Hand and Foot rules: the complete guide

Hand and Foot at a glance

The heart of the game is simple: books score big, and cards left in your hand and foot count against you.

Hand and Foot belongs to the Canasta family, and anyone who knows Canasta will recognize the wild twos, the red and black threes and the seven-card books. These are the rules we use in our free Hand and Foot game; where families commonly play differently, we say so.

What you need

• Decks: one more than the number of players, each with its two jokers: five decks (270 cards) for four players, three decks (162 cards) for two.
• A score sheet with a column for each side and a row for each of the four rounds.

Want these rules at the table? The quick reference at the end sums up the whole game in one short table, handy to print or to keep open on your phone.

Setting up

Partners and seats

With four players, partners sit across from each other, so play alternates between the two sides. Partners never show each other their cards, but all their melds go in one shared area in front of either of them.

Dealing the hand and the foot

The dealer shuffles and deals 11 cards to each player, one at a time — this is the hand. Then 11 more cards each, dealt into a separate face-down packet — the foot. (Some tables split the job: the dealer deals the hands and the dealer’s partner deals the feet.) You may look at your hand right away, but your foot stays face down until your hand is used up.

Starting the discard pile

The rest of the cards form the face-down stock. Turn the top card face up beside it to start the discard pile. If that card is a red 3, a 2 or a joker, bury it in the stock and turn up another. The discard pile is kept squared up, so only its top card shows.

The player to the dealer’s left starts, and the deal moves one seat to the left each round.

Card values

Cards you meld score for your side; cards still in your hand or foot when the round ends count against it.

Playing a turn

1. Draw. Take the top two cards of the stock — or pick up the discard pile, if you meet the conditions below. A red 3 you draw goes face up with your side’s melds, and you draw a replacement.
2. Meld. Lay down new melds or add to your side’s melds, as many as you like, or none.
3. Discard. Put one card face up on the discard pile. Your turn is over.

Melds, wild cards and books

A meld is three to seven cards of the same rank, laid face up. Hand and Foot has no runs. Any rank from 4 up to King can be melded, and so can Aces; 3s never can.

Wild cards — every 2 and every joker — can join a meld in place of a natural card, with one firm limit: the natural cards must always outnumber the wild ones.

A few melds that don’t work: 9♠ 9♦ (too short), 7♣ 2♠ joker (the wild cards outnumber the natural one), 4♥ 4♣ 2♦ 2♥ (two of each), 3♠ 3♣ 3♦ (threes can’t be melded), and 2♠ 2♥ joker (a meld needs natural cards).

One unfinished meld per rank. A side has at most one open meld of each rank. Any Kings either partner plays go on the side’s King meld until it’s finished.

Books. A meld of seven cards is a book. It’s closed — nothing more can be added — and traditionally squared up with a red card on top if it’s clean and a black card on top if it’s dirty.

• A clean book (also called a natural book) has no wild cards. Bonus: 500.
• A dirty book (or mixed book) has at least one wild card. Bonus: 300.

Once a book is closed, your side may start a brand-new meld of that rank.

You can add wild cards to a meld on their own, as long as the naturals still outnumber them — but one wild card is enough to make a book dirty.

The opening meld

Each side’s first melds of a round must add up to a minimum, counting card values only:

You may put down several melds in the same turn to reach it, and wild cards count at their full value. Red 3s and book bonuses don’t count. If you can’t reach the minimum, you take back what you laid out and simply discard. Once your side is open, neither you nor your partner needs a minimum again that round.

Example. Round three, so your side needs 120. You hold K♠ K♥ K♦, A♣ A♦, a 2♠, a joker and some odds and ends. Three Kings are worth 30, and A♣ A♦ 2♠ is worth 60 — that’s 90, not enough. Add the joker to the Kings (K♠ K♥ K♦ joker is 80) and you have 80 + 60 = 140. You’re open, and your partner can meld freely from now on.

Picking up the discard pile

The pile is the big prize in Hand and Foot. You may take it instead of drawing when all of these are true:

1. The top card is a natural card you could meld — not a black 3, and not a 2 or joker.
2. You hold two natural cards of the same rank as the top card.
3. If your side already has an open meld of that rank, it has room for three more cards.
4. If your side hasn’t opened yet, you can reach the minimum with the top card and cards from your hand.

You take the top seven cards of the pile (all of it, if there are fewer). The top card and your pair go down immediately, together, as a meld (or onto your side’s open meld of that rank). The other six cards go into your hand. Then you carry on with your turn as usual.

Example. It’s round one and your side hasn’t melded. The top of the pile is the 9♦, and you hold 9♣ 9♠, Q♥ Q♣ and a 2♦. You pick up seven cards and meld 9♦ 9♣ 9♠ — 30 points toward the 50 you need. Among the six cards you took are three Kings, but cards from the pile don’t count toward the opening, so you meld Q♥ Q♣ 2♦ (40) from your own hand: 70 in all. Now you’re open, and you can meld the Kings too.

