How to play Modern American Canasta

By Ali. Updated September 25, 2026. Every rule here was checked against the published rules listed at the end.

What you're trying to do

You and your partner play as a team, and together you build canastas: sets of seven cards of the same rank. Canastas are where the big points are, and your team needs two of them before either of you can go out by emptying your hand. Going out ends the hand, and then both teams add up their points. Hands continue until a team reaches 8,500, and the higher score wins.

You won't need to memorize every number. Read the sections in order, since each one builds on the last, and keep our score sheet nearby: the canasta values and penalties are printed at the bottom.

The cards

You need two standard decks and four jokers, 108 cards in all, shuffled together. Four people play in two teams of two, and partners sit across from each other.

Every card belongs to one of three groups.

Natural cards are the ranks from 4 up to ace, and most melds are made of them. Two of those ranks, 7s and aces, have rules of their own, which come later. Wild cards can stand in for natural cards in a meld, within limits. Threes never go into melds at all, and they have their own section.

What each card is worth

Card	Points
Joker	50
Ace or 2	20
King, queen, jack, 10, 9 or 8	10
7, 6, 5 or 4	5

You'll use these values twice: to reach the minimum for your team's first meld, and to score the cards when the hand ends.

Setting up and dealing

1. Pick one player to keep score for the table. The scorekeeper cuts the cards and passes the bottom part to the player on their left, who deals 13 cards to each player.
2. While the dealer deals, the scorekeeper takes the bottom 8 cards of the part they kept, sets them in the card tray (if your table uses one), and lays the next card across them sideways. That sideways card is the turn card.
3. The rest of the scorekeeper's cards go on top of the turn card, and the dealer adds any cards left over from the deal. This stack is the draw pile.
4. No card is turned face up, so the discard pile starts empty. The player to the dealer's left goes first, and play moves clockwise.

Whoever draws the turn card says "turn card" out loud, so everyone knows only 8 cards are left to draw.

Taking a turn

Every turn has the same three steps.

1. Draw. Take the top card of the draw pile. Sometimes you can take the whole discard pile instead, as explained under taking the discard pile.
2. Meld. If you can and want to, lay down new melds or add cards to your team's melds. Unless you're going out, keep at least two cards in your hand: one to discard and one to hold.
3. Discard. Place one card face up on the discard pile, and your turn is over.

Cards you can't discard

• A 3, ever.
• A wild card, except as a last resort: as your final card when you go out, or when you have no other card to discard. You can't steer yourself into that spot on purpose.
• A 7, an ace, a wild card or a dead card onto an empty discard pile. The pile is empty on the first turn of a hand and right after someone takes it. The Canasta League of America calls these SWAD cards, for sevens, wilds, aces and dead cards. (Dead cards are explained below.)

Table rules vary. Tables differ on what to do when SWAD cards are all you hold. The League's rules have you take back cards you melded, most recent first, until you have one you can discard. Other teachers let you discard one when aces, 7s and dead cards are the only natural cards you hold.

Melds and canastas

A meld is three or more cards of the same rank, laid face up in front of your team. Your team's melds belong to both of you, so you and your partner can each add to them. You never play onto the other team's melds.

When a meld reaches seven cards, it becomes a canasta. A meld can never grow past seven.

Natural and mixed melds

A natural meld has no wild cards. A mixed meld has at least one. Wild cards can join a meld at two moments:

• In your team's first meld of the hand. Any meld you put down then can include wild cards, as long as it has at least two natural cards.
• Later in the hand, you can add a wild card only to a meld that already has five natural cards.

Either way, a meld never holds more than two wild cards. (Wild card melds, covered below, are the one exception.) So once your team has opened, any new meld you start stays natural until it has five cards.

Table rules vary. Some tables let you add a wild card before a meld has five natural cards. Two, three and five are all in use, so agree before the first deal.

Dead cards

Once either team finishes a canasta in a rank, that rank is closed for the rest of the hand. Nobody can start or add to a meld of it, and the leftover cards of that rank are called dead cards.

