Hand and Foot
(Canasta)

Table of Contents

• Basics: Object of the Game
• Why "Hand and Foot"?
• Players and Teams
• Object Of the Game: Team With the Most Points Wins
• Quick Overview of the Game
• Dealing the Cards
• Cards and Their Values
• The Play
• Starting Play by Drawing Cards or Picking Up the Pile
• Laying Out Cards
• Canastas
• Melding
• Minimum Meld Requirements for Each Round
• Adding Cards to Closed Canastas
• Starting a Second Canasta of the Same Rank
• Ending Play By Discarding
• Going Into Your Foot
• Going Out
• Threes
• Red Threes
• Black Threes
• Scoring
• Bonus for Going Out
• Subtracting Hands & Feet
• Counting Canastas
• Counting Cards
• Score Sheet

Basics: Object of the Game

Why "Hand and Foot"?

Hand and Foot is a flavor of Canasta. It is called "Hand and Foot" because each player is dealt two sets of cards - the hand, which is played first, and the foot, which is played when the hand has been used up.

Players and Teams

Hand and Foot usually is played with two teams of either 2 or 3 players each, making it a game for 4 or 6 players. Every player sits between players of the opposing team.

Object Of the Game: Team With the Most Points Wins

A game consists of 4 rounds. After each round, a score is calculated for the round and added to the total score. After the 4 rounds are completed, the team with the highest total score wins.

Quick Overview of The Game

Each round consists of a deal, the main play, and scoring. Each player is dealt a hand and a foot. In main play, players begin play with their hand, but (following rules detailed below) try to lay out their cards as quickly as possible. Cards on the table count as points. When you exhaust the cards in your hand, continue play with the cards in your foot. When your foot is exhausted and your team has met the criteria detailed below, you can go out, ending the round.  The rest of these rules describe the game in detail.

Dealing the Cards

After shuffling the cards, the player dealing the cards cuts the deck and uses the stack of cards to deal 2 stacks of 11 cards (face down) for each player.

The cut is important because the dealer's team gets a 100-point bonus if the dealer can cut exactly the correct number of cards to deal the hand and the foot plus one card to start the discard pile. A dealer typically creates the hands and feet near him then carefully distributes them to the players. Players study their hand in preparation for play, but their foot must not be looked at and is stored just out of reach until it is needed.

The remainder of the undealt cards stay in a face-down pile in the middle of the table, forming a deck. Cards are always drawn face down from the top of the deck. The discard pile sits next to the deck and is a pile of face up cards, with only the most recent discard showing.

Initially, the discard pile contains one card, created by the player who dealt. If this card is not initially a 4 through ace, continue turning up cards until one is revealed. Note that this process takes place after the hands have been dealt, so the number of cards needed for the 100-point bonus is always the same for a given number of players.

For the next round, deal passes one player to the left.

Cards and Their Values

Six (6) decks of cards are used, including jokers.

Individual cards have values as follows. These point values are used when melding and/or when counting the cards.

There are two kinds of wild cards: "Jokers" and "twos" (otherwise known as deuces). They are interchangeable in all circumstances except that they have different point values, that jokers cannot be discarded, and that a discarded deuce freezes the discard pile.

The Play

Teammates sit opposite each other.

Players play in turn, moving clockwise starting to the left of the person dealing.

Teams always work together. Each team designates a "captain" (usually the person with the most table space) to collect all cards laid out by their team.

After the deal, play starts with the person to the left of the dealer. On the first turn, a player lays out red threes from his hand, replacing them with cards from the deck before his turn begins. Red threes never count towards the meld.

A turn normally consists of:

1. Drawing 2 cards or picking up 6 from the discard pile;
2. optionally laying out cards, contributing to your team's laid out cards;
3. discarding one card to the top of the discard pile.

Starting Play by Drawing Cards or Picking Up the Pile

Each turn begins by taking cards either from the deck or from the discard pile. This section describes both options in detail.

If the player draws cards, he draws 2 cards. A red three drawn from the deck is laid out immediately and replaced with a new card from the deck.

