The different bonuses a partnership earned are added up and added to the score sheet.Īfter the bonuses are recorded, the point values of the cards left in a player's hand and/or foot are added up and recorded as a negative number on the score sheet for each partnership. In the above table it is important to note that the going out bonus is only scored once per partnership, but the other bonuses are scored for each player and added into a single score for the partnership. The bonuses awarded for each situation are given below: Bonuses are a fixed amount of points awarded for canastas, red threes and going out. Scoring consists of two parts: bonuses and the point values of the cards. Given below, is the order I usually use when determining the score for a hand. Scoring can be done in any order the score keeper wishes. This is probably the most difficult and lengthy part of the game. As mentioned above, natural cards can be added to completed canastas but not wild cards. Red canastas are usually more desirable because they have a higher bonus, but because you need 7 cards of one value they are often harder to get. This really isn't necessary but it makes counting up the canasta bonuses at the end of the round easier. A black card indicates a canasta that contains wild cards, or a mixed canasta. A red card indicates a canasta that doesn't contain wild cards, or a natural canasta. Usually the top card of the stack is used to indicate whether a canasta is natural (clean) or mixed (dirty). Although natural cards can still be added to canastas, the cards making up a canasta are usually stacked and put to the side to indicate they are a canasta. When a meld contains 7 cards it is then considered a canasta. The minimum count for the initial meld depends on which round the game is on as shown in the table below.Īfter either partner makes the initial meld, melds may be made without worrying about the count of the card being laid down. Any number of melds can be counted towards the minimum, but bonuses for canastas don't count.
The number of points melds are worth is determined by adding up the point values of all of the cards to be laid down in the initial meld. The first meld laid down by either partner must meet a minimum requirement for the number of points it contains. three 3's), and must include more natural cards than wild cards. Therefore it is usually a good idea to discard these cards as soon as possible.Ī meld consists of at least 3 cards of the same rank (i.e. Red 3's are worth -300 points and black 3's are worth -100 points. They can't be melded and only count as negative points if a player is left with them in their hand at the end of the game. Red and black 3's serve little purpose in this game. Therefore, it is not possible, and illegal, to make a meld of wild cards. Wild cards can be used in place of any natural card in a meld, provided that there are more natural cards than wild cards. These cards are wild cards (Jokers and twos) and threes. There are several cards that have a special purpose in Canasta. Listed below are the point values of each card. Both of these topics will be discussed later in the Game Play and Going Out/Scoring sections. The values of the cards are used for two purposes, determining how many cards are necessary to meet the minimum initial meld value and in scoring a hand after some one has gone out. That's 270 cards total, if you feel like counting them all. This will be discussed more in the Number of Player Variations page.įor this game you will need five standard decks of cards including Jokers. The rules given in the following pages are for four players, but there is no variation in the rules if your are playing with less or more players.