Your team's first meld

Laying down your team's first meld of the hand is called opening. The cards you lay down have to add up to a minimum number of points, using the card values above. The minimum is for the team: once either you or your partner has opened, you both meld freely for the rest of the hand.

How many points you need depends on your team's score going into the hand.

• 125when your team has less than 3,000, even a score below zero
• 155when your team has 3,000 to 4,995
• 180when your team has 5,000 or more

Your opening must include a clean triple: at least three natural cards of one rank, with no wild cards, in a rank that isn't dead. You can lay down other melds at the same time to reach the minimum, mixed ones included, as long as the clean triple is among them.

Counting an opening, step by step

Say your team has 1,200 points, so you need at least 125. You're holding three kings, three queens, three 8s and a joker.

Add them up: 30 and 30 and 80 make 140. That's more than 125, so you can put all three melds down together. Without the queens you'd have only 110, which isn't enough yet. Notice how much the joker adds: at 50 points, it's worth more than any other card.

Table rules vary. Some tables also let a team open with a meld of at least three wild cards in place of the clean triple.

Bonus cards

If your team opens while at least 9 cards are left in the draw pile, the player who opened gets bonus cards. After discarding, they draw 4 if their team is the first to open, or 3 if the other team opened first. Those cards can't be played until that player's next turn. Some players call them the talon, or wings.

There are no bonus cards once the turn card has been drawn, or when a team opens by taking the discard pile.

Taking the discard pile

Instead of drawing, you can take the whole discard pile, which players call the pack, when you can use its top card right away.

1. Show two natural cards from your hand that match the top card, and meld all three together.
2. Take the rest of the pile into your hand.
3. Meld more cards if you like, then discard as usual.

You can do this even if that pair is all you're holding, because the pack refills your hand. You can't take the pack if your team already has five or more cards melded in that rank, since the meld would grow past seven.

Taking the pack to open

If your team hasn't opened yet, you can take the pack only as part of your opening. Your clean triple and the full minimum have to come from the cards in your hand, and you lay them down before you take the rest of the pile. The top card you pick up doesn't count toward either one, and there are no bonus cards that turn.

Table rules vary. The League's rules also mention taking the pack by adding its top card to one of your team's melds, without saying whether you need a pair to do it. Canasta Connection and Pagat allow it only when you hold a matching natural pair and the meld has three or four cards.

Special melds: 7s, aces and wild cards

Three kinds of meld have rules of their own. They carry the biggest bonuses in the game, and big penalties if they're left unfinished.

Sevens

A meld of 7s never includes a wild card. A finished canasta of seven 7s is worth 2,500.

Aces

A meld of aces stays natural, with one exception. If your team puts down aces with a wild card already in them as part of its opening, that meld is simply a mixed meld and scores like one. A meld of aces that starts out natural can never take a wild card. A finished natural canasta of aces is worth 2,500.

Wild card melds

You can also meld wild cards on their own: three to seven jokers and 2s, in any mix. While your team has one going, no wild card can join any of your other melds, so finish it before you start spending wild cards elsewhere.

Threes

Threes never go into melds. Red and black threes work the same way, though they're scored separately. Here's everything a three does.

• When you get one, in the deal or from the draw pile, lay it face up in front of your team and draw a card to replace it. If the new card is a three too, do the same again.
• At the end of the hand, your team's threes count for you or against you, depending on how many canastas you finished. The table is under scoring.
• You can never discard a three, and you can't go out with one as your last card.
• If the very last card drawn from the pile is a three, the hand ends right there. The three stays in that player's hand and counts 5 points against their team.
• The one time you may keep a three is when you're collecting a straight, a special hand that needs one, and only until your team opens.

Going out

Going out means emptying your hand: you meld every card but one, then discard that last card. It ends the hand, and your team earns a bonus of 100.

You can go out only when:

• your team has finished at least two canastas,
• your team has no unfinished meld of natural 7s, natural aces or wild cards on the table, and
• your last card, the one you discard, isn't a 3.

Many players ask their partner's permission before going out, so agree at the start whether your table does.

When the draw pile runs out

The hand also ends when there are no cards left to draw. If the last card drawn is a three, see threes above.