Alternatively, a player may "pick up the pile", which means taking the top 6 cards from the discard pile. If the discard pile contains fewer than 7 cards, he takes the whole pile. To pick up the pile, all of the following criteria must first be met:

1. The top of the discard pile must not be a black three.
2. Your team must have melded, or you must meld while picking up the pile. Only the top card of the discard pile can be used towards the points needed for melding: the 5 other cards cannot be used towards points needed for the meld.
3. If the discard pile contains a deuce (which is always carefully situated sideways), you must use two cards of the same rank as the top card. (You may not use a wild card.)
4. You must immediately lay out these three cards (the two you are holding and the top discard).
5. Make apparent your justification: either the top card of the discard pile plays directly (if the deck is not frozen) or show the 2 cards in your hand that allow you to pick up the deck.

Since jokers and deuces are interchangeable, they can be used in any combination to pick up the (non-frozen) pile.

Laying Out Cards

Canastas

The general rule for laying out cards is that a single player holding 3 or more cards of the same rank can lay them out on the table, starting a canasta (or “book”). A canasta can also be started with 2 cards of the same rank and a wild card. Once a canasta has been started, any number of additional cards of the same rank can be added.

Seven cards closes a canasta. Closed canastas are put off to the side to be scored at the end of the round.  Although a player may contribute cards of this denomination (“rank”), he may no longer pick up the deck to do so.

Members of a given team share laid out cards. So, the team works together to build canastas, although they must start Canastas individually.

There are three kinds of canastas:

• Natural (aka Clean aka Red): contain no wild cards (red card is shown farthest from table top).
• Wild (aka Dirty aka Black): contains wild cards (black card is shown farthest from table top, wild cards are shown closest to table top). At any given time, each canasta must contain more natural than wild cards.

Threes cannot be used in Canastas. Red threes are laid out by themselves, and black threes can only be discarded.

Melding

For each round, the first time cards are laid out is called the meld. A team melds before laying out any other cards except red threes.

To meld, a player lays out cards totaling at least the minimum required points for that round. Red threes do not count towards melding. A player must meld on his own, without help from his teammates. But the meld counts for the entire team, so the first player who can do so melds for the entire team.

Minimum Meld Requirements for Each Round

Each round has different minimum required points to meld. These are:

Adding Cards to Closed Canastas

1. You cannot pick up the stack to add to add to closed canastas -- only to add to open ones.
2. You can add cards to closed canastas. This doesn't change the value of the canasta, but allows you to get rid of held cards and counts as a few extra points.
3. You cannot add wild cards to a closed canasta.

Starting a Second Canasta of the Same Rank

Each team cannot build more than one canasta of a given rank at the same time. For example, you cannot start a new canasta of 9's when your team has started a canasta of 9's but has not closed it.

Once a canasta is closed, a new canasta of the same rank can be started by playing a minimum of three cards of a rank or two cards plus a wild card.

Ending Play By Discarding

Your turn ends when you put a card on the discard pile. As soon as you release the card, your turn is over. This means you can no longer lay out cards (red threes, cards to build canastas, etc.).

Discarding a black three blocks the next player from picking up from the discard pile. A red three cannot be discarded. It is illegal to discard a joker. See picking up the pile for details.

Going Into Your Foot

When you lay out all the cards held in your hand, you pick up your foot, announce that you are playing in and continue playing. If you lay out all but one card from your hand, you can discard it, ending your turn, announce that you are discarding in, pick up your foot and continue play with it on your next turn.

Red threes in your foot should be laid out on the first turn in which you play your foot.

Going Out

The play is ended by the first player who "goes out". To do so, the following conditions must be met:

1. All members of a given team must have finished playing their hands. (They may be between hand and foot.)
2. The team must have at least 5 canastas (minimum 3 wild and 2 natural) by the end of play.
3. All the cards of the player who plans to go out must play even after he draws.

A player goes out by asking the rest of his team if they want to go out. Only if the response is universally affirmative (and never otherwise), the player lays out all his cards and says "I'm out".

Threes

This section summarizes all the special rules for Threes.

