Card Game Companion

Canasta scorekeeper

An online canasta score sheet that does the arithmetic. Enter each hand, see every line scored, and always know your next initial meld.

Scores stay on this device, so you can close the page between hands. Set Modern American or Classic Canasta below the scores; the calculator, the targets and the initial-meld minimums change with it.

How the calculator scores a hand

Modern American Canasta

  1. Special hand? If the team went out with one, it scores that value and nothing else.
  2. Count the team's canastas: none, one, or two or more. This decides the signs below.
  3. Bonuses (only with at least one canasta): each canasta's bonus, plus 100 for going out.
  4. Penalties for each unfinished meld of natural aces, of sevens, or of wild cards.
  5. Threes: look up the red and the black threes separately and add. Against the team with no canasta, nothing with one, for it with two or more.
  6. Melded cards: add their values, or subtract them if the team has no canasta.
  7. Cards left in hands: subtract their values, plus 1,500 for each player holding three or more aces, and again for three or more sevens.

Game to 8,500. The initial-meld minimum (125, 155 or 180) is shown under each team's score.

Classic Canasta

  1. Canasta bonuses: 500 for each natural canasta, 300 for each mixed one.
  2. Going out: 100, plus another 100 if the player went out concealed.
  3. Red threes: 100 each, 800 for all four; subtract instead if the team melded nothing.
  4. Cards: add the value of every melded card; subtract the cards left in hands.

Game to 5,000. Initial meld 15, 50, 90 or 120 by score.

Card points tip. "Melded cards" means every card on the table, canastas included. A natural canasta of kings is 70 points of cards, of fives 35, of aces 140. Use Count cards to tap them in by value instead of adding in your head.

More canasta tools

Scorekeeper

Counts canastas, threes, penalties and cards for each hand, with running totals.

Initial meld checker

Lay out your melds and see if they reach your minimum.

Modern American rules

The deal, melds, the rule of five, threes, going out and scoring.

Classic Canasta rules

The 1950s game: 11 cards, red threes, the frozen pile, game to 5,000.

Cheat sheet

Card values, bonuses, penalties and minimums on one printable page.

Printable score sheet

A score card for Modern American or Classic Canasta.

Questions people ask

How many points do you need to win canasta?
In Modern American Canasta the common standard is 8,500; in Classic Canasta it is 5,000. The game ends after the hand in which either team (or both) reaches the target, and the higher total wins. Many groups set their own target; you can change it in the scorekeeper.
How much do you need for the initial meld in canasta?
It depends on your team's score before the hand. Modern American: 125 below 3,000 (including negative scores), 155 from 3,000 to 4,995, 180 from 5,000. Classic: 15 if negative, 50 from 0, 90 from 1,500, 120 from 3,000. Only card values count, never bonuses. Check a meld.
How do red threes score?
In Modern American Canasta red and black threes are scored separately from the same table (1: 100, 2: 300, 3: 500, 4: 1,000) and the two results are added. They count for a team with two or more canastas, nothing with one, and against a team with none. In Classic Canasta red threes are 100 each, 800 for all four, and count against a team that melded nothing.