Canasta Score Sheet With the Bonuses and Red Threes Worked Out

Type each hand's bonuses, red threes and card points and the total runs to 5,000, or press Print blank sheet.

Canasta Score Sheet

Classic game to 5,000

Classic game to 5,000: a column for each side. Totals fill in as scores are typed.
Side 1
Side 2
Side 3
Canasta hand 1Canasta points (500 natural, 300 mixed) plus red threes (100 each, 800 for all 4, taken off if typed with a minus sign) plus 100 for going out or 200 concealed, plus the card points.
Canasta hand 2
Canasta hand 3
Canasta hand 4
Canasta hand 5
Canasta hand 6
Canasta hand 7
Canasta hand 8
Canasta hand 9
Canasta hand 10
Canasta hand 11
Canasta hand 12
Canasta game total, first to 5,000All hands so far

Type a score and the totals fill in. Highest total wins. First to 5,000 wins.

Scoring key

Natural canasta, no wild cards 500
Seven or more cards of one rank. Both canasta bonuses come on top of the value of the cards inside.
Mixed canasta, one to three wild cards 300
A meld needs at least two natural cards and takes at most three wild cards.
Going out, or going out concealed 100 or 200
100 for going out. Going out concealed earns an extra 100, which makes 200.
Red threes: 100 each, 800 for all four 100 / 800
They count for your side only if it has made at least one meld. With no meld they count against you: minus 100 each, minus 800 for all four. Some rule sets also charge 500 for a red three still held in hand at the end.
Opening meld when your score is below 0 15
Any legal meld will do, because any three cards come to 15 or more.
Opening meld with a score of 0 to 1,495 50
Count card values only. Canasta bonuses and red threes never count toward the opening meld.
Opening meld with a score of 1,500 to 2,995 90
The requirement follows your own total before the deal, so the two sides can need different amounts in the same hand.
Opening meld with a score of 3,000 or more 120
The highest step of the classic game.
Canasta card values, joker down to four 50/20/10/5
Joker 50. Ace or two 20. King, queen, jack, ten, nine or eight 10. Seven, six, five or four 5. A black three is 5.
Classic game ends at 5,000 5,000
Finish and score the hand. If both sides pass 5,000 the higher total wins, and the margin is the difference between the totals.
Two or three players: draw two cards
Two players get 15 cards each, draw two and discard one, and need two canastas to go out. Three players get 13 cards each and also draw two, and one widely played three-hand version runs to 7,500.
Asked to go out, then could not −100
A player who asks a partner for permission to go out and then cannot do it costs the side 100.

How each row scores

Canasta hand
Canasta points (500 natural, 300 mixed) plus red threes (100 each, 800 for all 4, taken off if typed with a minus sign) plus 100 for going out or 200 concealed, plus the card points.
Canasta game total, first to 5,000
All hands so far

Names and scores stay in this browser. New game clears the scores.

Next step More decks: hand and foot sheetThree packs and runs: samba

All 35 lines

Game sheet: one row per hand, to 5,000 2

  • Canasta game total, first to 5,000 Every hand so far added together. The first side to reach 5,000 is marked, and the hand in play is always finished and scored.
  • Canasta hand One row per hand. Type the canasta bonus points, the number of red threes, 100 or 200 if your side went out, and the card points: cards melded minus cards left in hand. Only the card points box has to be filled.

Count one hand: the base score 5

  • Base score: canastas, red threes, going out The bonus half of a canasta hand, added up before any card is counted.
  • Going out bonus (100, or 200 concealed) The side that goes out takes 100. Going out concealed, with the whole hand melded in one turn, is 200 in total. The other side types 0.
  • Mixed canastas (300 each) Type how many your side finished. A mixed canasta is seven or more cards of one rank with one, two or three wild cards among them.
  • Natural canastas (500 each) Type how many your side finished. A natural canasta is seven or more cards of one rank with no wild card in it.
  • Red threes laid on the table Each red three is 100 and all four are 800, never 400. If your side made no meld at all in the hand, the same amount counts against you, so type it with a minus sign.
Show all 35 lines (28 more)

Count one hand: the card points 7

  • Aces and twos melded (20 each) Count every ace and every two on the table in front of your side. A two is wild and still worth 20.
  • Canasta hand total: base plus card points The number that goes on the game sheet for this hand: base score plus melded card points, minus the cards left in hand.
  • Card points left in hand (taken off) Add up the cards your side still holds at the same values and type the total as a plain number. The sheet subtracts it.
  • Card points melded on the table The card values of everything your side melded. Cards inside a canasta count here as well as earning the canasta bonus.
  • Jokers melded (50 each) Count the jokers in your melds, canastas included. The pack has four.
  • Kings down to eights melded (10 each) Count the kings, queens, jacks, tens, nines and eights in your melds.
  • Sevens to fours, black threes melded (5 each) Count the sevens, sixes, fives and fours in your melds, plus any black threes melded on the turn your side went out.

Modern American canasta, to 8,500 2

  • American canasta hand One row per hand of Modern American canasta. Work out the hand from the key below, bonuses plus card count less penalties, and type the result. It can be negative.
  • American game total, first to 8,500 Every American hand so far added together. Whichever side gets to 8,500 first is marked.

