Seat a canasta tournament for any number of players, print a score sheet for every table, and type the scores as they come in: the standings add themselves up.
Canasta tournament
Names and scores are saved on this device only, so keep scoring on one phone or computer. The share link carries the draw (format, size, rounds), never names or scores.
Print
Standings
Scores by round
Type each side's points for the round (minus numbers are fine) when a table finishes.
How a canasta tournament runs
In an individual canasta tournament you change partners every round and keep your own total: the scores your partnerships made at each table you sat at. The Boca West rules, for example, play 4 rounds of 40 minutes with three hands a round, and each player hands in a score sheet per round. Pick "New partner each round" for this; the draw makes sure you partner and play against as many different people as possible.
For a partnership event, pick "Fixed teams". Each team plays the others in turn, one game per round, and the standings rank teams by total points (by points per game if an odd team count leaves some teams a game short).
Classic canasta ends when a partnership reaches 5,000, and the first meld minimum rises with the score: 50 below 1,500, 90 from 1,500, 120 from 3,000, and 15 while the score is below zero. A timed tournament round simply stops when time is called, so agree before the start how a round in progress is scored.
The printouts: a seating chart for the host, a score sheet for every table and round with the partners filled in and lines for the scorekeeper and the other team to sign, score cards, and a results sheet (a blank one to fill in by hand before any scores are typed).
Questions organizers ask
How is a canasta tournament scored?
Each table writes down both partnerships' points for the round. In an individual tournament each player adds their partnership's score to their own total, so your result comes from every table you sat at. The highest total wins.
What if time runs out in the middle of a hand?
Clubs set their own rule. At Boca West, when time is called before the round is finished, each side gets credit for completed canastas and threes, minus penalties. Announce your rule before the first round.
What if the number of players is not a multiple of 4?
The draw seats as many full tables of 4 as it can and shares the sit-outs as evenly as the number of rounds allows. When some players get one game fewer, the planner names them and ranks everyone by points per game played, so an extra game is no advantage. To avoid sit-outs, the host or a reserve player can make up the last table.
Can scores be negative?
Yes. Penalties and threes can leave a partnership below zero in a round, so the score boxes take minus numbers.
Sources: canasta rules at pagat.com (game to 5,000, first meld minimums); Boca West Country Club canasta individual tournament rules (2023). Not affiliated with either.