How to Play Canasta
Description
A rummy-style partnership game where building melds of seven earns bonuses and going out first closes the hand. The tension is in knowing when to stop drawing and when to commit.
Objective
Team up with the player across from you and be the first side to reach 5,000 points, mainly by building canastas — melds of seven or more matching cards.
Setup
Four players in two partnerships, using two decks shuffled together plus four Jokers.
Each player gets eleven cards. The rest form the stock, with one card turned up to start the discard pile.
Rules
On your turn, draw from the stock, or take the whole discard pile if the top card helps start or extend a meld you can make.
Meld three or more matching cards face up on the table — melds can include a limited number of wild cards (Jokers and 2s), but always need at least two natural cards of that rank.
Either partner can add to a meld your side has already started.
Any red 3 in your hand goes straight down onto the table for bonus points — but only pays off if your side goes on to make at least one meld that hand.
Discard one card to end your turn — unless you're going out.
Winning
Your side's first meld each hand has to clear a minimum point value that rises as your score grows.
Once your side has at least one canasta, a player can go out — melding everything but one card and discarding it — ending the hand.
Hands are scored on melded card values, canasta bonuses, red 3s, and a bonus for going out; unmelded cards left in hand count against you.
First side to 5,000 points wins the match.