Canasta rules

Canasta for Two Players

Canasta is usually a game for four, but it makes a great head-to-head game for two. You play the same classic rules with three small changes: a bigger deal, a two-card draw and a tougher test for going out.

This page covers only what is different. For melds, wild cards, freezing the pile and the rest, see how to play Canasta.

What changes with two players

Everything else stays the same: the cards, the point values, the first-meld minimums, the canasta bonuses and the red threes.

What you need

• Two players, sitting across from each other.
• The usual Canasta pack: two standard decks plus four jokers, 108 cards in all.
• Pen and paper, or our free scorekeeper.

You do not need fewer cards for two players. The full pack keeps the stock deep enough for the two-card draw. More on pack sizes in how many decks you need.

The deal

1. Deal 15 cards to each player, one at a time.
2. Put the rest face down as the stock and turn the top card face up to start the discard pile.
3. If the upcard is a wild card or a red three, turn up another one on top, just as in the four-player game. The pile then starts frozen.

The non-dealer plays first. The deal alternates after each hand.

Your turn

1. Draw two cards from the top of the stock, or take the discard pile if you are allowed to. Taking the pile replaces your draw. You do not also draw from the stock.
2. Meld if you want to.
3. Discard one card.

Because you draw two and throw away one, your hand tends to grow during a hand. That is on purpose. It gives you enough material to build the two canastas you need.

If you draw a red three, lay it face up in front of you and draw a replacement. Red threes dealt to you go down at your first turn, again with a replacement each.

Melds and the first meld

All the meld rules from the four-player game apply. Each meld needs at least two natural cards and no more than three wild cards. You can have only one meld of each rank.

Your first meld of each hand must reach the usual minimum, based on your own score so far:

Until you have made that first meld, the discard pile is frozen for you. To take it, you need a natural pair matching the top card.

Going out: two canastas

This is the biggest change. In the two-player game you need two canastas on the table before you may go out. You may finish the second one on your going-out turn.

Until you have both, you must keep at least one card in your hand at the end of every turn.

There is no partner to ask, so the "May I go out?" question does not apply. You simply go out when you are ready.

Going out is worth the usual 100 points. If you meld your whole hand in one turn, having melded nothing earlier in the hand, you go out concealed for 200 in total. With two canastas needed, that is rare.

When the stock runs low

The two-card draw raises a small question at the end of the stock: what if only one card is left? Pagat's rules say you take that single card and treat it as your full draw. You then meld and discard as normal.

If a red three turns up among the last cards, there is nothing to replace it with. You lay it down, and if it was your only card drawn, the hand ends.

Once the stock is gone, the usual end-of-stock rules apply. Play goes on only while each player takes the other's discard and melds it, and you must take a discard that fits one of your melds if the pile is not frozen. As soon as a player would have to draw from the stock, the hand ends.

Scoring

Scoring is exactly the same as in partnership Canasta. You just keep two scores instead of two team scores. At the end of each hand you add:

• 500 for each natural canasta and 300 for each mixed canasta,
• 100 for each red three (800 for all four), if you melded something this hand,
• 100 for going out (200 if concealed),
• plus the value of your melded cards, minus the value of cards left in your hand.

If you never melded in a hand, your red threes count against you instead. The first player to reach 5,000 at the end of a hand wins. If you both pass it in the same hand, the higher score wins.

With 15-card hands and two canastas required, two-player hands often run longer and score higher than four-player ones. Card values and bonuses are explained in full on our Canasta scoring page.

Where rule books disagree

The version above is the one given by Pagat.com, Wikipedia and the card maker Denexa. They all agree on 15 cards, draw two, and two canastas to go out. A few other versions exist:

• Draw one, one canasta. Some rule sheets, including one from the British playing-card makers' guild, keep the 15-card deal but use a one-card draw and require only one canasta. The game moves more slowly and the stock lasts longer.
• Four-player rules, straight. You can also simply deal 11 each and play the normal rules. It works, but hands tend to end quickly.
• Black threes at 50. One variant on Pagat values black threes at 50 points rather than 5, which makes getting stuck with them much more costly.

Any of these is fine, as long as you both agree before the first deal.

A few tips for head-to-head play

With only one opponent, every card you discard goes straight to the person you are playing against. That changes the feel of the game a little.

• Watch their discards closely. You only have one player to read, so their throwaways tell you a lot about what they are not collecting.
• The pile matters even more. Every pile you take is one your only opponent cannot have. When it gets big, it can decide the hand.
• Plan for two canastas. Do not pour all your wild cards into the first one. You will want some for the second.

Our Canasta strategy tips cover discards, freezing and timing in more depth. Playing with three? See Canasta for three players.

Setting up the scorekeeper

Our scorekeeper works for two-player Canasta with no special settings:

1. Choose Canasta and 2 teams.
2. Treat each player as a team. Tap the team names and type your own names instead.
3. Leave the target at 5,000.

Scoring values are the same as the four-player game, so there is nothing else to change. The scorekeeper adds up your points. It does not check how many canastas you have, so keeping track of the two-canasta rule is up to you. If you play one of the variants above with different values, such as black threes at 50, open House rules and change them there. Card values set there are used by the count cards helper; if you type point totals in yourself, count them at your values.