A player may go out by melding, laying off, or discarding the last card from in hand, provided that the partnership has made at least one canasta. Before going out, a player has the option of asking his partner’s permission. If permission is asked, the player must abide by the response (which must be a simple yes or no answer). A player cannot go out if, after the draw, he holds two black 3s and nothing else. With just one black 3, he could go out by discarding it. With three or four black 3s, he could go out by melding them; wild cards may not be included in such a meld. If a player holds just one card in hand and the discard deck also consists of just one card, he cannot go out by taking the deck. There is a bonus for going out “concealed”—that is, by going out (with or without a discard) without having previously made any melds or layoffs other than red 3s; the hand must consist entirely of melds, of which at least one must be a canasta.

The stock rarely ends before anyone goes out. If the last card drawn is a red 3, it automatically ends the game, although the player drawing it may first meld and lay off. (That player may not discard.) If it is not a red 3, play continues without a stock. Each player in turn then takes the upcard if it can be melded or layed off and ends the turn by discarding or melding out. This continues until someone either goes out or cannot use the previous player’s discard, when all play ceases.

Scoring

Each side scores the total value of all its melded cards, plus bonus points for each natural canasta (500), each mixed canasta (300), going out (100, but 200 if concealed), and each red 3 declared (100, but 200 points for each if all four are declared by one side). Each partnership subtracts the point values of any cards still held from its meld score. If a side has failed to make any meld other than red 3s, then every red 3 counts for 100 against, or for 200 apiece if all four were melded. (In some variants wild-card canastas are allowed and count 1,000 points.)

The most-common penalties are the loss of 500 for each red 3 held in hand, 100 for trying to go out without permission, 100 for being unable to go out after receiving permission to do so, and 50 for taking the upcard when unable to use it legally. The adjusted scores are then carried forward to the next deal, and play ceases when one side reaches 5,000 points.