A partner-based game that combines elements of rummy and canasta. Players work to empty their hand by creating shared table melds, then pick up their "foot" as a new hand and continue play. Also known as Hand & Foot Canasta.
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- The goal of Hand and Foot is to empty your hand by forming table melds and to end up as the highest scoring team after four rounds.
- Players start with a 13-card hand along with a face-down 13-card "foot" that is only used once the hand is emptied.
- Points are distributed on a per-team-basis, so players must work together to build valuable melds and try to block their opponents from picking up cards they need.
Set Up
- Four players form two teams with partners sitting opposite each other. Teammates share a melding space on the table.
- You will need one deck more than the number of players. So, for a game with four people you'll need five standard decks with two Jokers per pack, totaling 270 cards.
- Choose which team will go first. That team will deal 13 cards to each player's hand and 13 face-down cards to each player's foot. Players may not look at their foot cards until they've played all of the cards in their hand.
- The remaining cards form the stock. Turn the top card of the stock over to start the discard pile. If that card is a red Three or a wild card, reshuffle it into the stock and turn over a different card.
- Play proceeds clockwise from the dealer.
Playing the Game
Before taking their first turn of the game, each player must place any red Threes they hold face-up in their melding space, then draw the same number of cards from the stock. These are not counted as melds but will affect scores at the end of a hand.
On every turn, players begin by either drawing the top two cards from the stock or by taking the top seven cards from the discard pile.
If a player chooses to take the discard cards, they must meet these requirements:
- The top card of the discard pile cannot be a black Three.
- Two cards in that player's hand must be of the same rank as the top card in the discard pile.
- The player must be able to immediately meld those two cards with the third in the pile.
If drawing from the stock, or when satisfying the discard requirements above, players are then free to create melds or add to melds in their team's space. If a player empties their hand through melding, they immediately pick up their foot and continue creating/adding to melds.
Melds are sets of three to seven cards of the same rank (suit doesn't matter). Before playing their first meld of a round, teams must be able to meet the minimum point requirements:
Round 1: 50 points
Round 2: 90 points
Round 3: 120 points
Round 4: 150 points
Cards are scored based on the following point values:
- Jokers: 50 points each
- Aces and 2: 20 points each
- 8, 9, 10, Jack, Queen, King: 10 points each
- 4, 5, 6, 7: 5 points each
- Black 3: 5 points each
Twos and Jokers are wild. They may be used to represent any card in a meld, provided the meld has at least twice as many non-wild cards as wild. (In practice, this means only melds of six or seven cards can have two wilds.) A meld may also be composed exclusively of wild cards.
When a meld reaches its maximum of seven cards, place it in the "Completed Melds" container. These are referred to as piles. If the pile is clean, make sure a red card is on top. If it's dirty, show a black card, and if it's wild, show a Two or Joker.
Clean meld: All cards of the same rank with no wilds.
Dirty meld: A meld with one or two wild cards.
Wild meld: A meld composed of nothing but wild cards.
Discard a card to the top of the pile to end your turn. If doing this empties your hand, pick up your foot and use it on your next turn.
Taking a Turn
- Place red Threes from your hand onto the side of your table and draw a replacement card.
- Either draw two cards from the stock or take the top seven cards from the discard pile.
- Create or add to existing melds on your team's table using cards in your hand.
- Discard a card to end your turn.
Winning & Scoring
To win the game, one member of a team must completely empty their hand and their foot. Their partner must also have played at least one turn from their foot and given their teammate permission to go out.
The team attempting to declare victory must have at least two dirty piles, two clean piles, and one wild pile.
When the above conditions are met, the winning team will meld all of their remaining cards before tallying the score.
Both teams receive points for melds on their side of the table. Use the scoring chart as above to tally these results.
Teams lose points for cards they still hold in their hand.
Bonus points are given to both teams based on the following conditions:
Each complete wild pile: 1,500 points
Each complete clean pile: 500 points
Each complete dirty pile: 300 points
Going out bonus: 100 points
Each red Three on their side of the table: 100 points
Another way of ending the hand is if the stock is depleted. If this happens, simply add points to each team's total based on their table melds, and subtract based on the cards left in their hand.
Once points are tallied, add the totals to each team's score counter.
Reshuffle all cards back into the deck. The person to the original dealer's left will deal new hands and feet and the second round will begin.
The game ends after four rounds. Whichever team has the highest score at that point wins.
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