Canasta is a melding game played with two standard decks plus four jokers – 108 cards in all. Two players play head to head, or four play in partnerships, where you and your partner combine your melds and score as one side.

On your turn you draw from the stock, or take the whole discard pile if you can use its top card. You may then meld cards of the same rank face up on the table, and you end your turn by discarding one card. A meld of seven or more cards is a canasta, and completing them is the heart of the game.

A hand ends when a player goes out by getting rid of all their cards – which their side may only do once it has a completed canasta – or once the stock is exhausted and a player cannot continue from the discard pile. Sides score for their canastas, red threes and melded cards, and lose points for the cards left in their hands. The game ends once a side reaches 5,000 points, and the higher total wins.

Classic Canasta is a game for two or four players using two standard decks plus four jokers – 108 cards. With four players you play in partnerships: you and your partner sit opposite each other and share one set of melds and one score.

The aim of the game is to score more points than the other side. In a full game, hands are played until one side reaches 5,000 points. In a Quick Game a single hand is played and the highest score wins (see Settings).

At the end of each hand both sides score: bonuses for canastas, red threes and going out, plus the value of every card they melded, minus the value of every card left in their hands. All the values and bonuses are listed under Scoring below.

The initial dealer is chosen at random and then moves clockwise around the players for each hand. With two players each receives 15 cards; with four players each receives 11. Any red three dealt to you is laid out beside your melds automatically and you are dealt a replacement card.

The next card is turned face up to start the discard pile. If it is a wild card or a red three, another card is turned on top of it – and the buried card freezes the pile from the start of the hand. The player to the dealer's left takes the first turn.

Start your turn by drawing the top card of the stock, or by taking the entire discard pile – which is only allowed if you can immediately use its top card in a meld (see Taking the discard pile). In a two-player game with "draw two cards" on, you draw two cards from the stock but still discard only one.

You may then meld and lay off as much as you wish, subject to the opening minimum (see Melding). End your turn by discarding a single card onto the pile. Discarding a wild card freezes the pile for as long as the wild remains in it – until the pile is taken; discarding a black three blocks the pile for the next player only.

Once the stock runs out, play continues only for as long as each player in turn can take the discard pile and use its top card. The moment a player cannot, the hand ends with nobody going out, and both sides simply score what they have.

A meld is three or more cards of the same rank. Wild cards may fill in, but a meld may never contain more wild cards than natural cards, and never more than three wilds in total. Your side may only have one meld of each rank – further cards of that rank are added to it. You may lay off onto your own side's melds whenever it is your turn, but never onto your opponents'.

Your side's first melds of the hand must together add up to a minimum number of card points, which rises with your score (see the table under Scoring). Only the printed card values count towards the minimum – red three and canasta bonuses do not. If you take the discard pile before your side has opened, the taken cards wait beside the table until your melds reach the minimum, and your turn cannot end until they do.

A meld of seven or more cards is a canasta: 500 bonus points for a natural canasta with no wild cards, 300 for a mixed one. A canasta can keep growing after it is complete, and its cards still count their face values.

Black threes are the one exception to all of this: they may only be melded as a pure set of three or four, never with wild cards, and only on the turn you go out.

The discard pile is always taken as a whole, and its top card must be used at once: either laid off onto a meld your side already has, or melded with at least two cards from your hand. The rest of the pile then joins your hand.

The pile is frozen against your side until it has made its opening meld, and frozen against everyone while it contains a wild card or a red three – the pile wears a frost marker while it is. A frozen pile can only be taken with a natural pair from your hand matching its top card, melded immediately with it.

A wild card or red three on top of the pile means it cannot be taken at all that turn. A black three on top blocks the pile only while it shows – once covered it has no further effect.

Red threes are bonus cards, not playing cards. Whenever you are dealt or draw one it is laid out beside your side's melds automatically and you receive a replacement card from the stock. Red threes in a taken discard pile are laid out in the same way.

Each red three is worth 100 points, and holding all four is worth 800. The bonus counts for your side if it has melded by the end of the hand – and against it if it has not.

You go out by getting rid of every card in your hand – either melding them all, or melding all but one and discarding it. Your side must have a completed canasta to go out; completing one with the very cards you go out with counts. In a two-player game with "two canastas to go out" on, your side needs two.

Going out earns a 100 point bonus. Going out concealed – laying down your whole hand in one turn, including a canasta, without having melded earlier in the hand – earns 200 instead.

In a four-player game with "ask permission" on, you may ask your partner "may I go out?" before committing. Asking is optional, but the answer is binding for the rest of your turn (see Your partner).

In a four-player game you and the player opposite are one side. Your melds sit together on your half of the table, either of you may lay off onto any of them, and the side scores as one – so the card that finishes your partner's canasta is worth every bit as much as one that finishes your own. Your partner plays for the side in the same way: building the canastas the side still needs, keeping the opening minimum within reach while the side is closed, and holding back a discard the opponents would be glad to see.

