- Score sheets
- Card games
- Hand and Foot
Hand and Foot score sheet
When someone goes out, each side adds its books (500 clean, 300 dirty) and the value of every card it melded, then takes off the cards still in its hands and feet. Keep it on a Hand and Foot score sheet: after four rounds, the higher total wins.
- Usually 4 players, 2 teams
- A hand, then a foot
- Four rounds
- Higher total wins
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This is the real app screen, live. Each round went in as one sum under one partner; counting the books and cards stays with you.
Hand and Foot
A Canasta relative, usually played by two partnerships, where each player works through a hand and then a second hand called the foot, and teams score books of seven plus every card they meld, minus whatever they are caught holding, over four rounds.
Hand and Foot on BoardGameGeek.
How to play Hand and Foot, in brief
Hand and Foot is a Canasta relative, usually for two teams of two: you play a hand of cards, then a second pile, the foot.
- Deal a hand and a footShuffle one more deck than there are players, jokers in. Deal everyone a hand to pick up and a foot to leave face down.
- Draw 2, meld, discard 1Draw 2, lay down melds (3 or more cards of one rank; 2s and jokers are wild), then discard 1. Each round, your team鈥檚 first meld needs a minimum count.
- Build booksPartners share melds; 7 cards of one rank close a book, clean with no wild cards, dirty with some.
- Then the footWith your hand used up, play from your foot. Going out takes at least one clean and one dirty book; after four rounds, the higher total wins.
Books first, then every card on the table.
Hand and Foot scores in two layers. A finished book of seven earns a bonus, and then every card a side has melded counts too, inside the books and out. Cards still in your hand or foot when someone goes out count against you.
What scores in a round
| Book or card | Points |
|---|---|
| Clean book (seven cards, no wild cards) | 500 |
| Dirty book (seven cards, with wild cards) | 300 |
| JokerWild | 50 |
| 2 or ace2s are wild | 20 |
| 8 through king | 10 |
| 4 through 7 | 5 |
| Going outThe figure Pagat and Wikipedia give; Bicycle names no amount | 100 |
| Cards left in your hand or footThe same values, taken off | minus |
- Take the book bonusesWhen someone goes out, each side scores 500 for every clean book of seven and 300 for every dirty one.
- Count every melded cardAdd the value of each card the side has on the table, the cards inside finished books included.
- Add the going-out bonusThe side that went out adds 100, the figure Pagat and Wikipedia give. Only that side scores it.
- Take off what鈥檚 caughtSubtract the same values for every card left in each partner鈥檚 hand, and for every card in a foot nobody picked up.
- Play four roundsScore red 3s by your table鈥檚 rule and add the round to each side鈥檚 total. After round 4, the higher total wins.
Round 4: You go out, and win it.
You and Sam are Team A, Mara and Jonas Team B, playing Bicycle鈥檚 rule that a side needs one clean and one dirty book to go out. Going into round 4 it is 3,080 to 3,070. You go out from your foot after asking Sam, and Mara and Jonas are caught holding cards. This is hand 4 on the Scorepad above.
| Team | Books, melded cards and cards caught | Round |
|---|---|---|
| You and Sam | Clean books of queens and 8s 路 a dirty book of six aces and a joker 路 three 6s 路 outEach book鈥檚 bonus and its cards, the 6s, going out: 500 + 70 + 500 + 70 + 300 + 170 + 15 + 100 | 1725 |
| Mara and Jonas | A clean book of 9s 路 a dirty book of five 6s and two 2s 路 three kings 路 caught: Mara a joker and a 10, Jonas two 7s and an aceBooks and cards, minus what they held: 500 + 70 + 300 + 65 + 30 - 50 - 10 - 5 - 5 - 20 | 875 |
Four long rounds, added right.
Tabletales is a scorepad and scrapbook for game night. Pick Teams as the scoring, then type each side鈥檚 score for the round on the Scorepad. There is no target to set: stop after hand 4.
- One round, one scoreType the round鈥檚 total under one partner and leave the other blank, or type it the way you count it: 500 + 70 + 500 + 70 + 300 + 170 + 15 + 100. The sum shows as you type, and Tabletales adds it up for you.
- Caught cards come offCaught cards go in as minuses in the same sum, like 965 - 50 - 10. A round that ends below zero shows in red.
- The teams bar keeps the leadTap a letter to put partners on Team A or B. The teams bar adds up each side and puts the trophy on the higher total.
- And the night is keptSave it with who played and a photo from the table. Each game gets a history: how often you play it, who with, and how often you win.
- Everyone who was there
- Photos from the table
- Hand and Foot, with its scores
Common Hand and Foot scoring mistakes
- Scoring a book鈥檚 bonus but not its cardsSeven clean kings are 500 for the book plus 70 for the cards.
- Forgetting a foot nobody picked upIf the round ends before a player reaches their foot, every card in it counts against the side.
- Calling a book clean with a wild card in itOne 2 or joker anywhere makes it a dirty book, worth 300.
- Giving both sides the going-out bonusOnly the side that went out scores it.
Hand and Foot scoring, answered
- How do you score Hand and Foot?
- When a player goes out, each side scores 500 for every clean book and 300 for every dirty book, adds the value of every card it melded, and subtracts the cards left in its hands and feet. The side that went out adds a bonus, 100 in Pagat鈥檚 rules.
- How much are the cards worth in Hand and Foot?
- Jokers are 50, 2s and aces 20, 8 through king 10, and 4 through 7 are 5. Red 3s are scored by your table鈥檚 rule.
- What is the minimum meld for each round of Hand and Foot?
- The first meld of a round must be worth at least 50 points in round 1, 90 in round 2, 120 in round 3 and 150 in round 4.
Hand and Foot score sheet
Print one for the table: two sides and four rounds, with room to work out each round, the opening meld for every round, and the card values at the bottom.
Score another game
Tables differ more than in most games: the books needed to go out, whether an all-wild book scores 1,500, how red and black 3s count, and whether each hand and foot gets 11 or 13 cards. Rules checked on 19 October 2026 against Bicycle Cards, Pagat and Board Game Arena.
Keep score tonight. Keep the night for good.
Tabletales adds up every hand, then saves the whole night: the games, the scores, the photos and who was there.
