What is Hand and Foot Canasta?

Hand and Foot takes the Canasta idea and stretches it into a long, sociable evening. The twist of a second batch of cards, your foot, gives the game its name and its rhythm.

Short answer: Hand and Foot is a popular Canasta variant, usually five decks, where each player is dealt two sets of cards: a hand played first and a foot played once the hand is gone. Sides typically need both a clean and a dirty canasta to go out, and the game runs over four scored rounds.

The hand and the foot

Each player receives two stacks: the hand, which you pick up and play first, and the foot, which stays face down until your hand is empty. When you have played or discarded your last hand card, you pick up your foot and keep going. Getting into your foot is a small milestone in every round, since it doubles your working cards.

Melds and canastas

Hand and Foot uses about five decks, so canastas are larger, commonly seven cards, and sides usually must complete both a clean (natural) canasta and a dirty (mixed) one before they can go out. Some house rules also add special canastas of wild cards or sevens. The extra requirements make going out a genuine achievement rather than a quick dash.

Rounds and scoring

A full game is four rounds, each ending when a side goes out, with scores carried forward. Clean and dirty canastas, red threes and going out all pay bonuses much like classic Canasta, just at a larger scale. After the fourth round the side with the most points wins, which makes Hand and Foot a favorite for family and group play.

The surest way to make this stick is to play a few hands. Try Italian Canasta or Pennies from Heaven against the computer, keep the Canasta rules and glossary handy for anything unfamiliar, and browse the rest of the Canasta FAQ for more answers. When you are ready, put it to the test on the daily deal.

Play Hand and Foot

Related questions

How many decks and cards does Canasta use?

Classic Canasta uses two standard 52-card decks shuffled together with all four jokers, giving 108 cards. Variants scale up: Samba and Bolivia use three decks, while Hand and Foot and Pennies from Heaven use five or six. In every version the jokers and twos serve as wild cards.

What is the difference between Samba and Canasta?

Samba is a three-deck Canasta variant that lets you meld same-suit sequences as well as sets of matching ranks. A samba is a seven-card run of one suit worth a 1,500-point bonus. You draw two cards per turn, and the game usually runs to 10,000 points rather than the classic 5,000.

How long does a game of Canasta take?

A single hand of Canasta usually takes 15 to 30 minutes. A full classic game to 5,000 points spans several hands and runs about 45 to 90 minutes. Longer variants like Hand and Foot or Bolivia, with more decks and higher targets, can easily fill two hours or a whole evening.

How many players can play Canasta?

Canasta can be played by two, three or four people. The classic and most popular form is four players in two partnerships. Two-handed Canasta is a strong duel between two players, and there are three-handed and six-handed forms too. The player count changes how many cards you draw and how many canastas you need.