

Shuffle all the cards together.
Each player gets 11 cards.
The rest of the cards go in a draw pile, face down.
Turn the top card of the draw pile face up to start the discard pile.

How to Play

Draw: On your turn, take 2 cards from the draw pile or pick up the whole discard pile if you can use the top card in a meld right away.
Meld: Put down groups of 3 or more cards of the same number (like 7-7-7). You can add more cards to your melds later, even if you already put them down. You can make a meld with more than 3 cards, and you can keep adding cards of the same number!
Wild Cards: Jokers and 2s are wild and can be used as any card, but you can't have more wild cards than real cards in a meld.
Discard: End your turn by putting one card on the discard pile.

Can I move cards between melds or resort them?
No, once you put down a meld, you can't move cards between melds or rearrange them. But you can always add more cards of the same number to your melds!

Special Cards

Jokers & 2s: Wild cards, can be any number.
Red Threes (3♥ 3♦): Bonus cards! Put them down right away and draw a new card. Each is worth 100 points.
Black Threes (3♠ 3♣): Only used to block the discard pile. Can't be used in melds (except at the end of the game).

Going Out

You can end the round only if your team has made at least one Canasta (7+ cards in a meld). Play your last card and count your points!

Counting Points

Joker: 50 points each
2 (Two): 20 points each
Ace: 20 points each
8, 9, 10, J, Q, K: 10 points each
4, 5, 6, 7: 5 points each
Black Three (3♠ 3♣): 5 points each
Red Three (3♥ 3♦): 100 points each (bonus!)

Bonus Points

Natural Canasta (no wild cards): 500 points
Mixed Canasta (with wild cards): 300 points
Going Out: 100 points

How to Count:
Add up all your points from cards on the table and bonuses. Subtract points for cards left in your hand!

Brief History

Canasta was invented in Uruguay in the 1940s and quickly became popular all over the world. The name "Canasta" means "basket" in Spanish, because you try to collect baskets (groups) of cards. Today, Canasta is played by families and friends everywhere!