Your partner always plays at its strongest, whatever the difficulty setting. The setting decides how well your opponents play – a partner who forgot half the table would only make the game harder for you.

With "ask permission" on, either of you may put the question "may I go out?". Your ask button appears once you have drawn and could go out; melding or laying off first closes the window for that turn, so ask before you start putting cards down. The answer arrives in a speech bubble and binds you for the rest of the turn: yes obliges you to go out, no forbids it.

A no does not mean "not this hand". It means "give me one turn" – your partner has something worth doing first: a canasta it can finish, or cards it would be caught holding and can put down. It will use its next turn on exactly that, and will normally say yes if you ask again on your following turn.

When your partner asks you, the question waits: there is no timer and no default answer, and the bubble tells you how many cards they are holding. Say yes when ending the hand now suits the side. Say no only when your own next turn is genuinely worth it – a canasta you can finish, or a heavy hand you can actually lay off – and then use that turn to do exactly that, so your partner can close on the one after.

At the end of each hand, each side adds up its bonuses and the value of every card it melded, then subtracts the value of every card left in its players' hands. Card values:

Bonuses:

Red three bonuses count against a side that has not melded by the end of the hand. The minimum your side's opening meld must reach depends on its score at the start of the hand:

A full game ends with the hand in which a side reaches 5,000 points. Both sides can cross the target in the same hand – the higher total wins, and a tie is shared. In a Quick Game a single hand is played and the highest score wins.

Choose from the following settings (defaults shown in italics):

Sound — On, off.

Speed — Normal, fast.

Orientation — Portrait, landscape left, landscape right or landscape free.

Card sort order — Ascending, descending.

AI level — Easy, medium or hard.

Game type — Full game or quick game. In a full game, hands are played until one side reaches 5,000 points; in a quick game a single hand is played and the highest score wins.

Number of players — 2 or 4. Four players play in partnerships; two play head to head.

Two canastas to go out — On, off. The official two-player rule: your side needs two canastas before it can go out. Two-player games only.

Draw two cards — On, off. The official two-player draw: take two cards from the stock, and still discard one. Two-player games only.

Ask permission — On, off. A player who can go out may ask their partner first, and the answer is binding. Four-player games only.

Pile always frozen — Off, on. When on, the discard pile is frozen for the whole hand: taking it always needs a natural pair from your hand matching its top card.

Replays — On, off. This setting determines whether a replay is available to the player at the end of the hand.

Cards — Modern, classic or coppercod.

Deck — Choose from 32 different deck designs.

Mobile cards — Off or on. Mobile cards are thinner with larger numbers, and are on by default on phones.

Theme — Blue, green, merlot, dark red, light blue, black, purple, teal, pink, orange, dark blue, dark green, charcoal, tobacco, stone, indigo, olive or celeste.

Suit colors — Standard, classic four-color, tournament, heirloom or high visibility. Choose the color palette used for the card suits. Standard uses two colors; the others use four for improved readability.

Home screen:

From the home screen you can access the following options:

• Start new game
• Continue game: if there is a game in progress it can be continued
• Settings (cog icon, bottom left)
• How to Play (question mark icon, bottom right)
• Stats (trophy icon, top left)
• Sound: Tap the speaker icon at the top right of the home screen to toggle between sound on and off

Your cards are displayed face up at the bottom of the screen, grouped by rank. In a two-player game your opponent sits at the top of the screen; with four players your partner sits at the top and your opponents to the left and right. Each side's melds are laid out on its half of the table, with red threes in their own column. Your side's meld panel counts your canastas and, before your side has opened, shows how far your melds have got towards the opening minimum.

The stock and discard pile sit in the middle. The stock wears a badge showing how many cards are left, which changes colour as the stock runs low, and the discard pile shows a count once it grows deep. A frozen pile wears a frost marker, and a black three on top of the pile wears a BLOCKED chip until it is covered. A soft glow shows what your turn is waiting for: both piles when you may draw or take the pile, and the discard pile when a discard is due.

Tap cards in your hand to select them, and press and hold a card to select every card of that rank at once. To draw, tap the stock. To meld, select your cards and tap your meld area – or tap one of your melds to lay off onto it. A selection of nothing but wild cards must name its meld by tapping it. To take the discard pile, tap its top card to select it along with the cards from your hand that use it, then meld as normal. To discard, select a single card and tap the discard pile. If a move is refused, a short message explains the rule that blocked it.

The reset button appears once you have laid something down this turn, and takes your whole turn back to its start. In a four-player game with "ask permission" on, an ask button appears when you could go out, and your partner's answer is shown in a speech bubble – and is binding for the rest of your turn.

When a player goes out, the other hands are turned face up and both sides' points are revealed. The scoreboard then shows each side's scores for the hand, followed by the running totals for the game. From here you can choose Continue or Home. When a side reaches 5,000 points a trophy is displayed next to its score and the game ends. From here you can choose New game or Home.

Coppercod thanks you for playing Classic Canasta!