The objective of Canasta is to beat your opponents by scoring 500 points.
Canasta is a partnership trick-taking card game that's played with 2 decks of cards (including the Jokers). The player opposite you at the table is your partner. Your opponents are seated at your left and right.
Players draw cards to determine the dealer. The player who draws the highest card becomes the dealer. The dealer shuffles and deals 11 cards to each player, 1 at a time. The remaining cards form the draw pile, with the top card placed face-up next to it to start the discard pile.
Players take turns clockwise, drawing either the top card from the draw pile or the entire discard pile.
Create melds of cards to go out. To create a meld, you must create a run of at least 3 cards
of the same rank and/or sequences of consecutive cards in the same suit. A meld of 7 or more cards is called a canasta. A natural canasta is made up of natural cards of the same rank (for example seven Kings). A mixed canasta is made up of a mix of natural cards and wild cards (for example, 4 Kings and 3 Jokers).
You can add to a meld that you or your partner have made but not one that your opponents have made. Melds must contain at least 2 natural cards, and cannot contain more than 3 wild cards (until you have a canasta of that card).
You or your partner can only make the initial meld if the meld meets the initial meld point requirement (listed in the score box to the top right). When it is your turn, you can pick up a card from the stock, the face down cards that haven't been picked yet, or pick up the entire discard pile. You can then make as many melds as you are able to and then discard a card to the discard pile.
You can only take the entire discard pile if you are able to take the top card of the discard pile and meld with it. The discard pile is frozen for you until you or your partner have met the initial meld requirement.
If a wild card is placed on the discard pile, the discard pile is frozen. You can only pick up the discard pile if it is frozen if you have at least 2 natural cards in your hand equal to the rank of the top card.
3s are special cards. Red 3s may never be melded, and will always be automatically removed from your hand and placed in the meld area. Black 3s can only be melded on the last meld before going out (you must hit the "Go Out" button to play these 3s). If you place a black 3 on the discard pile, the next player cannot pick up the discard pile.
Play ends when a player goes out. You can go out only when you and your partner have completed a canasta and you play all your cards into melds; you may discard one last card to empty your hand. Play can also conclude when the stock is empty and you cannot take the discard pile and meld with the top card. Once a player goes out, each team gets the value of all cards in their meld area minus the value of all cards remaining in their hands