Red Threes

The following points apply to red threes:

• Highest valued card, count 100 points.
• They are laid out on a player's turn before cards are picked up from the deck/discard pile.
• When laid out, are immediately replaced with a new card from the deck.
• Cannot be discarded (even accidentally).
• Cannot be used in Canastas.
• Count 100 points against the team if they are held (in hand or foot) at the end of the round.

Black Threes

The following points apply to black threes:

• Lowest valued card, count 0 points.
• Can only be discarded. This means that black threes held in a hand delay a player going to his foot, and black threes held in a foot delay a player going out.
• Freeze the discard pile for one turn so the next player cannot pick it up.
• Cannot be used in Canastas.
• Count 0 points against the team if they are held (in hand or foot) at the end of the round.

 

 

Scoring

After each round, each team computes its score for the round. They add this to their total score for the game.

Subtracting Hands & Feet

Cards held in an opponent's hand or foot at the end of a round count against the team. Totals are calculated by summing card values.

Cards held by partners of the person who went out do not count at all, and are dismissed.

Counting Canastas ("Base")

Canastas earn points as follows:

• Natural: 500 points
• Wild: 300 points
• Red threes: 100 points (except in books of 4, where they count as 800 instead of 400)

Bonus for Going Out

When a player goes out, his team earns a 100-point bonus.

Counting the Cards

After canastas are counted, all the cards laid out are counted. This includes cards that formed canastas, cards added to closed canastas, and incomplete canastas.

Because red threes are counted while counting canastas, they are not recounted when counting the cards.

 

 

Hand & Foot Score Sheet

A score card might look like some variation of this:

Celia and Karen				Total
Cutting exact amount of deal (100 Points each)
For "Going Out" (100 Points)
Subtract value of unplayed cards in hands & feet
Red Threes	.......	X	100 points=
Natural Canastas	.......	X	500 points =
Wild Canastas	.......	X	300 points =
Add value of all cards laid out
Total for 60-Point Round
				Total
Cutting exact amount of deal (100 Points each)
For "Going Out" (100 Points)
Subtract value of unplayed cards in hands & feet
Red Threes	.......	X	100 points =
Natural Canastas	.......	X	500 points =
Wild Canastas	.......	X	300 points =
Add value of all cards laid out
Total for 90-Point Round
				Total
Cutting exact amount of deal (100 Points each)
For "Going Out" (100 Points)
Subtract value of unplayed cards in hands & feet
Red Threes	.......	X	100 points =
Natural Canastas	.......	X	500 points =
Wild Canastas	.......	X	300 points =
Add value of all cards laid out
Total for 120-Point Round
				Total
Cutting exact amount of deal (100 Points each)
For "Going Out" (100 Points)
Subtract value of unplayed cards in hands & feet
Red Threes	.......	X	100 points =
Natural Canastas	.......	X	500 points =
Wild Canastas	.......	X	300 points =
Add value of all cards laid out
Total for 150-Point Round

Ed and Doug				Total
Cutting exact amount of deal (100 Points each)
For "Going Out" (100 Points)
Subtract value of unplayed cards in hands & feet
Red Threes	.......	X	100 points =
Natural Canastas	.......	X	500 points =
Wild Canastas	.......	X	300 points =
Add value of all cards laid out
Total for 60-Point Round
				Total
Cutting exact amount of deal (100 Points each)
For "Going Out" (100 Points)
Subtract value of unplayed cards in hands & feet
Red Threes	.......	X	100 points =
Natural Canastas	.......	X	500 points =
Wild Canastas	.......	X	300 points =
Add value of all cards laid out
Total for 90-Point Round
				Total
Cutting exact amount of deal (100 Points each)
For "Going Out" (100 Points)
Subtract value of unplayed cards in hands & feet
Red Threes	.......	X	100 points =
Natural Canastas	.......	X	500 points =
Wild Canastas	.......	X	300 points =
Add value of all cards laid out
Total for 120-Point Round
				Total
Cutting exact amount of deal (100 Points each)
For "Going Out" (100 Points)
Subtract value of unplayed cards in hands & feet
Red Threes	.......	X	100 points =
Natural Canastas	.......	X	500 points =
Wild Canastas	.......	X	300 points =
Add value of all cards laid out
Total for 150-Point Round