Copag 1546 plastic, double deckPrice: About $25, roughly. Bicycle Canasta Games · Bicycle, US Playing Card Co.Price: About $12, roughly.
Made for Canasta
Point values printed on every card and the wild cards highlighted, so new players can count their melds without a table.
- Good for
- Canasta
- Skip it if
- You are not playing Canasta: an ordinary deck plus jokers does the same job without the printed points.
Buy now ↗on Amazon
Our take
Canasta is a game of counting: every card is worth points, and new players spend the first few hands asking what a king is worth. Bicycle's Canasta Games pack prints the point value on every card and highlights the wild cards, so you can count your melds without a cheat sheet.
It includes the jokers and the extra decks the game needs, which saves you buying and matching them yourself.
If you play Canasta often and know the values by heart, a plain double deck works. If you are learning, or teaching someone, this removes a whole class of questions.
Test drive
Play one hand of Canasta with North as your partner against West and East. One hand takes a while, about ten minutes, and nothing is saved.
Keep reading
- Buying guide
Choosing a deck
Plastic or paper, poker or bridge size, how many decks you need, and the deck we recommend for each of our games.
- Basics
Anatomy of a deck
Fifty-two cards, four suits, thirteen ranks and a couple of jokers. What everything is called, and a few details you have probably never noticed.
- Basics
How to shuffle and deal
Three ways to shuffle, how many shuffles you really need, and the small table manners of cutting and dealing.
Quick answers
- Paper or plastic?
Paper shuffles with more grip and costs less. Plastic lasts for years, shrugs off spills and feels a little slicker. If you play every week, or with drinks nearby, go plastic.
- What size do I need?
Poker size suits most games and most hands. Bridge size is narrower, which helps when you hold thirteen cards or more.
- How many decks do I need?
One for most games. Canasta, Spider and some Rummy variants need two with matching backs.
Also consider
Back to the shelf →Copag 1546 plastic, double deckPrice: About $25, roughly. 
Piatnik 100% Plastic, bridge sizePrice: About $15, roughly. Perfect for bridge
Bicycle StandardPrice: About $5, roughly.