Hand and Foot

Hand and Foot is a Canasta-based card game, typically played by two or more players and multiple decks of standard playing cards.

Objective

The objective of the game is to score points by playing cards in melds, groups of three or more cards on the game table. Melds are composed of at least three cards of the same rank (or face value), with the possible addition of wild cards. Bonus points are awarded for melds that are at least seven cards in size, which are usually known as piles or books. Points are also awarded for the player or team that go out, when one player plays out all of his or her cards after the player or team has reached the required contract. Cards left in player hands (or unplayed feet) are counted against the player. The game ends after either a fixed number of rounds, or when a player or team reaches an agreed game score.

Players may either play individually, or in teams of equal size, with the players seated to rotate play among the teams. Six players, for example, can play either individually, as three teams of two players, or as two teams of three players.

Cards

Hand and Foot is played with multiple decks of standard playing cards. Rules vary, but it is common to play with one more deck than the number of players (so if you play with four players, you will need five decks). The decks include the standard jokers, and can be further augmented by more jokers (non-playing cards included with a deck that have a standard back) to decrease the length of a round.

Card values and uses

Cards are usually valued as follows:

In all rules, Jokers and deuces are wild, and may be played in any meld, subject to some restrictions (see Melds below).

Black 3s typically cannot be melded and must be discarded. Some play rules allow them to be melded, usually with significant restrictions (for example, only when the player making the meld is going out).

Red 3s are typically placed on the table immediately when it is the player's turn, and replaced by a drawn card. In some rule variants, red 3s are treated the same as black 3s, and may be worth 300 or 500 points.

Dealing

The decks are all shuffled together, and each player is dealt two stacks of cards. These stacks are generally thirteen cards, but rule variants exist where one or both stacks are eleven cards. One stack is picked up by the player and is called the hand, while the other is left face down and is called the foot. The undealt cards are placed in a stock accessible to all players. Optionally, one card is turned over to start the discard pile. Some rule variants require that this card not be a special card (wild card or red 3); if one of these is drawn, it is shuffled back into the deck and another card is drawn.

Play

Play begins with the player to the dealer's left, and proceeds clockwise. A player's turn begins with the play of any red 3s that might be in their hand, which are replaced by cards drawn from the stock. (If any replacement cards are red 3s, they are similarly played and replaced.) The player then either draws two cards from the stock, or takes the discard if it is allowed by the rules. The player then plays cards to existing melds for his team, or creates new melds from the cards in their hand. If the team has no melds, the player's plays must meet certain opening criteria, which require the aggregate play of cards with a minimum value. Once the player has made all the plays they want to, the player discards one card on the discard pile, ending their turn.

If the player plays all of their cards, they can immediately pick up their foot and continue playing from it. If they discard the last card from the hand, they can pick up their foot, but their turn is over, and play from the foot does not begin until the player's next turn. A player can only play (or discard) the last card from their foot if their team has satisfied the game's contract criteria.

Drawing cards

Drawing cards consists of the player taking two cards from the top of the stock. If either of the cards is a red 3, it is played on the table immediately, and replaced by another drawn card. If the replacement card is also a red 3, it is treated the same way. A team's red 3s should be accumulated by one player into a single pile.

Taking the discard

If the game rules and game situation allow, the player may pick up the top card from the discard pile instead of drawing. The most common game rules allow this if the player has two cards of the same rank as that card in their hand, and all three cards can be immediately played. This means that the player must either immediately open a new meld with those cards (and also satisfy opening criteria if the team is not yet open), or play them to an existing meld. This means the existing meld must be of a size that can accept all of the cards; if melds are limited to seven cards in size, it cannot have more than four cards. If the meld is more than four cards, the player must have enough cards to play some to the existing meld, and then create a new one.

Other rule variants do not require the taken discard to be immediately played, or do not require the matching cards in hand to be played immediately, or both.

Most rules require the player taking the discard to also take additional cards from the discard pile. Most often this is six cards, or the rest of the pile if it is smaller. Some rules require the discard pile to have at least six extra cards before the discard can be taken. Other rule variations require the player to take the entire discard pile (as in Canasta).

Opening

The first player to create melds for their team must play enough cards to satisfy opening criteria for the round of play. The opening criteria are a minimum point value, which is determined (based on the agreed game rules) either by the round number, or by the team's score. A common usage is that round 1 opening is 50 points, round 2 is 90, round 3 is 120, and round 4 is 150. Played red 3s do not count toward round openings.

Melds

A meld is created by the placement of a group of three or more cards on the board. All of the cards must of the same rank (or face value), with the possible addition of wild cards (deuces or jokers). Game rules usually require that there be at least as many rank cards as wild cards, and many variants have even more restrictive rules. A typical ratio rule is that there must be twice as many natural cards as there are wild cards: this means a meld of five cards can have at most one wild card, although a second could be played to it.

Cards can be added to any of a team's melds by any members of the team, up to the agreed size limits for melds. The most common game rules say that melds cannot have more than seven cards, at which point the meld is considered closed or complete, and may be called a pile. A meld with no wild cards is called clean (or "red"), while one that has wild cards is considered dirty (or "black"). Melds of all wild cards are permitted by some game rules, and may even be required in the contract criteria. Closed melds are typically turned over, with a single face-up card indicating its rank, using a red or black card to indicate whether it is clean or dirty.

Some game rules allow some melds to be more than seven cards. There are usually restrictions on what types of cards can be played to a long meld, and sometimes when they may be played. If there is a ratio rule, it is still enforced for long melds.

Going to foot

A player goes to their foot by playing the last card from their hand. If the card is played to the board, the player is said to be running, and is immediately allowed to continue playing cards from the the foot. If the last card of the hand is discarded, the player is said to be walking, and cannot play again until their next turn because the discard ended their turn.

Going Out

A player or team can "go out" if it meets the game's contract criteria, and then one of its players plays the last card of their foot. The contract is some combination of clean, dirty, and possibly wild, piles. The most common contract requires two each clean and dirty piles, and one wild pile. If you play with teams that have more than two players, you might choose a contract that requires one each clean and dirty piles per player on the team, plus a wild pile. In some rule variants, wild piles are not required, but may be completed and counted toward either the required clean or dirty piles.

A team goes out when one of its players plays the last cards from their foot. This may occur either by playing the final card to the table (on a meld), or by discarding it. Some game rules require the final card to be discarded. Others may not allow a player to go out until their partners have played from their feet.

If the stock is exhausted before any team goes out, the round ends, and no going out bonus is awarded.

Scoring the round

A round is scored by totaling up all of the following:

Pile bonuses

Bonuses are awarded for completed piles based on whether they are clean, dirty, or wild. The most common scoring rule is that clean piles are 500 points, dirty piles are 300, and wild piles are 1500.

End of the game

The game ends either after an agreed number of rounds (usually four), or after a team or player reaches a threshold score which should be agreed before starting the game.

Computer games

An implementation of hand and foot is being developed for Board Game Arena, a community-driven web site for internet-based game play. Other implementations exist in phone apps and as desktop PC software.