Hand and Foot Rule Variations

Hand and Foot has never had one official rulebook. It spread from kitchen table to kitchen table, and nearly every family, club and community center added its own touches. If the way you learned it is different from the way we explain it, that's normal. This page covers the variations we hear about most.

The first six sections match the options in our game's Settings → House Rules menu, so you can play the way your family does. The rest are common variations our game doesn't offer yet; we describe them so you know what they are and how they change play.

House Rules You Can Turn On

Picking Up the Discard Pile: Seven Cards or the Whole Pile

Our default: when you pick up the discard pile, you take only the top seven cards (the top card goes on the table with your pair, and the other six go into your hand). The rest of the pile stays where it is.

The alternative: many families take the whole pile, however big it has grown. This makes pickups far more powerful and the game swingier: a single pickup late in a round can hand a team twenty or thirty cards, which is great for building books but risky if someone goes out soon after. Players tend to guard their discards much more closely under this rule.

You can turn this on in Settings → House Rules.

Wild Card Limit

Our default: a pile may never have more wild cards than natural cards. A finished dirty book, then, has at most three wild cards and at least four naturals.

The alternative: some groups use a simple cap of at most three wild cards in any pile, borrowed from Canasta. The difference shows up on small piles: under the cap, you could start a meld with two naturals and, say, a joker, then add two more wild cards later even before adding more naturals. It lets you move wild cards onto the table a little sooner.

You can turn this on in Settings → House Rules.

Books Needed to Go Out

Our default: your team needs one clean book and one dirty book before either partner can go out. A second clean book can take the place of the dirty one.

The alternative: two clean and two dirty books. This is very common, especially with groups that play with more decks. Rounds last longer, scores get bigger, and the risk of being caught with a full foot drops, since everyone has more time to reach theirs. Some families go further and ask for three of each, or add a wild-card book to the list; our game offers the two-and-two setting.

You can turn this on in Settings → House Rules.

Asking Your Partner to Go Out

Our default: you must ask your partner, "May I go out?", before going out. You can ask once per turn, and if your partner says no, you can't go out that turn. When a computer partner asks you, our game shows a box where you answer yes or no.

The alternative: no need to ask. Anyone who meets the requirements can go out whenever they like. It speeds the game up a little but takes away a nice bit of teamwork, since your partner can't warn you that they're sitting on a pile of points.

You can turn this on in Settings → House Rules.

Meld Minimums

Our default: the first meld each round must reach a rising minimum: 50 points in round 1, 90 in round 2, 120 in round 3 and 150 in round 4. Later rounds get harder to start, which rewards holding wild cards and aces.

The alternative: 50 points every round. This is easier on newer players and keeps every round moving quickly. Other families use their own ladders, such as 60, 90, 120, 150, or base the minimum on the team's running score the way Canasta does.

You can turn this on in Settings → House Rules.

Closed Books or Growing Books

Our default: a pile is closed when it reaches seven cards. Nothing more can be added, and your team may start a fresh pile of that rank.

The alternative: books keep growing past seven, as canastas do in Canasta. You can keep adding cards of that rank, which gives you more places to play late in the round. Be careful: adding a wild card to a clean book turns it into a dirty book, and its bonus drops from 500 to 300.

You can turn this on in Settings → House Rules.

Other Variations Families Play

Our game doesn't offer these as options (yet), but you're likely to meet them around the table.

Red 3 Scoring

We count each red 3 as +100, and a red 3 trapped in an unplayed foot as −500. Common alternatives:

• +100 or −100: red 3s are worth 100 if your team has melded, or cost 100 if it hasn't.
• Red 3s worth 500 at the end: some groups make each red 3 a big prize, which adds a lot of luck.
• Red 3s as penalty cards only: they score nothing if played, but count against you if caught in hand or foot.

Black 3 Rules

Some families let you meld black 3s whenever you like, not only when going out. Others let a black 3 freeze or "lock" the pile for the rest of the turn order instead of just the next player. A few count leftover black 3s at −100 to make them riskier to hold.

Number of Decks

We use five decks for four players. Groups use anywhere from four to six. The usual rule of thumb is one more deck than the number of players. Fewer decks mean fewer cards of each rank and slower books; more decks mean bigger piles and longer rounds.

13-Card Hands and Feet

Some families deal 13 cards to the hand and 13 to the foot instead of 11. Rounds last longer, and there's more to play with, but also more to get caught holding. It pairs naturally with six decks.

Wild Card Books

A popular extra: a book made entirely of wild cards (seven jokers and 2s). It's usually worth a big bonus, often 1,500 points, and some groups require one to go out. It's a real gamble, since those wild cards could have finished several other books.

Penalty for Asking and Not Going Out

In some homes, if you ask "May I go out?", your partner says yes, and then you can't actually do it, your team loses 100 points. It keeps people honest about asking.

Unfinished Piles Counting Minus

We count every melded card in your favor, whether its pile is finished or not. Some families count the cards in unfinished piles against the team instead. That makes it much riskier to start new piles late in a round.

Picking Up the Foot

Our rule: if you empty your hand by melding, you keep playing from your foot right away; if your last card was a discard, you start the foot on your next turn. Some families always make you wait a turn, and a few let you look at your foot right after you discard.

Three or Six Players

With three players, everyone plays alone, usually with four decks, and the books needed to go out are often reduced. With six players, families play three teams of two or two teams of three, with six or seven decks.

Hand and Foot vs. Canasta

If you know one game, you're well on the way to the other. The main differences:

Want to compare for yourself? Play Canasta free or read the Canasta rules.

Playing Our Way

Our default game follows the Hand and Foot rules page. To play your family's way instead, open Settings → House Rules and pick the options that match the rules you grew up with.