Score & Play

Canasta Score Sheet

Hand by hand to five thousand, with the whole point table printed on the sheet. Negative hands allowed, because in this game they happen.

Players

Winner

Pages

Paper

Each cell takes the melds + bonuses − cards left. Scores stay on this device and survive a reload. For a PDF, pick Save as PDF in the print dialog.

Hand
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2
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8
Total	0of 5,000	0of 5,000	0of 5,000	0of 5,000

Canasta

Melds + bonuses − cards left

Hand	Player	Player	Player	Player	Player	Player
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2
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5
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Total

▸ Highest total wins · to 5,000

How it scores

A hand scores the melded cards plus the bonuses, minus whatever is still in hand. A hand can come out negative.
Card values: jokers 50, aces and twos 20, K Q J 10 9 8 ten each, 7 6 5 4 and black threes five each.
Canastas: 500 for a natural one (no wild cards), 300 for a mixed one.
Red threes are 100 each, and all four together are 800 rather than 400. Held in hand at the end they count against you instead.
Going out is 100, and going out concealed — no melds down beforehand — is 200.
First side to 5,000 ends the game, and the higher total wins. This is the one sheet here where the big numbers are the good ones.

playnook.io/tools/canasta-score-sheetFree to print · free to copy · no sign-up

What is on the Canasta score sheet?

A Canasta score sheet with seven hands listed down the side, two team columns marked We and They including two negative hands, and the running totals underneath

Two columns for partnership play, up to six for a table playing singles. Type each hand’s total and the running score keeps itself, with the leader marked in amber.

The reason a Canasta sheet is worth more than a blank grid is the point table, and it is printed on every page: what a canasta is worth, what the red threes do, and what going out adds. Nobody has to go and find the rulebook mid-hand.

How do you score Canasta? The full point table

Canasta point table in two columns. Cards: joker 50, ace and two 20, K Q J 10 9 8 ten each, 7 6 5 4 and black three five each. Bonuses: natural canasta 500, mixed canasta 300, each red three 100, all four red threes 800, going out 100, going out concealed 200.

Cards. Jokers 50. Aces and twos 20. Kings, queens, jacks, tens, nines and eights 10. Sevens, sixes, fives, fours and the black threes 5.

Canastas. A natural canasta — seven of a rank, no wild cards — is 500. A mixed one, with wild cards in it, is 300.

Red threes. 100 each if your side has melded, and 800 for all four rather than 400, because the set carries a bonus. Held in hand at the end of the game they count against you at the same rate.

Going out. 100, or 200 concealed — meaning you put nothing down at all before laying your whole hand in one go.

Can a Canasta hand score a negative number?

A hand’s score is everything you melded, plus your bonuses, minus every card still in your hand when somebody goes out. Get caught with a full hand and nothing on the table and the arithmetic goes below zero — which is normal, not an error, and the sheet accepts the minus sign without complaint.

This is what separates Canasta from the other sheets here. In Hearts the small totals win and nothing is ever negative; here the big totals win and a bad hand costs you real ground.

How many points do you play to in Canasta?

The game ends after the hand in which a side reaches 5,000, and the higher total wins — not necessarily the side that got there first, since both scores are counted at the end of that hand.

Tables playing Modern American Canasta use a different set of bonuses and a different target. This sheet carries the classic numbers; if your table plays otherwise, the boxes take whatever you type.

How to print a blank Canasta score sheet

Choose Blank sheets and print one, two or three pages, on A4 or US Letter. Every sheet carries fourteen hands, six columns and the point table underneath, so whoever keeps score does not have to be the one who knows the game.

Canasta scoring: questions people ask

What is a canasta worth? 500 for a natural one — seven cards of a rank with no wild cards in it — and 300 for a mixed one that uses wild cards. A canasta made entirely of wild cards is a house rule, not part of classic scoring.

How much are the cards themselves? Jokers 50. Aces and twos 20 each. Kings, queens, jacks, tens, nines and eights 10 each. Sevens, sixes, fives, fours and black threes 5 each. These count for you when melded and against you when left in hand.

What are red threes worth? 100 each, provided your side has made a meld. All four together are 800 rather than 400, because the fourth one carries a 400 bonus. If your side never melds, they count against you instead.

Can a hand score less than nothing? Yes, and this sheet takes negative numbers. A side that ends a hand with cards still in hand and little on the table finishes the hand below zero — type the minus sign and the totals handle it.

How do I work out one hand's score? Everything melded, plus the bonuses — canastas, red threes, 100 for going out or 200 for going out concealed — minus the value of every card still in hand. That single number goes in the box.

Does the highest or lowest total win? The highest, which makes this the one sheet here where big numbers are good. The game ends when a side passes 5,000; the sheet marks the leader in amber.

Playing something else tonight? There are score sheets for Rummy, Hearts, Spades and Five Crowns here too.