This section covers rule changes made when you are not playing with four people. In each section, rules that are different are given. If a particular rule is not mentioned this is because it is the same as four player canasta.
Two Players
- Players are dealt 15 cards
- At the beginning of the turn, 2 cards are drawn from the stock, but the discard remains 1 card
- A player must have 2 canastas to go out
Three and Five Players
Usually when I play Canasta with three players each player plays for themselves and against the other players. The rules are exactly the same as four person Canasta. However, there are other rules for both three and five players, as suggested by US Playing Card. For three players they suggest playing two against one, but I find their rules confusing so will not attempt to spit them back here. For five players they suggest playing three against two and having one player sit out each hand. This I don't think is very much fun for the player sitting out so again, I won't repeat their rules here. If you are interested in these variations, I would suggest visiting their site.
Six Players
- 3 standard decks plus 6 jokers are used
- Players are dealt 13 cards
- A player must have 2 canastas to go out
- Partnerships are either 2 with 3 players each or 3 with two players each
- Game is played to 7,500 points for 3 partnerships or 10,000 points for 2 partnerships
- If playing with 2 partnerships, once a side reaches 7,500 points the initial meld count must be 150 points
- Bonuses for red 3's: 4=100 points each, 5=1,000 points total,
6=1,200 points total