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'''Hand and Foot''' is a rummy-style meld-building game based on Canasta. It can be played between two teams or two individuals and uses a large number of playing card decks (typically one or two more than the number of players).
[[Category:Card games]]
[[Category:Card games]]
'''Hand and Foot''' is a traditional card game for 2 or more players, acting either individually or in teams.  It uses a large number of card decks (typically one or two more than the number of players), and is a rummy-style meld-building game based on Canasta.


==Game duration and number of players==
==Objective==
A game is divided into ''rounds'', each consisting of the play of one deal of cards.  Play can either be for a set number of rounds (typically 4), or until a team reaches a threshold score.  The team with the highest score wins the game.


A typical four-round game with four players takes about two hours to complete. The BGA version of the game supports from two to seven individual players, and up to 12 when playing in teams.
Like in Canasta, the objective is to make melds (at least seven cards of the same rank). When one player has no cards in their hand, the round ends. Each card played is worth a certain number of points. At the end of four rounds, the team with the highest score wins.  


==Round setup==
In ''Hand and Foot'', you must make 5 complete melds of different types before anyone on your team can go out. Two of the melds must be "natural" (consisting of no wild cards). Two of the melds must be "dirty" (have wild cards in them) and one must consist entirely of wild cards.  
Players are seated so that partners are opposite each other at the table. If teams have more than two players, they are seated so team members are equidistant from each other.


The number of decks used is typically one or two more than the number of players, with the jokers included.  For faster play, non-joker cards with proper card backs can also be mixed in; in BGA this is represented as allowing more than two joker per deck.  The decks are all shuffled together, and each player is dealt two piles of cards.  House rules differ on the number of cards: some dictate the piles are 11 cards, others say 13.  One pile is not looked at, and is the ''foot''.  The other is picked up by the player and is the ''hand''.
==Setup==


The undealt cards are stacked into a ''draw pile''. Optionally, one card is turned over to start the ''discard pile''.
Each player is dealt two sets of 13 cards. One is set aside and placed facedown. This is the "foot". The other set is played as your "hand".


==Game objective==
The undealt cards are stacked into a "draw pile". Next to it will be a "discard pile'' where accumulated discarded cards are placed.


The objective of the game is to create ''melds'' consisting of 3-7 (or sometimes more, depending on house rules) cards of the same rank, possibly including ''wild cards''.  Wild cards are deuces and jokers.  Melds of seven cards (or more) are considered to be ''complete'', and may be referred to as ''books''; bonuses are awarded for these melds.  Melds with less than 7 cards are considered ''open''.  A book with no wild cards is considered ''clean'' or ''red'', and will score a higher bonus than a ''dirty'' or ''black'' book, which has at least one wild card.  If the house rules allow or require, a meld of all wild cards may be formed, which will score an even higher bonus than clean books.  Melds are depicted in the BGA version of the game by red cards with blue borders if they are clean, black cards with brown borders if they are dirty, and jokers bordered by gold cards if they are wild.
==Gameplay==


A team must reach a predetermined ''contract'' before a round can be ended.  The contract is typically for a set number of clean, dirty, and wild books, and is the same for each team and each round of play. A common contract for teams of two is two each clean and dirty books, and one wild book.
Play goes clockwise around the table, alternating between teams. On your turn, a player can either:


==Scoring and card valuation==
<ul class="bulletlist" style="margin:1em 0;padding-inline-start:40px;">
Cards are valued by their rank:
  <li>Draw two cards from the deck</li>
*Jokers are worth 50 points
  <li>Take the contents of the discard pile. The player can only take the discard pile if:</li>
*Aces and deuces are worth 20 points
  <ul class="bulletlist" style="padding-inline-start:40px;">
*8 through King are worth 10 points
    <li>Made their team's initial meld.</li>
*4 through 7 are worth 5 points
    <li>Must be able to make or add to a meld with the top card of the discard pile ''and'' two cards in the player's hand. These cards cannot be wild cards.</li>
The values of 3s depend on house rules. In common variants, red 3s are worth 100 points, and are played automatically and replaced with a new card when it is the player's turn. Black 3s are typically worth 5 points, and cannot be melded at all, or taken from the top of the discard pile (but see [[#Taking the discard|Taking the discard]] below).
    <li>The top card is not a black 3</li>
  </ul>
</ul>


Cards played on the board are scored for the team, while those left in the hand (and foot) are scored against the team.
Takes two cards into their hand. They then attempt to make melds. When finished, the player discards a single card. If this single card is the last remaining in hand, the player picks up the "foot" and begins playing with that.


===Going out and meld completion bonuses===
====Initial Meld====
The team that goes out to end a round of play is awarded 100 points for doing so.  If the draw pile is exhausted, the round ends and no team gets this bonus.


