Welcome to the World of Canasta

Game Objective: Form as many canastas as possible to score points and reach 8,500 before
your opponent.
Canasta: Seven cards of the same rank (natural canasta), or five of the same rank
and two wild cards (dirty canasta).
Closed Canasta: A canasta that one team has completed (7 cards).
Dead Card: A rank of a canasta that has been closed by a team.
Going Out: You have at least two canastas and a card to discard.
Meld: A meld is a grouping of at least 3 cards of the same rank (number) that
you place ‘face up’ on the table. I.E. 3 fours or 3 Jacks. The initial meld for
each team requires a certain number of points based on your score.
Clean Meld: Using no wild cards.
Dirty Meld: Using wild cards.
Stockpile: The deck of cards in the tray.
Talon: The Talon is the act of picking cards from the stockpile. The first team to
meld picks 4 cards, and the second team to meld picks three.
Wild Cards: Deuces or Jokers. There are 8 Deuces and 4 Jokers in total.

Set-Up  Use 2 standard 52-card decks with 4 picture Jokers

(108 Cards total).
 The scorekeeper is the first to cut the deck to the player on their left,
who takes the bottom half and deals 13 cards to each player.
 The scorekeeper takes the top half and deals 8 cards from the
bottom of that half.
 The 9th Card is the “turn card”. The turn card is placed perpendicular
to the eight and the rest of the deck is placed in line with the eight.
 The player to the left of the dealer goes first.
 Play proceeds in a clockwise rotation.

Sorting your Hand  Sort your cards by putting like cards together in ascending or
descending order.
 Suits do not play a role in Canasta.

©G. Rhoades 2023

Opening Mok
eld
The Opening Meld
Points needed to meld
(based on your score)
How do you build your hand
so that you can meld?
Counting Points For
Opening and Scoring (points
are printed on the playing
cards)
Talon Rules
Picking the Pack
©G. Rhoades 2023
 You MUST have a clean triple: i.e. 3 Jacks. The rest can be a natural
pair and the use of up to two wild cards. I.E. 3 eights, 2 Aces, a Joker,
and a deuce.
 Both teams may meld cards of the same rank unless a Canasta of that
number has already been closed by one of the teams.
 Either partner can complete the opening meld, depending on who
can get the needed points first.
 At least one meld must be a CLEAN triple (three of the same rank).
 Less than 3000 125 points
 3,000-4999 155 points
 5,000 or more 180 points
 Each time you have a turn, you try to improve your hand to open.
 Keep pairs, discard singletons.
 Discard singleton low point cards before high point cards.
 Keep any clean triples.
 4’s through 7’s 5 points
 8’s through Kings 10 Points
 Aces, 2’s 20 Points
 Jokers 50 Points
 After opening and discarding a card, the First Opener immediately
picks the Talon: 4 bonus cards from the stockpile.
 The Second Opener discards and then picks the Talon: 3 bonus
cards from the stockpile.
 If you forget to take your Talon, you lose it!
 If you open after the “turn card’, you do not get a Talon.
 If you “pick the pack” on the same turn that you opened, you do
not get a Talon.
 After your team has opened, either partner may pick the pack, as
long as you have at least TWO of the same card that has been
discarded, and it’s your turn. You do not get another card from the
stockpile.
 You may pick the pack and open on the same turn, but you may
NOT use the card picked as part of your opening point count or to
complete your clean triple meld.
Threes  Threes are not melded like other cards. If you pick a three, it is put
on the table face-up, next to your melds.
 Any threes dealt to you or picked on your turn are immediately
replaced with another card from the stockpile. The EXCEPTION is
when you pick a three in your Talon. You then wait for your next
turn to replace it.
 If you forget to place your three down and pick a card, that three
MUST stay in your hand until the end of the round. You may only
use it to go out.
 When a three is the last card picked, there is no further play of the
hand and the hand is over (you may not meld any cards or discard).

Melding After the Open  Once you or your partner are open, any new melds MUST be a clean
(natural meld of three or more cards). You may no longer meld with
a pair and a wild card. EXCEPTION is when you are going out.

Discards  If you have a natural canasta in your hand, you can open with it
regardless of the point value of the individual cards. As a natural
canasta, it’s worth 500 points.
 Always try to discard what your opponents don’t need or cannot
pick (a dead card).
 You may never discard a wild card, except in very special
circumstances. (You only have wilds in your hand and you are unable
to go out).
 You may not meld and leave yourself with only wild cards to discard.
 Threes cannot be discarded.
 You may never discard a dead card, an Ace or 7 into an empty tray (a
card is dead if a canasta of that number has been closed).
 You may look back at three cards in the discard pile if you have
forgotten what your opponent has discarded on their last turn.

