Canasta Rules

Scoring: Card Values and Bonuses

The cards have the following point values:

Canasta Card Rules for Two Players

• 15 cards are dealt to each player (rather than 11 each).
• When drawing from the stock you draw the top two cards. At the end of a player’s turn only one card is discarded as usual.

The following bonuses are awarded:

• A mixed canasta is worth 300 points, a natural canasta 500 points.
• The player that goes out first gets a bonus of 100 points. If this player had no cards (except Red Threes) on the table directly before going out (‘goes out concealed’), this bonus is doubled to 200 points.
• If a player has all four Red Threes on the table, their score of 400 points is doubled to 800 points.
• If a player goes out and his opponent has melded nothing but Red Threes, the value of those Red Threes is deducted from his opponent’s score along with the point value in their hand.

Total Score

At the end of a hand, the total score is calculated as follows:

1. The sum of the values of the cards on the table forms the initial score value.
2. Bonuses for canastas, going out and Red Threes are added to the score.
3. The values of the cards in hand are deducted from the score.