This description was originally based on a page by Katie Sutton. John McLeod has added more details and variations.
There are four players in fixed partnerships, partners sitting opposite each other.
Two 52 card standard packs plus 4 jokers are shuffled together to make a 108 card pack.
To score points for melds, which are sets of cards of equal rank (such as four kings, six fives, etc.) played face up on the table. All jokers and 2's are wild cards which can be used to subsititute for other cards in melds. Cards which are not wild are called natural. To end the game you need one canasta, which is seven or more cards of the same rank, including at least four natural (i.e. not wild) cards, and to form all your other cards into melds, consisting of at least three cards of the same rank, of which at least two must be natural.
Threes cannot be melded in the usual way - they are used for special purposes.
Jokers and twos can only be used as substitutes - you cannot for example have a meld of five twos.
A natural meld is one with no wild cards. A natural canasta is a natural meld of seven or more cards. A meld including wild cards is called mixed. If you add a wild card to a natural canasta, this degrades it to a mixed canasta.
It is not allowed for one team to have two separate melds of the same rank. Any further cards melded which are the same rank as an existing meld are automatically merged into that meld.
The first dealer is chosen at random, and thereafter the turn to deal rotates clockwise after each hand. Each player is dealt 11 cards, and the rest of the cards are put face down in a pile. The top card is taken off, and placed face up next to the pile. This is the start of the discard pile. If it is wild or a three, turn up another card and place it on top, continuing until a card which is not a wild card or three is turned up.
Each player must immediately place face up in front of them any red threes they were dealt, and draw an equal number of cards from the top of the face-down pile to replace them.
The player to the left of the dealer plays first, and then the turn to play rotates clockwise. A play consists of a player drawing the top card from the face-down pile or taking the whole of the discard pile, making a meld (optional), and finally discarding any card face-up on top of the discard pile.
One member of each side keeps the melds belonging to that side face up in front of them.
A player may always opt to take the top card of the face down pile.
Alternatively, the player may take the whole discard pile, subject to the following conditions:
It is also permissible to meld having drawn a card from the stock, by playing the necessary cards from hand, either creating new melds or adding to the team's existing melds. If the team has not yet melded, the minimum points condition for initial melds still applies.
Red threes are bonus cards. When a red 3 is drawn, the card must immediately be put face-up on the player's side with their melds, and the player draws a replacement card from the face-down stock. Although red threes score bonus points they do not count as meld - independently of any red threes a side still needs to satisfy the minimum point requirement for their first meld.
The only way a red 3 can get into the discard pile is if it was turned up at the end of the deal and covered. If this happens, then when the discard pile is taken, the player puts the red three face-up, but does not draw a replacement card.
Black threes are stop cards. By discarding a black three you prevent the next player from taking the discard pile. Black threes cannot be melded, except that a player who is going out may meld three or four black threes as part of that last turn. Such a meld of black threes cannot contain wild cards.
To achieve the needed canasta, one must first make a meld. A meld is 3 or more cards of the same rank, with at least two natural cards. Further wild and natural cards may be added to the meld later.
The first meld made by a partnership must be worth at least a certain minimum number of points. The value of a meld for this purpose is obtained by adding up the values of the cards in it.
The card values are as follows:
Jokers 50 points each Aces and 2s 20 points each K, Q, J, 10, 9, 8 10 points each 7, 6, 5, 4, and black 3 5 points each
The minimum value of a side's initial meld depends on their score accumulated in previous rounds as follows:
Previous score Minimum initial meld negative 15 points (i.e. no minimum) 0 - 1495 50 points 1500 - 2995 90 points 3000 or more 120 pointsA player may put down a meld of more than three cards, or more than one combination at once to meet the minimum. Bonuses for red threes, canastas, etc. cannot be counted towards meeting the minimum.
If the discard pile contains a wild card or a red three it is said to be frozen. To show that it is frozen, the relevant card is placed at right angles in the pile, so that it is still visible after other cards are discarded on top of it.
A frozen discard pile can only be taken by a player who holds in hand two natural cards matching the top card of the discard pile, and uses these to make a meld. This meld can either be a new one, or could be the same rank as an existing meld, in which case the melds are merged.
For example, suppose the pile is frozen and our team already has a meld of 4 sevens on the table. If the player before me discards a seven, I cannot pick up the discard pile unless I have two further sevens concealed in my hand. If do have 2 sevens in my hand, I can add them and the discarded seven to our meld (making a canasta), and take the pile.
Once a player's side has a canasta, the player may go out by melding all their cards, or by melding all but one, and discarding the last card. You are not allowed to get rid of all you cards in this way if your side does not yet have a canasta - you must play in such a way as to keep at least one card after discarding.
Note that it may not be an advantage to go out, just because one is able to. Before drawing, a player may ask their partner "may I go out?". The partner must answer yes or no, and the answer is binding.
Once a player goes out, play stops and the round is scored.
The other way play can end is by exhausting the stock of face-down cards. Play can continue with no stock as long as each player takes the discard, and in this situation a player must take the discard if it matches a previous meld of that player's side. As soon as a player is is entitled to draw from the stock and chooses to do so, the play ends and the round is scored.
The partners' points are added together. The base score is
If a partnership did not manage to meld at all, then each of their red threes counts minus 100 instead of plus - and if they are unlucky enough to have all four red threes they score minus 800.
When one or both teams have 5,000 or more points at the end of a hand, the side with the higher total score wins, and the margin of victory is the difference between the scores of the two teams.
Many people play a more restrictive rule on when it is allowed to take an unfrozen discard pile. In this variation the pile can never be taken with one matching card and a wild card, or to add to a completed canasta. The discard pile can still be taken (if not frozen) to add the top card to a meld of 6 cards or fewer.
Mark-Jan Harte has published a Canasta program.