Hosting Canasta:

Before you start a game, you must first seat the players. Select the player you wish to seat from the list of players that have joined your game (lower right of game screen). Click the player's name and then click team 1 or team 2. After all the players are seated, you may begin the game. To start the game, click the "Start Game" button above the option box.

Game Options:

Discards Hidden:  The cards in the discard pile will be turned face down, except the top card and any wildcards in the discard pile.  With this option selected, you will get the entire discard pile when choosing to take the top discard.

Discards Visible:  The cards in the discard pile will be turned face up.  With this option selected, you can choose how many cards you wish to take when you take the top discard.

Discards Frozen:  You must have a natural pair of the same rank as the top card in the discard pile in order to take the discards.

Discards Unfrozen:  Unless the discard pile is frozen by discarding a wildcard, you may take the discard pile when the top discard pile is the same rank as any of your melds containing six cards or less, or when you hold one card of that rank in your hand and a wildcard.

Draw One:  When drawing from the stock (deck), each player will draw one card.   One card is discarded at the end of each player's turn.

Draw Two:  When drawing from the stock (deck), each player will draw one card.   One card is discarded at the end of each player's turn.

One canasta to go out:  A team must have at least one canasta before they can end a hand by one partner discarding the final card in his/her hand.

Two canastas to go out:  A team must have at least two canastas before they can end a hand by one partner discarding the final card in his/her hand.

Host Options:

The host of a game has the options to seat, mute or kick players at the table and lock the door.

Seat:  To replace a player, there is no need to remove the player first.  Just click the name of the player you wish to seat, click the word "Seat", and click the seating position of the player to be replaced.

Auto Mute:  If you click the "Auto Mute" button and a muted player disconnects from the table and comes back, they will still be muted.

Lock Door:  Default setting is unlocked.   When this option is checked, no one can enter the table.

Nick Options:

Mute:  To mute someone at a table you are hosting, click their name in the list of players and then click "Mute". When someone is muted, he/she will not be able to chat or play sounds at that table. 

Kick:  To kick someone from the table you are hosting, click on his/her name in the list of players and then click "Kick". Kicking removes a player from your table. He/she can rejoin unless you have the door locked.

Cancel:  This allows you to close the Nick option menu without making a selection.

Playing Your Cards:

To meld cards in your hand, select each card you want to meld by left clicking on each card once, turning it yellow.  If you have selected a valid meld or a valid addition to a meld your team already has on the board, a 'meld' button will become active.  The cards selected in your hand are melded onto the table when you click the 'meld' button.

To discard at the end of your turn, left click once on the card you wish to discard.  If you have selected a valid discard (one card only), a discard button will become active.  Discard your selected card by clicking the 'discard' button.

No discard:  If, at the end of your turn, you are left with only one card in your hand, a 'no discard' button will become active.  If you wish to hold the last card you have in your hand, or if your team does not yet have the number of canastas required to go out, you may click the 'no discard' button to end your turn without a discard.

Scoring:

Scoring is done automatically by the computer.  For a list of card point values, read the Canasta Rules page.

Sounds:

You can play sounds during the game that the other players will hear.  To do this, click the "Sounds" button, then choose a sound from the sounds in your list.  If you do not wish to hear the sounds being played during the game, click the "Sounds" button and click the "Sound is On" button.  You will still be able to hear the beep for your turn if the "Beep on My Turn" option is checked in the "Options" menu.