How to Play Canasta

If you already know how to play canasta, you might be interested in finding about some of the variations of this popular card game. Like most card games, Canasta rules have evolved over time.

How to Play Canasta: Classic Canasta versus Modern American Canasta

Both canasta games play with the same 108 card deck with four players in pairs. However, players are dealt 11 cards in classic canasta while players in the modern American canasta game get 13 cards each. Other differences include:

• The first meld in modern American canasta is required to be more points than the first meld in classic canasta. For example, the first meld in modern American canasta must be worth at least 125 points if your total score is under 3000 while the largest requirement for the first meld in classic canasta is 120 points.
• In modern American canasta, you can't have more than seven cards in a meld.
• You can have melds consisting only of wild cards in modern American canasta.
• The final score is 8500 in modern American canasta versus 5000 in classic canasta.

How to Play Canasta with Two Players

Most of the rules for classic canasta are used when two people play canasta. However, players are dealt 15 cards instead of 11 cards. In addition, each player takes two cards when drawing versus one card. In order to go out, a player also has to have two canastas.

How to Play Canasta with Three Players

This time, players are dealt 13 cards apiece. When you are playing a three player game, each participant draws two cards at a time.

The first person who picks up the discard pile plays against the other two players, who form a temporary partnership for that given round.

Each player keeps a separate score during the game. However, the temporary partnerships are scored together as one and added to each partners' overall score. The exception to this is any 3s that the players in the partnership might have. Any 3s are added to the person's score who played the card, not the cumulative score of the partnership.

As the players in a temporary partnership have different scores, the partnership's first meld must meet the individual player's requirements. For example, if Partner A's cumulative score is 1500 and Partner B's score is 3000, Partner A can have the first meld if the meld in his or her meld is worth 90 points, but Partner B can't have the first meld unless Player B is able to accumulate a 120 point meld first. After that first meld, regardless of which partner melded first, both partners proceed as per classic canasta rules.