Play Canasta – Rules for two players

Standard set of ruling are still followed for 2 player canasta except for the following modifications:

• 15 cards are given to each player

• When drawing from the stock you draw the top two cards and after a player’s turn only one card is discarded as usual.

• Two canastas are needed to go out.

• In four-player game, same rules apply. The aim is to reach 5000 points; after a player(s) reaches or exceeds these score, player with the higher score wins the game.

• To play canasta for two players; when only one card remains in the stock pile, the player who draws it is considered to have made a complete draw and should complete that turn as though two cards had been drawn.

• If however, a player draws a red three during the last two cards of the stock pile, obviously, there is no replacement card that can be taken, thus, treated as a one-card draw.

• A player who draws a red three as the last card of the stock pile may neither meld nor discard the last card drawn, the hand then ends immediately. Same rules apply in the unusual case where a player draws two red threes as the last two cards.

These are the rule alterations for 2 player canasta.