The card words used in these rules
A card's rank is its number or letter: 8, Queen and Ace are ranks. Its suit is spades, hearts, diamonds or clubs. Two Queens have the same rank even when their suits differ. A natural card is being used as itself. A wild card is a 2 or Joker used as a substitute where the rules permit it; it does not become an unrestricted replacement for every purpose.
The stock is the face-down deck in the middle. The discard pile is the face-up stack beside it. Drawing from stock and taking the discard pile are alternative ways to begin a turn. Taking the pile requires a legal use for the visible top card; simply liking the cards you remember underneath is not enough.
A meld is a combination already played on the table. A pair in your hand is not yet a meld. Opening means your team's first accepted melds of the round; going out means legally emptying your cards to finish the round. Those are different milestones. Your partner can open the team for both of you, but neither partner can use cards hidden in the other's hand to qualify an opening.
1. Take your seat
Four players form two partnerships. Five decks with ten jokers make 270 cards. Each player receives a 13-card hand and a separate 13-card foot. The foot stays hidden until the hand is used up. A game lasts four rounds.
You sit opposite your computer partner. Turns move clockwise. You start the first round at this digital table. The dealer rotates after each round; the player to the dealer's left starts.
2. Draw, meld, discard
Draw two stock cards, or take an eligible discard pickup. You may then build or extend your team's books. Discard one card to finish your turn.
To use the controls: select cards, choose a destination, and add a meld to your plan. Prepared groups appear as cards on your side of the table. You can prepare several melds before pressing Play melds. Tap a prepared group to undo it. Planned cards stay in your hand until the server accepts the whole plan.
3. Build your team's melds
A meld contains three to seven cards of one rank. Use at least twice as many natural cards as wild cards, with at most two wild cards. A book of seven is complete and cannot grow. A clean book has no wild cards; a dirty book has one or two. You may also build a wild book using only twos and jokers. Complete a book before starting another meld of that rank.
4. Open with enough points
The first melds your team plays in a round must reach the opening minimum. Count the values of the cards, not canasta bonuses or red threes. Several melds can be played together to reach the total. Once either partner opens, both may add cards freely.
The opening minimum is 50 in round one, 90 in round two, 120 in round three, and 150 in round four.
5. Take from the discard pile
Take up to seven cards, including the top discard. You need two cards of the top card's rank in your hand and must meld those three immediately. For a top two use two twos; for a top joker use two jokers. No three may be picked up from the top.
The top card may count toward the opening minimum; the other cards you are about to take may not. Prepare extra opening melds before taking if needed.
Books cannot exceed seven. If a matching book would overflow, you must complete it and have enough available cards to start a new three-card meld before collecting the buried cards.
6. Handle the threes
Red threes are laid out and replaced automatically, including when you pick up your foot. Each laid-out red three scores 100. A red three left in an unopened foot costs 100. Black threes can only be discarded, one at a time. They block the next pickup and cost 5 each when left in hand or foot.
Pick up your foot
If you meld every hand card, pick up your foot immediately and continue the same turn. If you discard your last hand card, pick up your foot and wait until your next turn to play it.
Your partner must have picked up their foot and played from it before you can go out. Seeing an unopened foot's cards is never allowed, even for computer players.
7. Finish the round
Your team needs two clean books, two dirty books and one wild book. Both partners must be playing their feet. Ask your partner before going out; computer partners agree at this table. Then meld every remaining foot card or discard your last one. You cannot empty your foot before these conditions are met.
A stock draw that cannot be made ends the round. Eligible discard pickups may keep play going after the stock is empty.
Cards left in both hands and unopened feet count against the team. The highest cumulative score after round four wins.
Worked opening: two groups at once
Suppose your opening minimum is 90. Three natural Aces contribute 60 card points and three natural Kings contribute 30. Together they reach 90; neither group reaches it alone. Select the Aces and press Add meld. Select the Kings and press Add meld again. Both groups appear as cards on your side of the table. Press Play melds to submit them together.
Keep enough cards to finish the turn legally. Reaching the opening minimum is not permission to empty your hand before your team's going-out requirements are met. Canasta bonuses and red-three bonuses do not count toward that minimum. Once your team has opened, both partners may add eligible cards to its melds.
Is this the only way to play Hand & Foot?
No. This table uses partnership Hand & Foot based on the Bill Whitnack version in the source below: five decks, 13 cards in each hand and foot, four rounds, and two clean books, two dirty books and one wild book to go out. Some clubs change the deal, the number of books or the wild-book requirement. Those are meaningful differences, not interchangeable labels.
Before a home game, write the agreed requirements next to the score sheet. Decide how many cards a discard pickup collects and whether a completed book can be extended. In this version the pickup is at most seven cards and a completed book stops at seven. The online game does not silently adopt a different club's defaults.
What exactly changes when I reach my foot?
Your foot becomes your playable hand only when your original hand has been used up. If you play every remaining hand card into melds, you can continue using the foot during that same turn. If your last hand card is discarded, your turn has ended: pick up the foot, then wait until your next turn before playing it.
Your partner reaching their foot is not the same as your partner having played from it. The latter is required for your team's final exit. For example, if your partner just discarded the last hand card and picked up their foot, you should not assume the team is ready to go out. Check the going-out checklist before trying to empty your own foot.
Can one clean book satisfy a dirty-book requirement?
A clean book and a dirty book occupy different places in the exit checklist. A larger score is not a substitute for a missing kind of book. Your team needs the two clean, two dirty and one wild book required here, even if it already has many other completed books or a strong points lead.
Keep at least twice as many natural cards as wild cards in ordinary mixed groups. Four natural 9s and two wild cards make a valid six-card group; one more natural 9 completes a dirty book. An all-wild book follows its own rule and contains only twos and Jokers. Once a book is complete, it cannot accept another card. Finish one book of a rank before starting a new group of that rank.