Meld bonuses are awarded when a meld reaches seven cards in length, and is denoted in the BGA version of the game by displaying the meld sideways. The most common meld completion bonuses are:
At the start of a round, when no melds have been made, a team can only place melds if the total score of the cards played reaches a certain number (see below for card values). The more points a team has, the higher the threshold. This allows a team to "catch-up" if they are too far behind to have a chance at winning. The points can be spread across multiple melds, but the melds must consist of at least 3 cards.  
* Clean books score 500
* Dirty books score 300
* Wild books score 1500


==Order of play==
==Scoring==
The player to the left of the dealer begins play.  Each player's turn includes the following steps:
* Play and replace any red 3s in the hand
* Either draw two cards (playing and replacing drawn red 3s if necessary), or take the discard
* Optionally create new melds for the team, or play cards to existing team melds, assuming ''opening criteria'' are met
* If still holding cards, discard one


If the player runs out of cards without discarding, they can pick their foot and immediately continue playing from it; this is called ''running to the foot''.  If the player discards their last card, they can pick up their foot, but not play from it until their next turn; this is called ''walking''.
====Card Values====


The round ends when a team has completed the required contract, and one of its players plays out both their hand and their foot.  Some house rules require the last card to be discarded, while others allow it to be played.
Each card played earns points for the team. Each card left in a player's hand (or foot) is counted ''against'' the team (subtracted from the score).


===Opening criteria===
{| class="wikitable" style="width:auto;" border="2"
A team must meet certain criteria in order to open play on their board.  The requirement is that the opening player must put down cards with a minimum card point value, and typically varies by either which round of play (increasing with each successive round), or by the team's score.  The most common opening criteria are:
|- style="background-color: #eaecf0;text-align: center;font-style: normal;font-weight: 600;"
* Round 1: 50 points to open
! Card !! Value !! Other
* Round 2: 90 points to open
|-
* Round 3: 120 points to open
| Joker || 50 points || Wild card
* Round 4: 150 points to open
|-
If a tie-breaking fifth round is needed, it will also require 150 points to open. The point score does not include meld completion bonuses, or any played red 3s.  For example, a completed book of 5s scores 35 points, with a bonus of 500 points for being complete, but is insufficient to open even round 1.
| Ace || 20 points ||
|-
| King || 10 points ||
|-
| Queen || 10 points ||
|-
| Jack || 10 points ||
|-
| 10 || 10 points ||
|-
| 9 || 10 points ||
|-
| 8 || 10 points ||
|-
| 7 || 5 points ||
|-
| 6 || 5 points ||
|-
| 5 || 5 points ||
|-
| 4 || 5 points ||
|-
| 3 || 100 || Red 3s cannot be used for melds and are set aside. Black 3s are worth no points, but can be discarded to "freeze" the pile (prevent a player from picking up the discard pile and using it to meld)
|-
| 2 || 20 || Wild card
|}


===Playing red 3s===
====End of Round Points====
A common house rule requires that red 3s are played into a special pile, and immediately replaced ''when it is the player's turn''.  This may occur before the draw when the player first plays from either their hand or foot, or when they draw a red 3.  Red 3s played in this manner do not count toward opening criteria.


===Drawing cards===
Points are awarded to the team that goes out and ends the round. If the round ends by the draw pile being exhausted, no team gets points.
Once a player has played any red 3s in their hand, they may choose (or be forced to) draw cards. This takes place in BGA by clicking on the draw pile, and delivers two cards into the hand.


===Taking the discard===
Completed melds earn points, depending on the type of meld.  
If the player is allowed by the house rules, they may pick up the top discard.  Common house rules require the player to (1) have two cards of the same rank in their hand, and (2) be able to immediately play all three cards to the board.  Among other things, this means that their team either (a) has already opened its board, or (b) the player taking the discard can meet the opening criteria for the round.  It also means that the top card is not a black 3, or any other card where it is forbidden by house rules to take it.  (Some house variants forbid the taking of wild cards, and house rules requiring red 3s to be discarded also typically forbid their taking.)


