How to Play

A North American partnership Canasta variant in which each player holds two 11-card packets (Hand and Foot), chasing clean and dirty canastas across four deals of high-score play.

Hand and Foot is a North American partnership rummy in the Canasta family. Each player is dealt two separate packets at the start of every deal: an 11-card Hand that they pick up immediately, and an 11-card Foot that is set aside face down. You play the Hand first, and only when it is empty do you pick up the Foot and keep going. Partners work together to meld sets of equal rank, grow seven-card piles (canastas), satisfy the specific clean-and-dirty canasta requirements, and close a partner's Hand and Foot for a 100-point bonus. Games run long and score big, routinely finishing at 10 000 to 20 000 points over four deals.

Players

Best for 4 players in two partnerships (most common). Also playable with 2 players head-to-head, 3 individuals, or 6 in three pairs. Partners sit opposite. The deal rotates clockwise after each round.

Card Deck

• Five standard 52-card decks plus four jokers: 270 cards in total for a 4-player game. Add one more deck and two more jokers for each extra player beyond four.
• Wild cards: Jokers and all 2s. A wild card replaces any natural card in a meld subject to wild-cap rules.
• Card values: Joker = 50, Ace = 20, 2 = 20, 8 through King = 10, 4 through 7 = 5, 3 = special (Red 3 = -500 if caught in hand/foot, -300 at end of game for a partnership with no canasta; Black 3 = 5 but cannot be melded except on the play that goes out).A♠K♠
• Meld composition: a partnership meld may include up to 2 wild cards for a 3-to-6-card pile, but every pile must contain at least 3 natural same-rank cards; a 7-card pile with any wilds is a dirty canasta, a 7-card pile of all naturals is a clean canasta.

Objective

Score more points than the opposing partnership across four deals. Score comes from canastas (clean or dirty), the point values of cards in melds minus the point values of cards left in Hand or Foot, a 100-point 'going out' bonus, and -500 points for any red 3 still in a partnership's Hand or Foot at the end of the deal. The partnership with the higher cumulative score after all four deals wins.

Setup and Deal

1. Shuffle all five decks and four jokers into one stock (270 cards).
2. Deal each player two packets of 11 cards face down. The player keeps one packet as their Hand (picked up and looked at immediately) and places the other packet face down in front of them as their Foot (not looked at yet).
3. Place the remainder of the stock face down in the centre; turn the top card face up to start the discard pile. If the up-card is a wild card, a red 3, or a black 3, bury it back in the stock and flip another.
4. Any red 3 dealt to a player is placed face up in front of the partnership immediately at the start of play; it is replaced with a fresh card from the stock and counts as +100 per red 3 at the end of the deal only if the partnership has completed at least one canasta.
5. The player to the dealer's left plays first. Play proceeds clockwise.

Gameplay

1. Step 1 (draw): On your turn, draw 2 cards from the stock or pick up the entire discard pile. To pick up the discard pile you must (a) hold a natural pair of the same rank as the top card, (b) immediately meld all three naturals as a new meld or add them to an existing partnership meld of that rank, and (c) meet your partnership's minimum initial-meld requirement for the deal.
2. Step 2 (first meld): Before your partnership can meld anything in a deal, the combined point value of your opening melds must meet a minimum (often 50 in deal 1, 90 in deal 2, 120 in deal 3, 150 in deal 4). Once met, you and your partner may meld freely for the rest of the deal.
3. Step 3 (meld and extend): Lay down sets of 3+ same-rank cards face up in front of your partnership. Partner and you can extend any existing meld on later turns. A meld may contain up to 2 wild cards while it has fewer than 7 cards; once it reaches 7 (a canasta) it is squared up and cannot be extended except by replacing a wild with the natural card it stands for. A canasta's 8th card lives as a separate new meld.
4. Step 4 (discard): End your turn by discarding one card face up to the discard pile. You may not discard a wild card on a turn when your partnership is trying to freeze the discard pile (varies by house rule).
5. Step 5 (Hand to Foot): When you play the very last card from your Hand (either by melding it or discarding it), immediately pick up your Foot and add its 11 cards to your play area. Play continues from the Foot.
6. Step 6 (closing): To go out, your partnership must have completed the required canasta mix for the deal (commonly 2 clean + 2 dirty canastas for deal 1 or 2, and more for later deals, set by house rule). You must then play every card from your Foot and either meld or discard the last card. Going out ends the deal immediately.
7. Step 7 (stock runs out): If the stock is exhausted, the deal ends the next time the discard pile cannot be picked up; the final discard stands.

Scoring

• Clean canasta: 500 points (a 7-card same-rank meld with no wild cards).
• Dirty canasta: 300 points (a 7-card same-rank meld with at least one wild).
• Wild canasta (7-card meld made entirely of wilds): 1500 points; allowed only in some house rules.
• Going out bonus: 100 points, paid to the partnership that closes first.
• Card values in melds: add up every card in every partnership meld using the scale in Card Deck.
• Cards left in Hand or Foot: subtract their total point value from the partnership score.
• Red 3s: +100 each if the partnership has at least one canasta at the end of the deal; -500 each if in a player's Hand or Foot at the end of the deal.
• The partnership with the higher cumulative total after all four deals wins the game.

Winning

A four-deal match is standard. The partnership with the higher cumulative score at the end of the fourth deal wins. For shorter games, play a first-to-10 000 target. In the rare event of a dead tie, play one extra deal with only 90 required as the opening meld to break the tie.

Common Variations

• Italian Hand and Foot: Uses slightly different opening thresholds and scores clean canastas at 500 and dirty at 300 with a 300 five-of-a-kind bonus pile on the way.
• Pennies from Heaven: Adds a third 11-card packet (a 'back') dealt to each player; it is played only after the Foot.
• Safari Hand and Foot: Introduces a required set of canasta 'animals' (specific named melds) before going out.
• Short Hand and Foot: Requires only 1 clean + 1 dirty canasta to close; speeds the game to a single evening.
• Cuban Canasta connection: Hand and Foot is a direct cousin of Cuban Canasta; many house rules borrow from both.

Tips and Strategy

• Get into your Foot fast. Empty your Hand on any turn you can meld heavily or trade heavy cards with your partner; the Foot is the engine that finishes canastas.
• Guard the discard pile. Do not discard a rank your partner has melded more than 4 copies of (they may be mining a clean canasta). Do not discard wilds casually; an opponent picking up a wild gets a large free boost.
• Aim for at least one clean canasta before opening the Foot. A clean canasta pays 200 points more than a dirty one and usually decides a close deal.
• Coordinate with your partner on rank assignments; if they lay a Queen meld, feed them Queens rather than starting your own competing Queen pile.
• In deals with high opening thresholds (120 or 150), wait until your partnership holds a combined 200+ point opening in naturals before melding; a forced premature opening often burns wilds unnecessarily.

Glossary

• Hand: The first 11-card packet dealt to each player; played before the Foot.
• Foot: The second 11-card packet, set aside face down until the Hand is emptied.
• Clean canasta: A 7-card same-rank meld with no wild cards; 500 points.
• Dirty canasta: A 7-card same-rank meld with at least one wild; 300 points.
• Going out: Ending the deal by playing the last card from your Foot, subject to canasta-mix requirements.
• Opening meld: The initial meld or set of melds that meet the partnership's minimum point threshold for the deal.