Usually, the two players facing each other at the table form a team. At the beginning of a game of four, the teams (or alliances) are assigned and persist for all rounds played at the table.

If a wild card or a bonus card appears here, another card is drawn and discarded until this is not the case anymore.

One card is revealed from the stock pile and is now the base of the discard pile. The cards are dealt at the beginning of the game. How many cards are dealt in Canasta varies depending on the number of players: In a game of two, each player receives 15 cards in a game of four, 11 cards. There are eight cards of each rank, for example, eight Kings, eight Threes, etc. Most of the time, Canasta is played with two decks of French playing cards (52 cards each) and four Jokers. And we prepared deeper looks into specific aspects of the game in our Canasta lessons. In addition to this thorough Canasta manual, you can find quick explanations for all terms around playing Canasta in our glossary. Once you gained some experience, you can arrange custom rules to construct the game you enjoy most. Our basic Canasta game rules are perfectly adjusted for novices and make for an easy start. Since a game of Canasta can take a while, we allow setting a limit to the number of rounds.

Our classic Canasta rules are based on the official Canasta rules of the New York Regency Whist Club. Now, let us take a look at how to play Canasta! We offer tables for two and four players. At the Canasta Palace, you can play in real-time with fellow card game enthusiasts from all over the world.

Hearts are wild board game