Game Rules: Hand and Foot

Game Identity

• Name: Hand and Foot
• Player Count: 4 players (standard partnership). Can be 2–6.
• Teams: Yes — 2 teams of 2. Partners sit across from each other.
• Theme: Canasta-variant rummy game played with multiple decks. Each player is dealt two stacks of cards: the "hand" (played first) and the "foot" (played once the hand is empty).

Scoring Mechanics

• Scoring Variant: Accumulative — team scores grow toward a target.
• Target Score: 10,000 points (4-round game). Each round has its own minimum meld threshold.
• Unit of Scoring: Points per hand (melds, canastas, bonuses, penalties).
• Lower vs. Higher: Higher team score wins.

Rules & Validation

Per-Hand Logic (4 Rounds)

• Round Targets (score to win each round): 500, 1,500, 2,500, 3,500. Teams must accumulate these totals across rounds; game ends when one team reaches 10,000.

• Minimum Opening Meld per Round:

  • Round 1: 50 points
  • Round 2: 90 points
  • Round 3: 120 points
  • Round 4: 150 points

• Card Values (same as Canasta):

  • Jokers: 50 pts
  • Aces, 2s (wild): 20 pts
  • 8–K: 10 pts
  • 4–7: 5 pts
  • Black 3s: 5 pts (cannot be melded normally)

• Canasta Bonuses:

  • Clean canasta (no wilds): +500
  • Dirty canasta (with wilds): +300
  • Wild-card canasta (all wilds/2s/jokers): +1,000

• Going Out Bonus: +100 for the team whose player goes out.

• Going Out with a Foot: If a player goes out without picking up their foot at all, team earns +100 extra.

• Red Threes: +100 each; all 8 (across 2 players of a team) = +1,000 total.

• Penalties: Cards in hand/foot when opponent goes out are subtracted at face value.

• Validation Rules:

  • Net hand score entered per team (can be large positive or negative values).
  • Minimum of 3 clean canastas required before a team can go out.

Special Actions / Bonuses

• Wild-Card Canasta: 7+ wild cards (jokers, 2s) melded together = +1,000 pts.
• Red Threes: Laid face up when drawn; team collects bonus at end of round.

Win Conditions

• Condition: After a player goes out and the hand is scored, if a team's cumulative total reaches or exceeds 10,000, the team with the higher score wins. If neither team has reached 10,000, play the next round.
• Tie-Breaker: Play additional rounds until one team leads at game end.

Set Up in Doodle Score

Hand and Foot doesn't have a dedicated scorecard yet — track it for free using a general scorecard:

1. Tap New Scorecard and choose Paper Score (tracks all players each round in a grid)
2. Add 4 players (adjust as needed)

Score type: Ascending — highest score wins.