The MeggieSoft Games rendition of Canasta is a two-player game, fully supporting both the "Classic Canasta" and the "Modern American Canasta" rule sets.  The primary features of each rule set are:

 

	Classic Canasta	Modern American Canasta
Deck	108-card deck comprising two standard decks (the Two through Ace of each suit), plus four Jokers.
Special Cards	Twos and Jokers are wild.   Red Threes score bonuses (and are not meldable).	Twos and Jokers are wild.  All Threes score bonuses (and are not meldable).
Deal	Fifteen cards are dealt to you and fifteen to your opponent. The thirty-first card is turned face up as the start of the discard pile.  If this is one of the "Special" cards, another card is dealt to the discard pile.	Thirteen cards are dealt to you and thirteen to your opponent.  Seven additional cards are dealt as a group of four and a group of three (known as the "Talons").  There is no initial discard pile.
Before Play	If either player is dealt any red Threes, these are placed on the mat and are replaced from the stock.	If either player is dealt any Threes, these are placed on the mat and are replaced from the stock.
Play	Each player (starting with the non-dealer) plays their turn by: (i)  taking from the stock or taking the discard pile, (ii) melding cards from their hand (if they are able), (iii) discarding one card.
	When taking from the stock, two cards are taken.  If a red Three is taken, it is played to the mat and replaced.	When taking from the stock, one card is taken.  If a Three is taken, it is played to the mat and replaced.
Discard Pile Restrictions	If the top (visible) card is a black Three or a wild card, the discard pile is blocked and cannot be taken. If the discard pile otherwise contains a wild card (or a dealt red Three), it is frozen and may only be taken if the player possesses two cards in their hand of the same rank as the visible card .	The discard pile is never blocked (unless a player has no other alternative than to discard a wild card). The discard pile is always frozen and may only be taken if the player possesses two cards in their hand of the same rank as the visible card.
Special Hands	(Not applicable)	If a player, after taking a stock card, holds a special combination of the fourteen cards in hand and have not yet melded, they may immediately go out (without discarding).  The special hands are: Straight (one of each card rank), seven Pairs, and Garbage (two sets of three cards of the same rank plus two sets of four cards of the same rank).  There is a bonus of between 2000 and 3000 points. depending on the type of the hand.
The First Meld(s)	The points earned from your first melding must meet (or exceed) a points requirement.   More than one meld may be made to achieve this requirement, which must be reached in a single turn.
	The threshold ranges from 15 points to 120 points (depending on your total score from the previous rounds).  A taken and melded discard is included in this calculation.	The threshold ranges from 125 points to 180 points (depending on your total score from the previous rounds).  A taken and melded discard is excluded from this calculation.  You may "splash" open by melding a natural or wild Canasta  to avoid the threshold restriction.
Melds	One meld is permitted per card rank and must contain at least three cards.  In each meld there cannot be more wild cards than natural cards,
	There may not be more than three wild cards in any meld.    Wild card melds (containing only Twos and Jokers) are not permitted	There may not be more than two wild cards per meld. Melds of Aces and Sevens cannot contain wild cards (except when played initially as part of an Ace meld). Wild card melds (solely Twos and Jokers) may be formed, but once started must become a Canasta before a wild card may be added to any another meld.
Canastas	When a meld contains seven cards it becomes a Canasta, and earns bonus points.
	A Canasta may be extended beyond seven cards, but the addition of a wild card to a Pure Canasta will convert it to a Mixed Canasta (and accordingly reduce the bonus earned for it).	A Canasta may not be extended beyond seven cards.
Discarding	You may discard any card from your hand.	You may not discard a wild card, except as your final discard when going out or if you have only wild cards in hand.  You may not discard an Ace or Seven if the discard pile is empty.
Going Out	You may go out (by emptying your hand) when you have melded at least one Canasta.  You may meld all your final card holding, or meld all but one and discard the last card.	You may go out (by emptying your hand) when you have melded at least two Canastas.  You must make a final discard (unless melding a "special hand").
Scoring	Points are awarded for each card melded.  Fours to Sevens score 5 points each; Eights though Kings, 10 points; Aces and Twos, 20 points; and Jokers, 50 points.  At the end of the round, the points total of the cards remaining in the hand of the player that did not go out are deducted from the total.
Bonuses	Bonuses are awarded for Pure Canastas (500 points), Mixed Canastas (300 points), and for the Threes (provided at least one meld has been made.)
Penalties	If no melds have been made, the score for red Threes becomes a penalty rather than a bonus.	If no Canastas have been made, the score for Threes becomes a penalty rather than a bonus.  (If only one Canasta has been made, the bonus does not apply.)  Penalties also apply for incomplete Canastas of Sevens, Aces, or wild cards; and for holding three or more Sevens or Aces in hand.
Game	Successive rounds are played until a player reaches 5000 points.  If both players have reached 5000 points at the end of a round, the higher score wins.	Successive rounds are played until a player reaches 8500 points.  If both players have reached 8500 points at the end of a round, the higher score wins.

Because MeggieSoft Games Canasta supports both rule sets, they can be mixed-and-matched.  For the most part, this means selecting individual Modern American Canasta rules as variations to the Classic Canasta game..

Canasta utilizes the traditional MeggieSoft Games foundation user interface, common to all our games.  This incorporates some new features specially created for Canasta, which include the following.  (The first four of these are also implemented in version 15 of the other games, as appropriate.)

• "MultiSelect".  Using the right mouse button: click down and drag over a series of cards to select them for melding. and then release.   If AutoMeld is active and the meld is valid, the cards will be selected and melded in one action.

• "AutoMeld".  Automatically melds a MultiSelect group when the mouse button is released, automatically melds a taken discard, and enables the ability to double-click on a card to add it to the matching rank meld.  (Wild cards will be added to the last meld played; cards of previously unmelded ranks will create a new meld).

• Step-by-step Undo: Because of the large number of melding actions that can occur in a single turn, the undo facility can either undo the last action or the entire turn.  Step-by-step undoing of each action of  the current turn is supported.

• Customizable meld display: You will be able to specify that melds are displayed in one of the following ways: in the order played, sorted by length, sorted by rank, or in fixed rank column positions.

         
Click on thumbnail for full-size screenshot preview of Canasta