When a player has gone out regularly, when a player has a special hand or when there are no more cards in the draw pile and no player can or will pick the pack, the round is finished and points are counted. Both teams count their respective base score and count score to then establish their total score of the round.

To determine the base score, the team that has gone out counts a bonus of 100 points. Then, points for finished canastas are counted. Regular pure canastas yield 500 points, mixed canastas 300 points. A pure canasta of aces or 7s is worth 2500 points. A pure wild card canasta of 2s gives 3000 points, a wild card canasta with all four jokers and three 2s is worth 2500 points whereas any other mixed canasta of wild cards gives 2000 points. Once the points for finished canastas and going out are counted, you should turn to the threes. If a team has two or more finished canastas, the threes are counted as bonus, if they have no canasta at all, they are deduced from the base score as penalty and with exactly one canasta you can disregard them completely as they are not counted. One of a color (red or black) gives or costs 100 points, two count 300 points, three 500 points and all four of a color give or cost you a whopping 1000 points!

After the threes come all the penalties: Incomplete pure canastas of Aces or 7s cost 2500 points each, incomplete wild card canastas 2000 points. Three or more aces (even if they are dead cards) or 7s in the hand of one player give a penalty of 1500 points (this penalty may have to be counted twice for one team if each of the players holds three or more aces and/or sevens).

If a player goes out with a special hand, only the points for the special hand are counted. Neither the team’s 3s nor partner’s cards are counted. (This applies for the base score and also for the point score). Seven pairs without wild cards give 2500 points, seven pairs including a pair of aces, a pair of 7s and a pair of either 2s or jokers give 2000 points, four triples or three quadruples and a pair of 2s or Jokers are worth 3500 points. A “garbage hand” with two triples and two quadruples, no wild cards or a 2-3-4-5 give 3000 points, a “Zip code” 2-2-3-3-4 yields 2500 points. Finally, a straight (or splash) containing one card of each (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, J, Q, K, A, Joker) gives 3000 points. There are also two kinds of “Dream hands” that are worth 8500 points – enough to win the game unless the other team gets an even higher total. These hands are 5-5 + 4 Jokers/2s or 5-4 + 5 wild cards.

Very common table rules also allow Miami Pairs (with 2s AND Jokers, aces and 7s) for 2500 points or a Zip Code with 2s/Jokers for also 2500 points.

For the count score, all cards that are melded are counted and then the cards that the players still have in their hands are deducted. Count 5 points for 4s, 5s, 6s, 7s; 10 points for 8s, 9s, 10s, jacks, queens, and kings, 20 points for Aces and 2s and 50 points for Jokers. 3s that are still in hand count 5 points.

Here you can find our Counting Grid that you can download and print out for your games with friends: