Hand and Foot rules

Hand and Foot House Rules

Ask three families how they play Hand and Foot and you will get three different answers. Here are the variations we see most often, what each one changes, and how to set them in our scorekeeper.

Hand and Foot has no official rule book. It spread from table to table by word of mouth, and every group adapted it. Our Hand and Foot rules page gives the most common version. This page is the companion: a guide to the alternatives, so you can match the game your family already plays.

The common variations at a glance

Books needed to go out

This is the biggest difference between families, and it changes the whole feel of the game.

• 2 clean + 2 dirty is the requirement we use as our default. It is a solid middle ground.
• 1 clean + 1 dirty appears in Bicycle's rules and several family versions. Rounds are shorter and faster.
• 2 clean + 2 dirty + 1 wild book is the version on Pagat.com, gamerules.com and Denexa's rules. It makes for long rounds and big scores.
• Some families raise the requirement as the game goes on. One variant on Pagat asks for four clean and four dirty books in the final round.

The scorekeeper adds up whatever books you enter. It does not check whether a team was allowed to go out, so that part is up to the table.

Wild books

A wild book is seven wild cards, jokers and twos only. Where they are allowed, they are usually worth 1,500. Groups that require a wild book to go out obviously allow them. Groups that don't often ban them altogether.

Scorekeeper: open House rules and set "Wild book" to 1,500 (or your value). A wild books counter then appears for each team. Leave it at 0 if you don't play them.

Red three penalties

Most groups agree that a red three laid down is worth 100 points. The argument is over a red three still in your hand or foot when the round ends, usually because you never got into your foot.

• −100 is the most common penalty.
• −500 is a harsher rule found in several family versions. It makes getting into your foot much more urgent.
• Some families have no penalty at all.
• One version on Pagat never lets a red three score for you: you discard red threes right away, and any left in your hand or foot cost 500.

Scorekeeper: set "Each red three left in hand (minus)" to 100, 500 or 0. Enter it as a plain number; the scorekeeper subtracts it. "Each red three laid down" sets the plus side. There is more on threes in red threes and black threes.

Book values

Most groups score 500 for a clean book and 300 for a dirty one, the same as Canasta's canastas. A lower-scoring family version uses 300 and 100. That shrinks the gap between a good and bad round, especially if you also use the −500 red three.

Scorekeeper: change "Clean book" and "Dirty book."

Hand and foot size: 11 or 13

Bicycle, Denexa and many family versions deal 11 cards to each pile. Pagat's main rules and gamerules.com use 13. One Canadian version deals 11 to the hand and 13 to the foot. Bigger piles mean longer rounds and more points on the table.

Scorekeeper: nothing to set. You enter the points, however many cards you dealt.

Picking up the pile: top 7 or all of it

In the most common rule, picking up the pile gets you only the top seven cards. Some families let you take the whole pile, which makes a pickup much more powerful and makes careful discarding much more important.

Groups also differ on whether you can pick up when the top card is wild. Some say no. Others, including Pagat's main rules and Denexa, allow it if you hold two matching wild cards.

Opening meld minimums

The usual minimums rise each round: 50, 90, 120 and 150. Some families use different numbers. Others reportedly play to a target score and borrow Canasta's system, basing the minimum on each team's score. One variant on Pagat asks you to open the last round with a complete book built entirely from your hand.

Scorekeeper: set "Meld minimum each round" as a list, such as 50, 90, 120, 150. The board shows each round's minimum as you play. Minimums based on team score are not supported for Hand and Foot.

Number of rounds

Four rounds is standard, one for each opening minimum. Some families play more for a longer evening, or fewer for a quick game.

Scorekeeper: set "Number of rounds." If you add rounds, add a minimum for each one to the meld-minimum list too.

Asking permission and partners in the foot

In most games you must ask your partner, "May I go out?" and their yes or no is binding. Most also require both partners to be in their foot before either can go out. Some casual tables drop one or both rules.

Groups that play strictly sometimes add penalties. Denexa's rules, for example, use −100 for going out after your partner said no, or for asking and then being unable to go out, and −50 for picking up the pile when you could not legally use the top card.

Scorekeeper: enter any penalty as a negative number in the "Other" box for that team.

Jokers and decks

Most rules assume standard decks with both jokers left in, so five decks give you ten jokers. Boxed Hand and Foot sets sometimes have their own mix; Pagat describes one commercial set with 262 cards and ten jokers. More jokers means more wild cards, more dirty books and easier wild books.

Scorekeeper: you can change the value of each card type, including jokers and black threes, under House rules. The count cards helper uses these values. See how many decks you need for deck counts.

Grabbing 22 cards

Some families skip the deal. Each player grabs a chunk of cards and counts out 22. Anyone who grabs exactly 22 on the first try gets a 100-point bonus. Add it under "Other" in the scorekeeper.

Write it down

The fastest way to end an argument is to have the rules on paper before the first card is dealt. Agree each of the points above, jot them on the back of your score sheet, and keep the same rules for the whole game. The scorekeeper saves your house-rule values on your device, so they are ready next time. "Reset to standard" puts everything back to the common values.

Want to play your house rules better? Try our Hand and Foot strategy tips.