How To Play Hand And Foot - Gather Together Games

Needed

Five decks of cards; Ten Jokers; Four Players (divided into two teams)

Deal

All five decks of cards with the jokers are shuffled together.

Each player is dealt a total of 22 cards, one card at a time.

The first 11 cards dealt to each player is known as the player's hand stack and are kept together.

The next 11 cards dealt to each player is known as the player's foot stack. These cards are kept together and remain face down to begin the game.

The remaining cards is placed in the middle as a draw pile (stock pile). The top card of the draw pile is flipped up to start a discard pile.

Objective

The object of the game is to score the most points. Points are scored by melding cards of the same rank together as a team.

Three cards of the same rank are needed to start a meld, and a meld can have up to seven total cards.

The jokers and the 2s are wild cards. These cards can be added to any meld, but a meld can never have more wild cards than cards of the actual number.

There are two types of melds, clean and dirty. A clean meld (aka clean book) is a meld of seven cards all in the same rank.

A dirty meld (aka dirty book) is a meld of seven cards where some of the cards are wild cards.

Once a player melds all the cards from their hand, they will pick up their foot cards.

Once a player melds all the cards in their foot, the round is over. The game is played over four rounds.

Game Play

The player left of the dealer is first to play. If a player is dealt a red 3, or if a red 3 is ever drawn, it is immediately played on the table, and a card is drawn to replace it.

The Draw

Each turn begins with a card being drawn from the draw pile or discard pile. A player is only allowed to draw from the top of the discard pile if the top card is used to create a meld.

If the top card of the discard pile is successfully melded, the player will draw the next top seven cards in the discard pile.

If a player cannot draw the top discard, the player must draw two cards from the deck.

The player can also choose to draw the top two cards of the deck, even if it is possible to draw the top discard.

Melding

After the draw, a player can choose to create melds, if possible.

Three cards of similar rank is the minimum requirement to start a meld.

Wildcards (jokers and 2s) can be used in any meld, but a meld can never have more wildcards than natural cards.

Each card has a value:

• Jokers = 50 points

• Aces/2s = 20 points

• Kings to 8s = 10 points

• 7s to 4s = 5 points

• Black 3s = 5 points

In the first round, the initial meld laid by a team needs to have a combined card value of 50 points as a minimum requirement when starting the game.

In round two, the first meld must be at least 90 points.

In round 3, the first meld must be at least 120 points.

In round 4, the first meld must be at least 150 points.

When a meld has seven cards, it is complete.

If the meld has no wild cards, it is called a clean meld. Melds are stacked to the side with a red card on top for a clean meld (aka red book).

If the completed meld includes one or more wild cards, it is called a dirty meld (aka black book). A completed dirty meld is stacked to the side with a black card on top.

The Discard

A player’s turn ends with a discard. If a black 3 is discarded, the discard pile is blocked. A player cannot draw from a blocked pile.

Play then moves to the next player to start the next turn.

Going Out

A player can only end the round by getting rid of all cards.

A player can only end a round if their team has a completed clean meld, a completed dirty meld, and their teammate has picked up their foot stack.

A player is allowed to ask their partner if they should go out. Depending on what is left in the partner’s hand, the partner may want the round to continue.

Scoring

There are four areas where points are scored.

1. Card Values: Using the card point values from above, teams score the points from the cards in their melds (including completed and uncompleted melds), minus the points from the cards left in their hands.

2. Completed Melds: A team gets 500 points for each clean meld and 300 points for each dirty meld. If the completed meld does not include a wild card, it is considered a clean meld. If the completed meld does include a wild card, it is considered a dirty meld.

3. Red 3s: A team gets 100 points for each red 3.

4. Going Out: The team of the player who ended the round by playing the last card in the round gets 100 points.