How to play, in one minute

Hand and Foot is played with several decks and their jokers. You get two piles of 11 cards: your hand, and your foot, which you can't touch until the hand is gone. Lay down sets of the same rank, build them into seven-card books, and go out once your side has two clean and two dirty books. Four rounds, most points wins.

Each turn: draw 2 from the deck, or take the pile if you hold two natural cards matching its top card. Then meld what you can and discard one card.

Pick cards by tapping them. Identical cards sit in one stack with a count; tap the stack again to pick another. Then tap Meld, or tap one of your melds to add to it. Before your side has opened, the button says Plan meld: plan each group, then tap Lay down once they add up to the minimum.

Wild cards: 2s and jokers. A meld needs at least twice as many natural cards as wild ones. Seven cards with no wilds is a clean book (500). With wilds, a dirty book (300).

Your first melds each round must add up to 50, then 90, 120 and 150. The game plans them with you and lays them down together.

Threes: red 3s go on the table by themselves for 100 points. Black 3s can only be discarded, and one on the pile blocks the next player from taking it.

The full rules, with every table and the common house rules, are on our how to play Hand and Foot page. Playing with real cards? Keep score with our Hand and Foot score sheet.

Questions

Is it free?

Yes. No account, no download and no limit on games. If ads ever appear to keep the site running, they'll stay off the table.

Can I play Hand and Foot with a partner?

Yes. In Settings, choose 4 players: you and a computer partner sit across from each other against two computers, and your side shares its melds and books. Before anyone goes out, they ask their partner. When your partner asks you, the game shows how many points you'd be stuck with, so you can say yes or "not yet".

Can I play Hand and Foot with a friend online?

Yes, one on one. Tap Play a friend and send the link it gives you by text, email or chat. The game starts when your friend opens it, on a phone or a computer, with the house rules from your settings. There's no sign-up and no chat. Neither browser is ever sent the other player's hand, either foot, or the deck. If either of you closes the page, opening it again picks up the same game. A friend game with no moves for 14 days is deleted.

Which rules does it use?

The main rules on pagat.com with 11-card hands and feet, as in Bicycle's rules, and two clean and two dirty books to go out. Settings switch to one clean and one dirty, to pagat's wild book, to 13 cards, to more decks, to no first-meld minimum, or to red 3s that count against you. Changes start with your next game.

How good is the computer?

Pick Strong or Easy in Settings. The strong player takes the pile whenever it's worth it, plays its hand out fast to reach its foot, keeps wild cards off melds that could still be clean books, and avoids discards the next player could pair. In our test it beat the easy player in 588 of 600 one-on-one games. It never looks at your hand, any foot, or the order of the deck.

Who keeps score?

The game does. After every round it shows each side's melded points, book bonuses, red 3s, the 100 for going out and the cards left in hand and foot, line by line, with the running total.

Can I take back a move?

Yes, within your turn: Undo takes back a meld until you've seen new cards (a draw, the pile or your foot). Planned first melds can be cleared before you lay them down.

Is there a hint button?

Yes. It shows what the strong computer would do now and picks the cards for you: draw or take the pile, what to meld, or which card to throw and why. You get 6 hints a round. Asking again about the same move doesn't use another one.

Hand and Foot

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How to play, in one minute

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