How to play Hand and Foot

Hand and Foot is a partnership game from the Canasta family, played with five decks and ten jokers, 270 cards in all. You sit across from your partner (here, Patsy), and the two of you share one row of melds and one score. Everyone is dealt two sets of 11 cards: the hand, which you play first, and the foot, which waits face down until your hand runs out. A game is four hands, and the side with more points after the fourth wins.

Your turn

1. Draw two cards from the stock, or take the top of the discard pile (see below).
2. Meld if you like: lay down three or more cards of the same rank, or add cards to your side's melds.
3. Discard one card face up on the pile. That ends your turn.

Here you tap cards in your hand to pick them, then tap Meld, tap one of your melds to add to it, or tap the pile to discard.

Melds, books and wild cards

• A meld is three to seven cards of one rank, from 4 up to Ace. Suits do not matter, and there are no runs.
• Jokers and 2s are wild. A meld needs at least two natural cards, and it may never hold more wild cards than natural ones.
• Seven cards make a book, and a book is closed. A clean book (no wild cards) is worth a 500 point bonus, a dirty one 300.
• With five decks there are plenty of each rank, so your side may have more than one meld of the same rank.
• Your partner's melds are yours too, so add to them freely.

Your side's first meld

The first time your side melds in a hand, the cards you put down together must be worth a minimum, and it grows each hand: 50 points in the first hand, 90 in the second, 120 in the third and 150 in the fourth. You may put down several melds at once to reach it. Here, when your first melds are not enough yet, they wait on the table and show how many points you have so far.

Card values

• Joker: 50. Ace and 2: 20. King down to 8: 10. 7 down to 4, and black 3s: 5.
• Red 3s go straight onto the table when you get one, and you get a card to replace it. Each is worth 100. If your side has not melded by the end of the hand, they count 100 against you, and so does a red 3 still hiding in a foot nobody picked up.
• Black 3s are never melded. Discard one and the next player cannot take the pile.

Taking the pile

Instead of drawing, you may take the top of the discard pile. You need two natural cards in your hand that match the top card: they go onto the table with it at once, as a new meld or on one of your side's open melds. Then up to six more cards from under it come into your hand, so you take at most seven. You can never take the pile when its top card is a wild card or a black 3.

The foot

When your hand is empty, you pick up your foot. If you emptied your hand by melding, you play the foot right away and still discard at the end of the turn. If your last card was a discard, you pick up the foot and play it on your next turn.

Going out and scoring

Your side may go out once it has four books, at least two of them clean. Going out means playing the last card of your foot, by melding it or discarding it, and it earns 100 points. Until your side has those books, a player in the foot must always keep at least one card after discarding, so melds that would leave you with just one card have to wait. If the stock runs out, the hand ends without anyone going out.

Each side then scores its book bonuses, red 3s and the going out bonus, plus the value of every card it melded, minus the value of the cards still in both partners' hands and in any foot that was never picked up.

Tips

1. Race to your foot. Meld what you can early: a second set of cards is worth more than holding pairs for later.
2. Keep two books clean. You need two clean books to go out, so do not spend wild cards on your first natural melds.
3. Wild cards finish dirty books. Three or four natural cards plus wild cards make a 300 point book fast.
4. Keep pairs while you can. A pair is what lets you take the pile, and the pile gives up to seven cards for one turn.
5. Black 3s are gifts. Discard one when the pile is worth taking and the next player would love it.

Today's deal

The Daily Deal is one hand with the same cards and the same computer players for everyone. Play it through and see how your side's score compares. Your first try of the day is the one that counts.

Questions

Who are my partner and opponents? Patsy sits across from you and plays on your side. Glen (left) and Herb (right) play together against you.

Is this the same as Canasta? It is a close cousin. Hand and Foot uses more decks, a draw of two, a second set of cards (the foot) and books of exactly seven. Classic Canasta is here too.

We play it differently at home. Nearly every family does: some take the whole pile, some need more books to go out, some ask their partner first. These are the most common rules; house rules may come later.

Can I undo? No, like at a real table. Picking cards does nothing until you tap Meld, a meld, or the pile, so you can always change your mind before that.

Do I need an account? No. Your game is saved in this browser, so you can close the page and come back.