Scoring key 19

  • American game ends at 8,500 Each player is dealt thirteen cards, and the first side at 8,500 or more wins.
  • American: canasta bonuses Mixed 300. Pure 500. Sevens, or pure aces, 2,500. Twos 3,000. All four jokers with three twos 2,500. Any other wild card canasta 2,000.
  • American: end-of-hand penalties A sevens meld or a pure aces meld of fewer than seven cards costs 2,500. An unfinished wild card meld costs 2,000, or 2,500 with all four jokers in it. Three or more sevens, or three or more aces, left in one hand cost 1,500.
  • American: going out needs two canastas The bonus for going out is 100, and the player must discard a last card.
  • American: opening meld by score Below 3,000 you need 125, from 3,000 to 4,995 you need 155, and from 5,000 up you need 180. A negative score still needs 125.
  • American: special hands A straight scores 3,000, pairs without wild cards 2,500, pairs with twos, sevens and aces 2,000 and a garbage hand 2,000. The side scores the special hand and nothing else.
  • American: threes, counted by colour One three of a colour is 100, two are 300, three are 500 and four are 1,000, red and black counted apart. With no canasta the total is a penalty, with one canasta it scores nothing, and with two or more it is a bonus.
  • Asked to go out, then could not A player who asks a partner for permission to go out and then cannot do it costs the side 100.
  • Canasta card values, joker down to four Joker 50. Ace or two 20. King, queen, jack, ten, nine or eight 10. Seven, six, five or four 5. A black three is 5.
  • Classic game ends at 5,000 Finish and score the hand. If both sides pass 5,000 the higher total wins, and the margin is the difference between the totals.
  • Going out, or going out concealed 100 for going out. Going out concealed earns an extra 100, which makes 200.
  • Mixed canasta, one to three wild cards A meld needs at least two natural cards and takes at most three wild cards.
  • Natural canasta, no wild cards Seven or more cards of one rank. Both canasta bonuses come on top of the value of the cards inside.
  • Opening meld when your score is below 0 Any legal meld will do, because any three cards come to 15 or more.
  • Opening meld with a score of 0 to 1,495 Count card values only. Canasta bonuses and red threes never count toward the opening meld.
  • Opening meld with a score of 1,500 to 2,995 The requirement follows your own total before the deal, so the two sides can need different amounts in the same hand.
  • Opening meld with a score of 3,000 or more The highest step of the classic game.
  • Red threes: 100 each, 800 for all four They count for your side only if it has made at least one meld. With no meld they count against you: minus 100 each, minus 800 for all four. Some rule sets also charge 500 for a red three still held in hand at the end.
  • Two or three players: draw two cards Two players get 15 cards each, draw two and discard one, and need two canastas to go out. Three players get 13 cards each and also draw two, and one widely played three-hand version runs to 7,500.

How this list was compiled: Written for this site. Classic canasta: the card values (joker 50, ace and two 20, king to eight 10, seven to four and black three 5), the opening meld steps (15, 50, 90, 120), 500 and 300 for natural and mixed canastas, 100 for going out and 200 concealed, red threes at 100 each and 800 for all four, counted against a side with no meld, cards left in hand subtracted, the game to 5,000 and the two-player and three-player deals were checked on 2026-09-18 and again on 2026-09-19 against https://www.pagat.com/rummy/canasta.html and https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Canasta. The 500 for a red three held in hand and the 100 penalty for asking to go out and failing are in the Wikipedia article only. Modern American canasta (8,500, opening melds of 125, 155 and 180, the canasta bonuses, threes, penalties and special hands) is from the same pagat.com page. The list of possible canasta bonus totals and the 1,180 card points in the pack were computed. Ponytail canasta is not covered: no value for it could be checked against either source. Licence: own work

How it works

This canasta score sheet keeps a classic game to 5,000 one hand at a time. Type your canasta bonuses, your red threes, 100 or 200 for going out, and your card points. The sheet adds the hand, keeps a running total for each side and marks the first to reach 5,000.

Read the full guide

Score a hand in four small boxes

Partners share a column. Press the + after the last column for a third. When a hand ends, fill its row. Canasta pts takes your bonus total: 500 for each natural canasta, 300 for each mixed. Red 3s takes a count, and the sheet turns four of them into 800. Card pts is what you melded minus what you were caught holding, so it can be negative. A bonus no table can score, such as 400 or 700, is flagged and still kept.

The opening meld and the red three trap

Your opening meld depends on your own total before the deal: 50 points of cards up to 1,495, 90 from 1,500 and 120 from 3,000. Bonuses never count toward it, so a natural canasta of fives is 35, not 535. Red threes are worth 100 each once your side has melded. If the hand ends before you meld anything, they count against you: type -2 for two and the sheet takes 200 off.

  • Print blank sheet gives a printable canasta score sheet on Letter or A4, with the opening meld table in the key.
  • In the Sheet list, Count one hand, line by line counts canastas and melded cards by rank, then subtracts what was left in hand.
  • Modern American game to 8,500 has its own key: opening melds of 125, 155 and 180, and 2,500 for a canasta of sevens.

Questions and answers

Do the cards inside a canasta count as well as the bonus?

Yes. The 500 or 300 comes on top of the cards. Seven kings in a natural canasta make 500 plus 70 in card points. Put 500 in Canasta pts and count the 70 with your other melded cards.

Does this work as a ponytail canasta score sheet?

Only as a ledger. Ponytail canasta's bonus values could not be checked against a reliable source, so the key leaves them out. Pick Modern American game to 8,500 in the Sheet list, score each hand from your group's rule card and type the result.

What changes with two or three players?

Everyone plays alone. Two players get 15 cards each, draw two cards a turn, discard one and need two canastas to go out. Three players get 13 cards each and also draw two. Scoring is unchanged, though one widely played three-hand version runs to 7,500.

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