How Hand and Foot works
The goal. You and North (the computer) each play alone. A game is four deals
(a deal is one dealing of the cards and everything played with it). In each deal you score points by putting
down groups and building books, and you lose points for cards still in your
hand or foot at the end. After four deals the higher total wins.
The cards. Three decks with their jokers, 162 cards. Each player is dealt two piles of 11:
the hand, which you hold and play from, and the foot, which stays face down
and unseen. When your hand is used up you pick up your foot and play from it. The rest are the draw pile, and
one card is turned up to start the discard pile.
- Natural cards are the cards from 4 up to ace.
- Wild cards are the 2s and the jokers. A wild card can stand in for a natural card of
any rank.
- Red threes (3♥, 3♦) are
bonus cards. When you are dealt or draw one, it goes on the table at once and you draw another card. Each
one is worth 100 points to you.
- Black threes (3♠, 3♣) cannot go in groups. Throw one away to stop the
other player from taking the discard pile.
A turn has three steps:
- Draw two cards from the draw pile, or take the top seven cards of the
discard pile (the rules are below).
- Put down groups, and add cards to your groups, if you can. You may also put down
nothing.
- Discard one card, face up, on the discard pile. That ends your turn.
Groups. A group is three to seven cards of the same rank, such as
9♥ 9♠ 9♦. It needs more natural
cards than wild cards, and it can have at most three wild cards. You can add more cards of that rank to your
groups on the table, but never to North’s. Each card in a group scores its points: aces and 2s are 20,
jokers are 50, 8, 9, 10, jack, queen and king are 10, and 4, 5, 6 and 7 are 5.
Books. A group of seven cards is a book, and it is finished. A clean book
has no wild card and earns a bonus of 500 points. A dirty book has one or more wild cards and
earns 300. You may start another group of the same rank once the first one is a book.
Your first groups. The first groups you put down in a deal must be worth at least a minimum
number of points together: 50 in the first deal, then 90, 120 and 150. Only the points on the cards count, not
bonuses, and you may put several groups down in one move to reach it. Until your first groups are down you
cannot add to anything and you cannot take the discard pile.
Taking the discard pile. Instead of drawing, you may take the top seven cards of the discard
pile. The top card must be a natural card, the pile must have at least seven cards, and you need two natural
cards of the same rank in your hand. Those two cards and the top card make a group (or go onto your group of
that rank), and the other six cards join your hand.
The foot. As soon as your hand is used up, even in the middle of a turn, you pick up your
foot and play from it. Red threes in your foot go on the table and are replaced.
Going out. You go out when you have used up your foot too. Your groups must include at least
one clean book and one dirty book. You may put down your last cards or discard the last one. Going out earns
100 points. Until you can go out you must keep at least two cards after you have picked up your foot, so that
you always have a card to discard. If the draw pile cannot give two cards and the pile cannot be taken, the
deal ends and nobody gets the bonus.
Scoring a deal. Add the points on your groups, the book bonuses, 100 for each red three on
the table, and 100 for going out. Subtract the points on the cards still in your hand and foot (a black three
counts 5, a red three left in an unplayed foot counts 100). The total can be below zero.