Once the player has taken and played the discard and associated meld cards, most rules require the taking of additional cards from the discard pile.  This is generally six cards, or the entire pile if it is less, but there are house rules that require the pile to have at least six more cards in it, or that require the taking of the entire discard pile in the manner of traditional Canasta rules.  A discard pile rich in black 3s can discourage the taking of discards.
{| class="wikitable" style="width:auto;" border="2"
 
|- style="background-color: #eaecf0;text-align: center;font-style: normal;font-weight: 600;"
===Playing cards===
! Meld Type !! Value !! Definition
Playing cards to the board consists of selecting a group of matching cards (all of the same rank with optional wild cards), and clicking on either the "New Meld" panel or the meld of the given rank on the team's meld board.  If melds are limited in size, you will not be allowed to make a meld have more than seven cards.
|-
 
| Natural/Clean || 500 points || A meld containing no wild cards.
You can have only one meld of a given rank open at any time.  In order to create a meld, you must have at least three cards to play to it.  You must always have more non-wild than wild cards in a meld, and common house rules limit the number of wild cards in a completed meld to either 2 or 3.  The BGA version of the game enforces this by a "ratio rule", requiring a certain percentage of the cards in a meld at any given time to be non-wild.
|-
 
| Unnatural/Dirty || 300 points || A meld containing a minority of wild cards.
The card plays you make (other than the required play of red 3s) are not shown to other players until one of several actions take place.  These actions include:
|-
*Discarding to end your turn
| Wild || 1500 points || A meld containing only wild cards.
*Playing out, either to end the round or to run to your foot
|}
*Taking extra discards
 
It is possible to ''undo'' moves up the last instance of one of these in your turn.  This may become necessary for three reasons.  First, if you attempt to open, but do not have sufficient points to make the opening criteria, you must undo your moves and make a discard instead.  Second, you cannot play the last card from your foot unless your team has made the contracted melds.  The game will not allow you to play out, so you must undo your moves.  Third, if the game rules require you to discard the last card from your foot, you will not be allowed to play it.  If you do not have the contract, you will also not be allowed to discard it.  In the latter two cases, you may be able to repeat ''some'' of the undone moves, but you must be able to make a valid discard to end your turn.
 
===Discarding===
To discard, select a single card, and click on the discard pile.  If it is the last card of your foot, you will not be allowed to discard it if your team does not have the contracted melds.  In that case, you will have to undo your moves, and play so as to have at least one card remaining in your hand after discarding.
 
==Round and game summaries==
At the end of each round, a scoring summary is displayed, showing how each team made its points in the round.  At the end of the game, the report includes all of the game rounds.

Latest revision as of 21:25, 21 April 2026

Hand and Foot is a rummy-style meld-building game based on Canasta. It can be played between two teams or two individuals and uses a large number of playing card decks (typically one or two more than the number of players).

Objective

Like in Canasta, the objective is to make melds (at least seven cards of the same rank). When one player has no cards in their hand, the round ends. Each card played is worth a certain number of points. At the end of four rounds, the team with the highest score wins.

In Hand and Foot, you must make 5 complete melds of different types before anyone on your team can go out. Two of the melds must be "natural" (consisting of no wild cards). Two of the melds must be "dirty" (have wild cards in them) and one must consist entirely of wild cards.

Setup

Each player is dealt two sets of 13 cards. One is set aside and placed facedown. This is the "foot". The other set is played as your "hand".

The undealt cards are stacked into a "draw pile". Next to it will be a "discard pile where accumulated discarded cards are placed.

Gameplay

Play goes clockwise around the table, alternating between teams. On your turn, a player can either:

  • Draw two cards from the deck
  • Take the contents of the discard pile. The player can only take the discard pile if:
    • Made their team's initial meld.
    • Must be able to make or add to a meld with the top card of the discard pile and two cards in the player's hand. These cards cannot be wild cards.
    • The top card is not a black 3

Takes two cards into their hand. They then attempt to make melds. When finished, the player discards a single card. If this single card is the last remaining in hand, the player picks up the "foot" and begins playing with that.

Initial Meld

At the start of a round, when no melds have been made, a team can only place melds if the total score of the cards played reaches a certain number (see below for card values). The more points a team has, the higher the threshold. This allows a team to "catch-up" if they are too far behind to have a chance at winning. The points can be spread across multiple melds, but the melds must consist of at least 3 cards.

Scoring

Card Values

Each card played earns points for the team. Each card left in a player's hand (or foot) is counted against the team (subtracted from the score).

Card Value Other
Joker 50 points Wild card
Ace 20 points
King 10 points
Queen 10 points
Jack 10 points
10 10 points
9 10 points
8 10 points
7 5 points
6 5 points
5 5 points
4 5 points
3 100 Red 3s cannot be used for melds and are set aside. Black 3s are worth no points, but can be discarded to "freeze" the pile (prevent a player from picking up the discard pile and using it to meld)
2 20 Wild card

End of Round Points

Points are awarded to the team that goes out and ends the round. If the round ends by the draw pile being exhausted, no team gets points.

Completed melds earn points, depending on the type of meld.

Meld Type Value Definition
Natural/Clean 500 points A meld containing no wild cards.
Unnatural/Dirty 300 points A meld containing a minority of wild cards.
Wild 1500 points A meld containing only wild cards.
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