The card words used in these rules
A card's rank is its number or letter: 8, Queen and Ace are ranks. Its suit is spades, hearts, diamonds or clubs. Two Queens have the same rank even when their suits differ. A natural card is being used as itself. A wild card is a 2 or Joker used as a substitute where the rules permit it; it does not become an unrestricted replacement for every purpose.
The stock is the face-down deck in the middle. The discard pile is the face-up stack beside it. Drawing from stock and taking the discard pile are alternative ways to begin a turn. Taking the pile requires a legal use for the visible top card; simply liking the cards you remember underneath is not enough.
A meld is a combination already played on the table. A pair in your hand is not yet a meld. Opening means your team's first accepted melds of the round; going out means legally emptying your cards to finish the round. Those are different milestones. Your partner can open the team for both of you, but neither partner can use cards hidden in the other's hand to qualify an opening.
1. Take your seat
Four players form two partnerships. Each player receives 11 cards from two decks with four jokers (108 cards). Partners share their table melds and score, but keep separate hands. The goal is 5,000 points.
You sit opposite your computer partner. Turns move clockwise. You start the first round at this digital table. The dealer rotates after each round; the player to the dealer's left starts.
2. Draw, meld, discard
Draw one card from the stock, or take an eligible discard pile. You may then put cards on the table or add to your team's melds. Discard one card to end your turn.
To use the controls: select cards, choose a destination, and add a meld to your plan. Prepared groups appear as cards on your side of the table. You can prepare several melds before pressing Play melds. Tap a prepared group to undo it. Planned cards stay in your hand until the server accepts the whole plan.
3. Build your team's melds
A meld contains at least three cards of one rank, including at least two natural cards. Twos and jokers are wild. A meld may contain at most three wild cards. Seven or more cards form a canasta. A natural canasta has no wild cards; a mixed canasta does. You may add cards to a completed canasta. Your team has only one meld per rank.
4. Open with enough points
The first melds your team plays in a round must reach the opening minimum. Count the values of the cards, not canasta bonuses or red threes. Several melds can be played together to reach the total. Once either partner opens, both may add cards freely.
The minimum is 15 with a negative team score, 50 below 1,500, 90 below 3,000, and 120 from 3,000 onward.
5. Take from the discard pile
You take the entire pile. First use its top card in a valid meld. Before your team opens, or while the pile is frozen, you need two natural cards of that rank in your hand. The top card may count toward your opening minimum; buried cards may not.
An unfrozen pile can also be taken with one matching natural card and one wild card, or by adding the top card to your team's existing meld. A discarded wild card freezes the pile until it is taken. An initial face-up wild card or red three also freezes it.
You cannot pick up when a wild card or black three is on top. Choose your existing meld as the destination when appropriate; otherwise prepare the matching cards and use Take pile.
6. Handle the threes
Red threes are laid out automatically and replaced from stock. A red three found inside a picked-up discard pile is laid out without replacement. Each red three is worth 100 if your team has opened; all four are worth 800. If your team never melds, these become penalties. Black threes block the next pickup but do not freeze the pile. A group of three or four black threes, without wild cards, is allowed only when going out.
7. Finish the round
Your team needs at least one canasta to go out. You may meld every card or keep one final discard. Without a canasta, retain at least two cards before discarding. You may ask your partner before making additional melds; the answer is binding. Computer partners agree at this table. Prepare your final meld plan and select any last discard, then use Ask partner & finish round. With no plan, this button looks for a complete legal finish for you.
A stock draw that cannot be made ends the round. Eligible discard pickups may keep play going after the stock is empty.
With an empty stock, an unfrozen discard that matches your team's existing meld must be taken. Drawing a red three as the last stock card ends play immediately. Going out in one concealed play with a canasta earns an extra 100 points; see the scoring page.
Worked opening: two groups at once
Suppose your opening minimum is 90. Three natural Aces contribute 60 card points and three natural Kings contribute 30. Together they reach 90; neither group reaches it alone. Select the Aces and press Add meld. Select the Kings and press Add meld again. Both groups appear as cards on your side of the table. Press Play melds to submit them together.
Keep enough cards to finish the turn legally. Reaching the opening minimum is not permission to empty your hand before your team's going-out requirements are met. Canasta bonuses and red-three bonuses do not count toward that minimum. Once your team has opened, both partners may add eligible cards to its melds.
Can I play a run, or a group made only of wild cards?
Neither is a legal Classic Canasta meld at this table. A 7, 8 and 9 of hearts look like a sequence, but Classic uses matching ranks. Three 8s of different suits work; three Jokers alone do not. A group of two 8s and one Joker can work because it includes two natural 8s. Adding a fourth wild card to that rank would exceed the limit, even if the meld already contains many natural cards.
A canasta is a seven-card milestone inside a matching-rank meld. Completing it does not mean the game has ended or that the meld disappears. Your team can add more cards of that rank. The combination still earns one canasta bonus, not another bonus for each additional seven cards. Turning a natural canasta into a mixed one changes its bonus, so check whether using a wild card there is worthwhile.
What does the first partnership game look like?
Suppose your partner opens with three Aces and keeps cards in hand. Your team is now open. On your next turn, after drawing, you may add an Ace to that shared meld without personally reaching the opening minimum again. You may also start a different legal rank. The opponents' opening does not open your team, and you cannot add to their melds.
Later, your team completes a canasta. You may now plan a legal finish, but you do not have to end the round immediately. Your partner may still hold valuable cards. At a physical table, agree on how you ask permission before making a binding request. At this digital table the computer partner agrees, and Ask partner & finish round validates the full finish together.
What should a home group agree before the deal?
Confirm that you are playing four-player Classic Canasta with two decks, 11 cards each, a 5,000-point target and the discard restrictions described here. Other games use the Canasta name with different requirements for Aces, wild cards or going out. Do not combine those requirements with this guide halfway through a round.
Use the scoring page when the question is how many points to write down. Use the discard-pile guide when the question is whether a particular pickup is legal. Keeping those questions separate makes it easier to resolve a disagreement without restarting the whole explanation of the game.