When determining the card rank, consider spades to be highest, followed by hearts, diamonds, and clubs. These rankings don’t matter at all in the game and are only worth remembering when you’re setting up the game. For example, if the highest cards drawn are a king and queen, then those players form a partnership. Canasta can be played with an odd number of players. Break into teams of 2, but alternate which team member sits out each round.
Note that some games of 6-player canasta include an extra deck for a total of 162 cards.
For a 2-handed, or 2-player, game, deal 15 cards per player. For 3-handed canasta, start with 13 cards. Take 2 cards each time you pick from the draw pile.
Keep an eye on the draw pile since it is an important source of new cards. Once it is gone, the round will end not long after it. Play as many cards as you can before this happens.
The bonus cards are the jokers, 2s, and red 3s. Be on the lookout for cards you need in the draw pile. To take the pile, you need to be able to match it with cards in your hand to score points.
If you draw a red 3, play it and pick another card. Then, continue your turn as you normally would. You have to pick up a card at the start of your turn unless you’re taking from the discard pile. At the start of your turn, you have the choice to choose from either pile. It’s one or the other.
The discard pile is one of the most exciting parts of canasta. By taking the discard pile, you might end up with a lot extra cards to deal with, but you also get many more potential scoring opportunities.
The initial meld requirement increases as the game goes on. Once you accumulate 1,500 points, your meld has to be worth at least 90 points. At 3,000 points, it needs to be worth 120 points. If you happen to have a negative amount of points at the beginning of a round, your initial meld only has to be worth 15 points. Remember that each meld must have at least 2 natural cards to be played. You can add to existing melds you or your partner start, but you can’t add to an opponent’s meld.
Try to get rid of less valuable cards and ones you don’t think you can use to score points. It takes a little bit of strategy, so do your best to keep track of the cards on the table. If someone used most of the 4s to make a meld, for instance, the one you’re holding isn’t very useful.
For instance, you could choose to extend the game so you can make more matches. Your partner might also have high-value cards that would go to waste. If you are able to go out in a single hand, you get a 200 point bonus instead of 100. It is very hard to do, so you won’t see it happen too often.
Jokers are worth 50 points. Aces and deuces are worth 20 points. Any card from an 8 to a King is worth 10 points. Cards ranked from 4 to 7 are worth only 5 points. Black 3s are also worth 5 points if you are able to use them.
If you get all of the red 3s during a round, they are worth 200 points each. There are 4 of them in total, adding up to 800 points. It is rare, but it will put you way ahead of the competition. Failing to play a red 3 by the end of a round nets you a 500 point penalty, so be careful!
Black 3s can only be melded for points when they are the last cards in your hand. For that reason, they tend to be more useful for throwing off your opponents than scoring points.
For example, if you have 2 jacks, you could complete a meld by playing a 2 with it. Place the set of cards face up in front of you. You need to have 2 natural, matching cards to begin a meld. You can’t start a meld with 2 wildcards, but you can use up to 3 of them to finish a meld. Normally, you freeze the discard pile with a wildcard when you are desperate. When the pile is frozen this way, nobody can take the discard pile until someone uses the top card to make a natural meld.
A meld of 7 cards is a canasta. A natural canasta, or one with no wildcards, is worth 500 bonus points. A dirty or mixed canasta, which has at least 1 wildcard, is worth 300 bonus points. The goal of the game is to make as many canastas as you can before the game ends. In fact, most rules force you to make at least 1 before you are able to stop playing a round.
If the last card from the draw pile is a bonus card, play it and end the round right away.
Use the point values of the individual cards to total up the melds and any leftover cards. Subtract the value of the cards in your hands from your total score. Mixed canastas made with wildcards are worth 300 points, but natural canastas are worth 500. Any player who goes out by melding all their cards gets 100 bonus points. They get 200 if they did it in a single turn. Red 3s are worth 100 points each unless you have all 4 of them. Then they are worth 200. However, if you have any left in your hand, you lose 100 points.
For example, you know there are only 8 Jacks. If your opponent lays down a few of them, you know you won’t see much more of them in the draw pile. You might have already seen a few in the discard pile.
You may feel proud of the cool collection you have in your hand, but think twice before putting it down. As long as you have 2 cards of the same rank in your hand, you can pick cards of that rank off the discard pile.
Take the discard pile if you really need it. You might need that last card to complete a canasta and go out, for instance. Be careful to avoid losing lots of points by getting stuck with a big discard pile. Weigh your options carefully and check how many cards are left on the board first.
Keep 2 cards of the same rank so you can pick up the pile when your opponent puts down what you need. Another option is to put down what your opponent needs to force them to pick up a giant pile of subpar cards. Go out after that to leave them high and dry with a lot of cards.
If your opponent is about to go out, play your valuable wildcards as soon as possible. On the other hand, if your opponent has a lot of cards, put your wildcards down to hurt their score. Remember that you can add to existing melds you have. You are better off making a meld than throwing away a wildcard that your opponent might later get.
Even if you don’t have a lot of points on the table, you could hurt your opponent’s chances of winning by forcing them to take a negative amount of points. Surprise moves are the best offense in canasta. Remember that you need at least 1 canasta in order to go out. If you’re struggling when the draw pile winds down, you could lose a lot of points from your hand.
