Classic Canasta is a single hand version of Canasta. It is the version that most of the variants are based off of. Classic Canasta is most often played with 4 people in two partnerships, but can really be played with any number of players between 2 and 6 with a few minor changes to the rules. Since I have never played Classic Canasta myself (I am more of a Hand and Foot Player) I used the rules found on the US Playing Card website as my frame of reference. I have however, relaxed the tone and some of the rules a bit as they give the "official" strict rules, which most everyone doesn't follow to the strict letter. If you are interest in seeing the US Playing Card full version, please visit the External Links page, where I have given all of the sources used on this site or just other Canasta sites that I thought might be of interest.
The object of Canasta is to form melds, sets of three or more cards of the same rank. Canasta can be played with between two and six players. However, the most common form of Canasta is four players in two partnerships. The rules given in the following pages are the standard rules for four players, with variations for different number of players given at the end.