Special hands

A special hand is a rare, high-scoring hand that you lay down all at once, and it's possible only before your team opens. If, right after drawing from the draw pile, you hold one of the 14-card hands below, lay your whole hand down without discarding. That's your team's only meld, and the hand ends at once. Your team scores just the special hand, and the other team scores its cards as usual.

No special hand can include a three, except the straight. Where a hand calls for a matching pair of wild cards, that means two jokers or two 2s, not one of each.

• Pairs2,500Seven different pairs, no wild cards.
• Wild pairs2,000Seven pairs, including a pair of aces, a pair of 7s and one matching pair of wild cards.
• Miami pairs2,500Seven pairs, including aces, 7s, a pair of jokers and a pair of 2s.
• Zip code2,500Two pairs, two sets of three and one set of four. Matching wild cards allowed.
• Straight3,000One card of every rank, including a 3, a 2 and a joker.
• Garbage3,000Two sets of four and two sets of three, no wild cards.
• Blast off3,000A set of five, a set of four, a set of three and a pair. Matching wild cards allowed.
• Triples3,500Four sets of three and a matching pair of wild cards.
• Quads3,500Three sets of four and a matching pair of wild cards.
• Dream hand8,500Two sets of five with four matching wild cards, or a set of five and a set of four with five wild cards.

Table rules vary. Special hands vary more than any other rule. This list follows the Canasta League of America, and many tables play only some of these hands. Some tables also give you one more turn to try for a special hand after your partner opens.

All ten are on our printable special hands sheet, with the shape of each hand beside it.

Winning the game

Keep a running total from hand to hand. The game ends after the hand in which one or both teams reach 8,500, and the higher score wins.

Our printable score sheet has a column for each part of the score, a running total and a spot to circle each team's next first meld minimum.

Print the rules and a score sheet

Print the one-page Modern American Canasta rules card, a sheet of the ten special hands with a hand scored step by step, and a score sheet with eight hands on it, all free. Our printables page has every sheet on the site. The rules card is handy when a new player joins the table, or when your group plays a few times a year.

Common questions

What is the 7s rule in canasta?

In Modern American Canasta, a meld of 7s can never include a wild card. A finished canasta of seven 7s is worth 2,500. If your team still has an unfinished meld of 7s when the hand ends, you lose 2,500, and a player left holding three or more 7s costs the team 1,500 plus the value of those cards.

How many cards do you deal in Modern American Canasta?

Thirteen to each of the four players. The bottom 8 cards of the draw pile sit under a sideways card called the turn card, so when someone draws it, everyone knows only 8 cards are left.

How many canastas do you need to go out?

Two. Your team also can't go out while it has an unfinished meld of natural 7s, natural aces or wild cards on the table.

Can you discard a wild card in canasta?

Only as a last resort: as your final card when you go out, or when you have no other card to discard. You can never discard a 3.

What is a dead card in canasta?

A card whose rank already has a finished canasta, made by either team. Once a canasta is complete, nobody can start or add to a meld of that rank for the rest of the hand, so the leftover cards of that rank are dead.

What are the bonus cards in Modern American Canasta?

Extra cards for the player who makes their team's first meld while at least 9 cards are left in the draw pile. After discarding, that player draws 4 if their team opened first, or 3 if the other team opened first, and can play them from their next turn. There are none once the turn card has been drawn, or when a team opens by taking the discard pile.

How many points do you need to win Modern American Canasta?

8,500. The game ends after the hand in which one or both teams reach 8,500, and the higher score wins.

Where these rules come from

Modern American Canasta has no single rulebook that every table follows. We wrote this page in our own words from the rules published by the Canasta League of America, and checked each rule against at least one more source: the rules taught by Emily and Bev at Canasta Connection, the rules at Canasta.com and the Modern American Canasta section of Pagat. The note on wild cards also draws on Real Canasta. The dream hand is the one rule we found only in the League's list. Where the sources differ, we say so.

If your group plays a rule differently, please tell us through the contact page. Red Threes is independent and isn't affiliated with any of these groups.