Hand and Foot Card Game

Hand and Foot is a partnership game in the canasta family, played with several decks. Every player gets two piles of cards: a hand to play first and a foot to pick up once the hand is gone. Build seven-card books with your partner, then go out from your foot. You and your computer partner play two computer opponents over four rounds.

How to play Hand and Foot Card Game

• Players and cards: four players in two partnerships, partners sitting opposite. This game uses five standard decks plus ten jokers (270 cards), the usual count for four players (one deck more than the number of players).
• The deal: each player gets a hand of 11 cards and a face-down foot of 11 cards. The rest form the stock. The discard pile starts empty.
• Wild cards: jokers and twos are wild. Red threes are bonus cards: they are laid down at once (from your hand or foot) and replaced from the stock. Black threes can never be melded; discard them to block the pile.
• Your turn: draw two cards from the stock, or pick up the discard pile (below). Then meld any cards you want, and end your turn by discarding one card.
• Melds are 3 to 7 cards of one rank. Natural cards must always outnumber wild cards, so a meld of three can hold one wild card and a full book at most three. Partners share their melds; a team has only one unfinished meld per rank, but once a book is complete you can start another of the same rank.
• Books: a meld of exactly seven cards is closed. A clean book (no wild cards) earns 500 points, a dirty book (one to three wild cards) 300.
• Opening meld: your team's first meld of each round must total a minimum card count: 50 in round 1, 90 in round 2, 120 in round 3 and 150 in round 4. You may combine several melds in one turn to reach it.
• Picking up the pile: if the top discard is not a wild card or black three, you can meld it with a natural pair of the same rank from your hand and take the next six cards (the top seven in all) into your hand. Before your team has opened, the top card, your pair and any other melds you lay down must reach the opening minimum.
• The foot: when your hand runs out (by melding or discarding), pick up your foot and keep playing from it. If you melded your last hand card you continue your turn; if you discarded it, your foot waits for your next turn.
• Going out: you must be playing from your foot and your team must have at least two clean and two dirty books. Then meld or discard your last card to end the round (100 bonus). Until then, keep at least two cards in your foot so you always have a discard.
• Running out of stock: if a player has to draw and fewer than two cards remain, the round ends at once without a going-out bonus.
• Game: four rounds; the dealer moves left each round. The highest total after round four wins. Pick a 1- or 2-round game in the toolbar for a quicker match.

Controls

• Tap cards to select them. Tap the stock (or press S) to draw two. Tap the discard pile (or press P) to pick it up: the matching natural pair is chosen for you.
• Press Meld (M) to lay down the selected cards. Cards of a rank your team already has go onto that meld (any overflow beyond seven starts a new meld). Tap one of your team's glowing melds to add wild cards or naturals to it.
• Before your team has opened, Stage meld collects melds until they reach the round minimum, then Lay down plays them together. Staged melds also count when you pick up the pile.
• Select one card and press Discard (D) to end your turn. Escape clears the selection. Scores shows the running score sheet.

Tips

• Books are where the points are: a clean book is worth 500 before counting its cards. Keep wild cards away from melds that could still go clean while your team needs clean books.
• Use wild cards to finish dirty books late in a meld (five or six naturals plus one or two wilds), not to start lots of thin melds early.
• Natural pairs are your ticket to the discard pile. Holding a pair of a rank the opponents keep discarding can win you seven cards in one turn.
• Black threes are the safest discards: nobody can pick up the pile on top of one. Wild cards on top block it too, but a discarded wild is worth nothing to you.
• Do not race to your foot too early. Cards in an unplayed foot count against you, but cards left in your hand count the same, so empty the hand once you can meld most of it.
• Watch the book counter above each team's melds: once your team has two clean and two dirty books, whoever is on the foot can go out and stop the opponents scoring more.

Hand and Foot scoring

Score each round for both teams, then add it to the running total.

A team scores the card values of everything it melded (books and unfinished melds) plus its bonuses, then subtracts the value of every card still held in both partners' hands and unplayed feet.

House rules and variations

Hand and Foot is a family game passed around by word of mouth, so almost every table plays it a little differently. This version uses one common set of rules; here are the variations you are most likely to meet.

• Number of decks: usually one more deck than players (five for four players), with all the jokers. Some groups use four decks, or six for six players in three teams.
• Hand and foot size: 11 cards each is most common; some play 13 or 15.
• Meld minimums: 50/90/120/150 is the classic ladder. Others use 50/90/120/150 by score instead of by round, or 60/90/120/150.
• Books needed to go out: anything from one clean and one dirty book to two of each (as here), or extras such as a wild-card book or a book of sevens. Many tables also require you to ask your partner for permission before going out; the computer partner here does not.
• Picking up the pile: some take the whole pile instead of the top seven, allow a pickup by adding the top card to an existing meld, or allow one natural plus a wild card.
• Threes: some score red threes as a 100 or 500 penalty when held, or count black threes as a penalty of 100; in others threes can be melded as a book of their own.
• Wild cards: limits range from at most three wild cards per book to "never more wilds than naturals"; some tables allow a book made entirely of wild cards for 1500.
• Drawing: a few groups draw one card plus the top discard instead of two from the stock.

For a game with the same family feel and one hand of cards, try Canasta; for two-player melding, Gin Rummy or Rummy.

FAQ

What are the basic rules of Hand and Foot?

Each player gets a hand and a foot of 11 cards. On your turn draw two cards (or pick up the top seven discards with a natural pair matching the top card), meld cards of the same rank, and discard one. When your hand is gone you play your foot. Teams build seven-card books and go out once they have the books required, here two clean and two dirty.

How many decks do you need for Hand and Foot?

The usual rule is one deck more than the number of players, with the jokers included: five decks for four players. Some families play four decks with four players; this game uses five decks and ten jokers.

How do you score Hand and Foot?

Jokers count 50, twos and aces 20, eights through kings 10, fours through sevens and black threes 5. Add 500 for each clean book, 300 for each dirty book, 100 for each red three and 100 for going out, then subtract all cards left in hands and feet.

What is the difference between a clean and a dirty book?

Both are seven cards of one rank. A clean (natural) book has no wild cards and scores 500. A dirty book contains one or more wild cards (jokers or twos), never more than three, and scores 300.

What do you need to meld first in each round of Hand and Foot?

The opening meld minimum rises each round: 50 points in round one, 90 in round two, 120 in round three and 150 in round four. Several melds laid down in the same turn can be added together to reach it.

Can you pick up the discard pile in Hand and Foot?

Yes, if the top card is not a wild card or a black three and you hold a natural pair of the same rank. You meld the top card with the pair and take the next six cards into your hand. House rules on this vary more than anything else in the game.