The Hand & Foot Card Game is a variant of Canasta. It is typically played with 4 players, two teams. But up to 6 can play, using one deck of cards per a player.
Download a pdf file of rules, cheat sheets for the players to keep track of the rules, and scoring sheets, here: https://drive.google.com/file/d/19LVdLgJxNRD_F8x8abO5Cn7BDHsVPA8X/view?usp=sharing
How To Play Hand & Foot
2-6 players is possible, 4 is ideal. One deck of cards is needed for each player. Play for 4 or 6 is in teams. You can play on your partners melds in teams.
Shuffle all cards, pull your “stack” from the top. If you pull exactly 22 cards, receive 100pts. If not, discard or pull more to equal 22, then the next person pulls.
Without looking at the cards, divide in half. Set 11 aside in one pile as your “foot”. The other 11 are your hand, you may now look at those.
How many cards you pick up increases each round. One is discarded each round. If a red Three is drawn, it is put down immediately and replaced with a new card from the deck.
To pick up from the discard pile, you have to pick up the last 7 cards, the top card cannot be a black 3, and you MUST be able to immediately lay the top card into a meld.
A meld is a group of 3 of the same value card. (3 kings make a meld, 3 4s make a meld, etc). Continue to add to your meld until it has 7 cards—then it is a “book”. Books are the goal.
A game consists of four rounds. Each round has a minimum meld requirement that increases with each round. You must put down cards whose individual face values add up to at least the minimum requirement before your team is “in the game”.
You can put down several melds at once to achieve this. If you are picking up the pile, you can meld additional cards from you hand along with the top discard and the two that match to help you make up the minimum count, including wild cards. However, you cannot count any of the other six cards you are pick up towards the minimum.
To meld, all the cards that are played must equal the number of points that are required for that round. Wild cards have bonus points.
Wilds are Jokers & 2s. If you use a wild card in your book, it is a ‘dirty’ book. Books (groups of 7) that do not have a wild are ‘clean’ books. Only one wild can be used in a meld. A book can never have more than 2 wilds.
When the 'Book' of seven is completed, the player has to place them in a single stack, with the topmost card being a Red for 'Clean' and Black for 'Dirty'.
PICKING UP YOUR FEET - When you have been able to play all the cards in your hand, by either melding or discarding them, you then pick up your foot and play from that.
To 'Go Out', the player must get a Clean and Dirty, and get completely rid of their cards.
Once a player goes out, the remaining players must count the cards left in their hand, those points are subtracted from their total points.
When the 'Book' of seven is completed, the player has to place them in a single stack, with the topmost card being a Red for 'Clean' and Black for 'Dirty'.
PICKING UP YOUR FEET - When you have been able to play all the cards in your hand, by either melding or discarding them, you then pick up your foot and play from that.
To 'Go Out', the player must get a Clean and Dirty, and get completely rid of their cards.
Once a player goes out, the remaining players must count the cards left in their hand, those points are subtracted from their total points.
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Thank you for posting.
ReplyDeleteVery helpful for a newbie. Thanks for posting this!
ReplyDeleteThanks much for making it easier to get cheat sheets for my wife. Saved me alot of time and very clear.
ReplyDeletethank you it is a big help
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