Canasta is a card game for four players played with two standard 52-card decks and four jokers, for a total of 108 cards. The goal of the game is to form melds, or sets of cards of the same rank, and score points by playing these melds on the table.
The game is played in several rounds, and the first team to reach a predetermined score, such as 5,000 points, wins the game.
How to play Canasta
- To start the game, each player is dealt eleven cards. The remaining cards are placed face down in the center of the table to form the draw pile. The top card of the draw pile is turned over to begin the discard pile.
- The player to the left of the dealer starts the game by drawing a card from either the draw pile or the discard pile. They can then play any melds (sets of three or more cards of the same rank) from their hand by placing them face up on the table.
- If the player doesn’t have any melds in their hand, or if they choose not to play any melds, they must discard a card from their hand face up onto the discard pile. This ends their turn, and play passes to the next player.
- The other players take their turns in clockwise order, drawing a card, playing melds, and discarding as described above.
- Wild cards (jokers and twos) can be used as part of a meld, but they can only be played if the player has at least one natural card (any card that is not a wild card) of the same rank as the wild card in their hand. For example, if a player has a natural 8 and a wild card, they can use the wild card as part of a meld of 8s.
- The game continues until one team completes a predetermined number of canastas (melds of seven or more cards), or until the draw pile runs out of cards. When this happens, the round ends and the points are counted.
- Points are scored based on the cards played on the table, as well as any cards remaining in the players’ hands. Melds of seven or more cards (canastas) are worth extra points, and there are penalties for having certain cards in your hand at the end of the round, such as wild cards and red threes.
- The game continues until one team reaches a predetermined score, such as 5,000 points. The team with the higher score at the end of the game wins.
Canasta is a challenging and exciting card game that requires skill, strategy, and a bit of luck. It is a popular game that originated in South America and has been enjoyed by players around the world for many years.