Red threes and black threes

Red 3s are bonus cards. Whenever one reaches your hand — from the deal, a draw or your foot — place it face up with your side’s melds at once and draw a replacement from the stock. Each is worth 100 to your side. A red 3 still hidden in a foot that was never picked up costs 100 instead.

Black 3s are blockers. They can’t be melded, so the only way to get rid of one is to discard it. A black 3 on top of the pile means the next player can’t pick it up. Left in your hand at the end, each costs 5.

Playing out your hand and picking up your foot

Your hand has to be used up before you can touch your foot, and there are two ways it happens:

• You meld your last card. Pick up your foot straight away and keep playing the same turn — meld more and then discard.
• You discard your last card. Your turn ends. Pick up your foot; you’ll play it on your next turn.

Any red 3s in your foot go straight to the table, with replacements from the stock.

Going out

You may go out when:

1. You are playing from your foot.
2. Your side has at least two clean books and two dirty books.
3. In the partnership game, your partner has picked up their foot as well.

At a real table you ask your partner, “May I go out?”, and you’re bound by the answer. (In our game the computer partner always agrees, and when your partner asks, the answer is yes.) Then you get rid of every card: either meld them all, or meld all but one and discard the last. Going out ends the round and earns your side 100.

If you can’t go out yet, you must keep at least two cards after melding — one to discard and one to keep. You may never meld your way down to a single card unless that discard is going to take you out.

Example. You’re in your foot holding 6♠ 6♥ 6♦ 2♥ 2♦ 7♣. Your side has two clean books and one dirty book, and an open meld of 9♠ 9♥ 9♦ 9♣ 2♣. Add 2♥ 2♦ to the Nines and they become your second dirty book. Now meld 6♠ 6♥ 6♦ and discard the 7♣ — you’re out.

When the stock runs out

If the stock is empty when it’s your turn, you may still pick up the discard pile if you’re allowed to. If you can’t, or don’t want to, the round ends immediately. Nobody gets the going-out bonus.

The same goes for red 3s: if you get one and the stock has no card left to replace it, the round ends at once (the red 3 still counts for your side). That’s the usual rule: the round is over as soon as someone needs to draw and can’t.

Scoring a round

Each side adds up:

• 500 for every clean book and 300 for every dirty book;
• 100 for every red 3 on the table;
• 100 for going out;
• the card values of everything it melded, books included;

and subtracts the card values of everything still in both partners’ hands and feet.

Example. June goes out for Rose and June. Rose and June have 2 clean books (1,000), 3 dirty books (900), 2 red 3s (200), 640 points of melded cards and the going-out bonus (100). Rose is still holding a King, a 7 and a black 3: 20 points. Their round is 1,000 + 900 + 200 + 640 + 100 − 20 = 2,820.

You and Hank have 3 clean books (1,500) but only one dirty book (300) — which is why you couldn’t go out — plus a red 3 (100) and 590 points of melded cards. You’re caught holding a joker, an Ace, a Queen, a 9, a 6 and a 4 (100 points), and Hank has a 2, a King and a 7 left from his foot (35). Your round is 1,500 + 300 + 100 + 590 − 135 = 2,355.

Winning the game

Add each round to the running totals. After four rounds the side with the higher total wins. If it’s tied, play one more round with the 150 minimum. Round scores often run into the thousands, so one big round can swing a game.

Edge cases and rule questions

Can I add cards to my partner’s melds? Yes. Melds belong to the side, not the player.

Can I pick up the pile with a pair when my meld of that rank already has five or six cards? Not in our game: the top card and your pair go down together, so there must be room for all three.

Do the six extra cards I picked up count toward the opening? No. Only the top card and the cards from your own hand count.

Can I discard a wild card? Yes. It’s usually a waste, but a wild card on top blocks the pile, just like a black 3.

What if my melds fall short of the minimum? Pick them back up and discard as usual (in our game, Undo does it).

Can a meld have eight cards? No. Seven is a book, and a book is closed.

Common variations and house rules

Some families also add a third packet of cards, a version sometimes called Hand, Knee and Foot.

Two-player Hand and Foot

With two players, use three decks and play exactly as above, except that your melds are your own, you need the two clean and two dirty books yourself, and there’s nobody to ask before going out. On BieGames, choose You vs. one in Settings.

Hand and Foot terms

• Hand — your first packet of 11 cards.
• Foot — your second packet, face down until your hand is used up.
• The pile — the discard pile; “picking up the pile” means taking its top seven cards.
• Natural — any card that isn’t wild (4 through King and Aces).
• Wild card — a 2 or a joker.
• Book — a finished seven-card meld.
• Clean book — a book with no wild cards (500).
• Dirty book — a book with wild cards (300).
• Opening meld — your side’s first melds of the round, which must reach the minimum.

Quick reference

Looking for a similar game? Rummy 500 is another rummy game where your melds go on the table and count for points, and it plays well with two to four people. For more games that suit a relaxed evening at the family table, see our guide to easy card games for seniors.