What is Canasta?

Canasta is the grand, partnership-based cousin in the Rummy family. Its melds of matching ranks and its prized seven-card canastas make for a rich, strategic team game.

Quick answer: Canasta is a Rummy-family game, usually played by four people in two partnerships, using two decks plus four jokers. Partners build melds of matching ranks and try to form a canasta - a meld of seven or more cards - which earns a big bonus. Twos and jokers are wild, and the game is played to 5000 points.

The partnership format

Canasta is typically played by four players in two teams, each dealt 11 cards from a double deck with four jokers. Partners pool their melds, which in Canasta are built by matching rank rather than by suit runs. Twos and jokers are wild.

The canasta itself

The goal that gives the game its name is the canasta: a meld of seven or more cards of the same rank. A natural canasta with no wilds scores more than a mixed one. You cannot end a hand until your side has completed at least one canasta, which drives the whole game.

Scoring to 5000

Canasta uses its own high-value card scoring - jokers 50, Aces and twos 20 - with big bonuses for canastas and for going out. Games run to 5000 points across many hands. It is the most elaborate game in our lineup, so learn the simpler variants first via our beginner guide.

Play Canasta

Related questions

How do jokers and wild cards work in Rummy?

In the Rummy variants that use them, a joker or wild card can stand in for any card you need to complete a meld. Indian Rummy uses printed jokers plus a randomly chosen wild-card rank; Canasta and Dummy Rummy make the twos and jokers wild. Classic Gin Rummy uses no jokers at all, so every card is natural.

What are the card values in Rummy?

In most Rummy games, number cards are worth their pip value (a 7 is 7 points), face cards - Jack, Queen and King - are worth 10 each, and the Ace is worth 1. Some games change the Ace: in Rummy 500 an Ace played in a high run counts 15, and in Canasta the values are different again.

What is Contract Rummy?

Contract Rummy is a Rummy variant played over a fixed series of deals, each with its own contract: a specific combination of sets and runs you must lay down all at once before you can come down. It uses two decks plus jokers and suits 3 to 8 players. Each deal's contract grows harder, ending with runs-only rounds.