Printable Hand and Foot rules

Hand and Foot in one page

4 players in 2 teams · 5–6 decks with jokers · score pad

Each player gets two 11-card piles, a hand to play first and a foot to play after the hand is used up. On your turn you draw 2, lay down melds of 3 to 7 cards of the same rank with your partner, and discard 1. Seven-card melds become books worth 500 (clean) or 300 (dirty), and a team goes out once it has the required books and a player has played out their foot.

In brief

• Deal each player 11-card hand + 11-card foot (foot face down)
• Turn: draw 2, meld, discard 1
• Melds 3–7 of one rank; 2s and jokers wild; more naturals than wilds
• First meld minimum: 50 / 90 / 120 / 150 by round
• Book = 7 cards: clean 500, dirty 300
• Joker 50 · A, 2 = 20 · K–8 = 10 · 7–4 = 5 · black 3 = 5
• Red 3: +100 laid down, −100 if held; draw a replacement
• Black 3 on top blocks the discard pile; 3s never meld
• Pick up discards: 2 natural matches for the top card
• Go out: 1 clean + 1 dirty book, played into foot, +100
• Score: books + melded cards − cards left in hand and foot

Setup

1. Seat partners across from each other. Shuffle 5 or 6 decks together, jokers included. Six decks is common for four players.
2. Each player takes an 11-card hand and an 11-card foot. The foot stays face down and untouched until you have played every card in your hand. Many groups have each player count off their own piles from a rough-cut chunk of the deck to save time.
3. Put the rest of the cards face down in the middle as the stock and turn the top card face up to start the discard pile.
4. Set the minimum first meld for the round: 50 points in round 1, 90 in round 2, 120 in round 3, and 150 in round 4.
5. If you pick up a red 3 at any point, lay it face up in front of your team right away and draw a replacement card.

On your turn

1. Draw 2 cards from the stock. Alternatively, take the top seven cards of the discard pile if you hold two natural cards matching the top discard and meld all three immediately.
2. Lay down melds. A meld is 3 to 7 cards of the same rank. Your team's first meld of the round must total at least the round's minimum in card points. After that, either partner can add to any of the team's melds.
3. Wild cards (2s and jokers) can fill in, but every meld must have more natural cards than wilds. 3s are never melded.
4. When a meld reaches 7 cards it becomes a book. Square it up into a pile, with a red card on top for a clean book (no wilds) or a black card on top for a dirty book (includes wilds).
5. End your turn by discarding 1 card face up. If you play or discard the last card in your hand, pick up your foot and keep playing from it on your next turn (or right away if you finished the hand by melding).

Scoring

Winning

After four rounds (with the first-meld minimum rising to 150 by round 4), the team with the highest total score wins. Some groups agree on a target score instead of a round count. If teams are tied after four rounds, play another round at the 150 minimum.