Ending the Hand The hand ends when:

 The stockpile has been exhausted.
 One team has “Gone Out”.
 Someone has completed a SPECIAL HAND.
 You must announce when you have three cards (or fewer) left in
your hand.

©G. Rhoades 2023

Going Out  Your team must have closed TWO Canastas.
 You are able to meld all of your cards except for 1 discard card.
 You turn that card over in the tray and say “OUT”.
 You may ask your partner for permission to go out ONCE to make
sure they are not “dirty”.
 You get 100 points for going out, in addition to your total score.
 You can go out with a natural pair and a wild card, like the initial
meld. EXCEPTION: never with Aces after the initial meld.

Winning the Game  The first team to reach 8500 points wins the game.
 If both teams reach 8500 points the highest score wins.

Special Canastas These canastas are completed as a team and melded.

Sevens
 A canasta of sevens must be natural and may never contain a wild
card.
 If a Canasta of Sevens is completed it is worth 2500 points.
 If a Canasta of Sevens is NOT completed the partnership is minus
2500 points.
 If you have more than 2 Sevens in your hand when the hand is over
you are “dirty” and minus 1500 points.
 You may never discard a Seven into an empty tray (after picking the
pack).

Aces
 The only time wild cards may be used with Aces is as part of the
opening.
 Aces used with wild cards become ordinary mixed meld.
 It is a good thing to use aces with wild cards as part of your open. It’s
worth a lot of points.
 If a Canasta of Aces is attempted at any other time other than the
opening meld, it must be natural (Clean).
 If a Canasta of Natural Aces is completed it is worth 2500 points.
 If a Canasta of Natural Aces is NOT completed the partnership is
minus 2500 points.

©G. Rhoades 2023

Wild Card Canasta  A Wild Card Canasta is a Canasta of 7 wild cards. Deuces and Jokers.
 When a Wild Card Canasta is started, that team cannot use a wild
Wild Card card on any other melds until the Wild Card Canasta is completed.
2,000 points  If you Open with a Wild Card Canasta you do not need to add a
Clean Triple unless you need more points.
Wild Card ALL Deuces  If a Canasta of Wild Cards is completed it is worth 2,000-3,000
3,000 points depending on the combination of 2’s and Jokers .
 If a Canasta of Wild Cards is NOT completed the partnership is
Wild Card (4 Jokers, 3 minus 2000 points.
Deuces)
2,500 points
Pairs 7 different pairs of cards. If you don’t have any wild cards, you do NOT
need Aces and Sevens but you can include them. Cannot use threes.
2,500 points
With ONE pair of wild cards: You MUST also have Aces and Sevens.

Rummy (sometimes 4 of a kind; 4 of a kind; 3 of a kind; 3 of a kind.

called a Garbage) Example: four Jacks; Four Queens; Three fours; Three fives.
2,000 points
Zip Code 4 of a kind; 3 of a kind; 3 of a kind; two of a kind; two of a kind.
1,500 points Example: four Jacks; Three Queens; Three Kings; Two fours; Two fives.
Penalties Incomplete Canastas:
 Incomplete wild card canasta - minus 2,000 points
 Incomplete pure aces canasta - minus 2,500 points
 Incomplete 7’s canasta -minus 2,500 points

Aces, 7’s or 3’s IN YOUR HAND:

 Three or more aces - minus 1,500 points.
 Three or more 7’s - 1,500 points.

Penalties for having no Canastas.

 Players who do not achieve a single canasta minus EVERY card in their
hand, the value of the threes, and any melded cards.

Scoring of Threes  1 of same color-100,

 2 of same color -300
 3 of same color -500,
 4 of same color-1,000

©G. Rhoades 2023

Scoring of Canastas  Mixed (with a wild card or two)……………………………………..300
 Natural (no wild cards)…………………………………………………..500
 Natural 7s or Aces………………………………………………………. 2,500
 Ace or 7 meld, no canasta……………………………………..……-2,500
 Wild Card Canasta………………………………………………………..2,000
 Wild Card Canasta-4 Jokers, 3 Deuces………………………….2,500
 Wild Card Canasta-all Deuces……………………………………… 3,000
 Wild Card Canasta, no canasta……………………………………-2,000
 3 Aces or three 7s in hand……………………………………………-1,500
 Going out first………………………………………………………………….100
Canasta Etiquette  When melding, place cards toward your partner so they can easily
read them.
 Place all canastas and threes neatly so that all players can see what
is closed and how many threes have been picked.
 If chatting, take your turn and then resume so the play continues.
 No table talk about what is in your hand, plays that are made, or
helping your partner make decisions.

©G. Rhoades 2023