How to play Hand and Foot

Hand and Foot is a matching and melding card game that is a variation of Rummy and Canasta. It is typically played with four players in partnerships of two, but can be adapted for two to six players. The game involves skill, strategy, and a bit of luck.

Players begin with 11 cards from their Hand. Once all Hand cards are played, they pick up and play their second set of 11 cards, called their Foot. Players form melds (3 or more cards of the same rank). On a turn, a player can play a meld face up; their partner (the player across from them) can also play on that meld. A player can add to their team’s melds until there are seven cards in the meld—a book. Teams gain points for melds and lose points for cards left in hand at the end of the round. The goal is to have the most points when one player goes out.

In Hand and Foot, 3s, Deuces and Jokers are treated specially. Card values are:

• Red 3s (hearts or diamonds) = 100 points each. They are played individually. When you draw a red 3, place it face up by your melds and draw another card.
• Black 3s (clubs or spades) cannot be used in melds and can only be discarded. Discarding a black 3 forces the next player to draw 2 cards (they cannot take from the discard pile).
• Wild cards: Jokers and Deuces (2s) may be used in melds, but there must be more rank cards than wild cards in each meld.

Point values:

• Jokers = 50 points
• Deuces = 20 points
• Aces = 20 points
• 8 through King = 10 points
• 4 through 7 = 5 points
• Red 3s = 100 points

Shuffle thoroughly. The dealer gives each player 2 sets of 11 cards.

• The first set is the Hand—players may look at it.
• The second set is the Foot—it stays face down until the Hand has been played.
• The remaining cards form the stock (face down). The top card is turned up to start the discard pile.
• If that card is a wild (Deuce or Joker) or a 3, put it back and turn the next card instead.

Play goes clockwise from the dealer’s left. On each turn a player:

• Draws two cards from the stock, then may play meld(s); or
• Picks up the last 7 cards from the discard pile (if the top card is not a black 3). The player must have at least 2 cards in hand of the same rank as the top card and must make a meld with that top card in the same turn.

A turn ends when the player discards one card.

Minimum meld to lay down (by round):

• Round 1: at least 50 points
• Round 2: at least 90 points
• Round 3: at least 120 points
• Round 4: at least 150 points

Once a player has laid their first meld(s), their partner may play without meeting that round’s minimum.

Books

When a meld has seven cards, it is a book:

• Clean book (red book): no wild cards. Worth 500 points.
• Dirty book (black book): contains wild cards. Worth 300 points.

Complete books are stacked with a red card on top for clean, black for dirty.

To end the round for everyone, one player must have at least 1 clean book, 1 dirty book, and discard their last card from their Foot.

At the end of the round, add points for:

• Clean book = 500
• Dirty book = 300
• Red 3 = 100 each
• Melds with fewer than 7 cards = use the card values above
• Bonus for the player/team who went out (often 100–300 points, depending on house rules)

Then subtract points for any cards left in Hand and Foot, using the same card values.

This scorekeeper uses: went out = 300, perfect draw = 100, red 3s = 100 each, clean book = 500, dirty book = 300, plus the value of cards played.