Hand and Foot rules

Four players in two teams; partners sit across from each other. Use 5 decks with jokers (270 cards). Twos and jokers are wild. Threes can’t be melded.

Each player gets a hand of 11 cards and a foot of 11 cards, face down. The rest is the stock. Turn the top card to start the discard pile. A game is 4 rounds.

Joker 50. Ace and 2 are 20. 8 to King are 10. 4 to 7 and black 3s are 5. A red 3 is +100 when laid on the table and −100 if it is still in your hand or foot.

Draw 2 from the stock, or take the top 7 of the pile if you hold a natural pair of the top card and meld it at once. Meld if you want. Discard 1. A black 3 on top blocks the next player from the pile.

A meld is 3 or more cards of one rank. Wilds must be fewer than natural cards. Seven cards make a book: a clean book (no wilds) scores 500, a dirty book 300.

A team’s first meld each round must be worth at least 50, 90, 120 and 150 points in rounds 1 to 4.

When your hand is empty, pick up your foot and keep playing.

Your team needs 2 clean and 2 dirty books. You must be playing from your foot, and you ask your partner first. Then meld every card, or all but one and discard it. Going out is worth 100.

Each team adds its books, the cards it melded, its red 3s and the going-out bonus, then subtracts the cards left in both partners’ hands and feet. After 4 rounds the higher total wins.