The goal

Modern American canasta, played by the Canasta League of America rules (the Straight special hand isn't used). Make melds of three or more cards of one rank and build canastas (melds of seven). The first side to reach 8,500 wins; if both pass 8,500 on the same hand, the higher score wins. A Dream hand wins the game at once.

Card values

Canastas

A canasta is closed at seven cards. Once anyone completes a canasta of a rank, that rank is dead: neither side may meld it again, and it can't be used to take the pile.

Melds and wild cards

• Jokers and 2s are wild. A meld needs at least two natural cards and no more than two wild cards.
• A wild card can only be added to a meld that already has five natural cards, except during your side's first meld.
• 7s can never have wild cards. Aces must stay natural unless the wild card was added during your first meld.
• You may meld wild cards on their own (3 to 7 of them). While your wild-card meld is unfinished, you can't put wild cards on any other meld.
• Table option: “going out with two cards and a wild card” lets you meld a natural pair plus one wild card as a new meld, but only on the turn you go out (not with 7s or aces).
• Table option: the host of a Live game (or you, in a Solo game) can turn off the five-natural rule. Then, after your first meld, a wild card can go on any meld, still no more than two per meld, never on 7s, and aces stay natural.

3s

All 3s go face up on the table right away and are replaced from the stock; they are never kept or discarded. Red and black are counted separately: one / two / three / four of a colour = 100 / 300 / 500 / 1,000. With no canasta they're subtracted, with one canasta they count zero, with two or more they're added. If the very last card of the stock is a 3, the hand stops and that 3 stays in the hand (5 points against).

First meld

• Only card values count toward the minimum. The first meld must include a clean triple (three or more natural cards of one rank with no wild cards), or, as a house rule, a meld of wild cards: three to seven 2s and jokers can open on their own when they reach the minimum, including a complete wild canasta.
• House rule: a complete canasta (seven cards, natural, mixed or wild) opens on its own, whatever its point value.
• If you open by taking the pile, its top card doesn't count toward the minimum or the clean triple.
• Talon bonus: if your side opens from the hand with 9 or more cards left in the stock, you draw bonus cards after you discard: 4 for the first side to open, 3 for the second. No bonus once 8 or fewer cards remain, or if you open by taking the pile.
• House rule: if you lay cards down for a first meld and then cancel the opening, or end your turn without a good first meld, they go back to your hand and your side's minimum goes up by 10 for the rest of the hand. It goes up 10 more each time it happens.

Play

• Two decks with four jokers (108 cards). Each player is dealt 13. On your turn, draw one card from the stock or take the pile, meld, then discard one card.
• To take the pile, use its top card right away: with a natural pair of that rank from your hand, or by adding it to your side's meld of that rank. You can't take it if your side's meld of that rank already has five or more cards, if the top card is wild, or if the rank is dead.
• Wild cards may only be discarded when you have nothing else. 7s, wilds, aces and dead cards (SWAD) can't be discarded onto an empty pile.
• To go out, your side needs two canastas. Meld all but one card and discard the last one. You can't go out while your side has an unfinished meld of 7s, natural aces or wild cards.
• Partners: you may ask “Partner, may I go out?” once a hand, and the answer is binding for that turn.
• Each turn has a clock: 60 seconds unless the host picks another length (10 seconds to 3 minutes) or no clock at all. See Table rules at the table. If it runs out, you get the next card if you haven't drawn, unfinished melds go back to your hand, and a random legal card is discarded for you.

Special hands

Table option: the host of a Live game (or you, in a Solo game) can turn special hands off for the whole game; the ★ button is then hidden.

Declare one with the ★ Special hand button after you draw, before your side's first meld (or on your first turn after your partner opens). You lay down all 14 cards with no discard and the hand ends. The other side still scores its hand normally.

Skill levels: the Coastal Rating

Your level is earned by playing well steadily, over time. One great hand, or one bad one, won't change it. There are two numbers behind it: your Rating, which moves a little after every hand, and your Form, which is your Rating averaged over roughly your last 30 hands. Your level follows your Form, plus how many hands and games you've played.

• Starting point. New players start at 1,000, or from how they rated themselves: Learning 850, Casual 1,000, Experienced 1,150, Expert 1,300. Until you've played 10 rated hands, others see your self-rating, marked "self-rated". After that you start at Beginner and work your way up.
• After every hand your Rating moves. How much depends on two things. Who you played: beating a stronger side earns more, losing to a weaker side costs more (a side's rating is the average of its players, and partners share the change). By how much: a hand won by a few points counts as nearly a tie, while a big win counts as a clear win.
• How much it moves. At most 24 points a hand for your first 30 rated hands, 16 up to 100 hands, then 10. The longer you play, the steadier it gets.
• Moving up takes all three of these at once: your Form at the next level's line, enough rated hands, and enough finished games (played all the way to 8,500). You move up one level at a time.

• Keeping your level. Once you've earned a level you keep it unless your Form falls 50 points below its line, and never within 25 hands of moving up. If your Form dips under the line, My account warns you before anything changes.
• Your progress bar shows how close you are to the next level, with a line each for Form, rated hands and games played, so you can see what's still needed.
• What counts. Live hands with at least one other person at the table set your Coastal Rating. A computer in a Live seat counts as a 1,300 (Expert) player, and if you leave and the computer plays your seat, those hands still count when you come back.
• Solo games have their own separate Solo rating on this device, worked out the same way against the computer's skill (Beginner 850, Intermediate 1,050, Expert 1,300). It never affects your Live level.
• Keeping it private. Turn off "Show my skill level to other players" in your stats and others won't see your level, rating or progress at the table or in the lobby. Your rating still counts and you still see it yourself.
• You can always see it. After each hand the summary shows your change (for example "+9, now 1,086"), and My account shows your Rating, Form and progress. Your stats (canastas, average points and more) are shown too, but they don't set your level.

Scoring a hand

• Add canasta bonuses, 3s, 100 for going out, and the value of every card melded. A side with no canasta subtracts its melded cards instead.
• Subtract the value of cards left in hand.
• Penalties: −2,500 for each unfinished meld of 7s or natural aces, −2,000 for an unfinished wild-card meld, and −1,500 for each hand holding three or more aces or three or more 7s.