Play Hand and Foot Online Free

Hand and Foot gives you two hands, but you cannot inspect the second one at the start. You play your thirteen-card hand first, then pick up the hidden thirteen-card foot when the hand runs out. The game belongs to the Canasta family and uses sets of equal ranks called melds. Full partnership rules vary widely. This browser version pares the game down to a two-player practice deal so you can learn the changeover between hand and foot, build seven-card books, and try to go out before the CPU.

1. You and the CPU each receive thirteen cards for a hand and thirteen cards for a face-down foot. The practice shuffles two shortened decks of ranks four through ace, adds the twos as wild cards, and includes four jokers. Threes and the red-three side rules stay out of this condensed version.
2. Click Draw two to start your turn. Then select at least three cards of the same rank and click Start meld. You may use wild twos or jokers if you have at least two natural cards for each wild card. You may also start a group of at least three wild cards, or add legal cards to an existing meld. A meld stops growing at seven cards; that complete pile is a book.
3. Make as many legal melds as you can during the turn. Click Discard beneath one of your remaining cards to finish the turn. The CPU draws, builds sets, and discards. After you exhaust your first hand, your foot opens automatically. The same draw, meld, and discard cycle continues with those cards.
4. The first player to empty both stages wins the practice deal. The interface also tracks card values in melds and bonuses for clean, dirty, and wild seven-card books. Full partnership Hand and Foot uses multiple deals, initial meld minimums, red threes, restrictions on going out, and permission from a partner. Those rules are outside this drill.

• A natural meld uses one rank from four through ace. Twos and jokers are wild; a mixed meld must contain at least twice as many natural cards as wild cards. You cannot place a nine and a king in the same meld just because they are both picture or high cards.
• A clean book of seven has no wild card and earns a 500-point bonus. A dirty book of seven includes wild cards within the two-naturals-per-wild limit and earns 300. A seven-card wild book earns 1,500. These bonuses sit on top of the individual values of the melded cards.
• The browser uses one independent player versus one CPU, with two decks and no threes. It does not implement a four-deal partnership match or the full requirements for going out, such as two clean, two dirty, and one wild book. Treat it as a focused tutorial on the hand-to-foot structure, not an exact simulation of your club's house rules.

• Build natural triples first. Three kings make a legal clean meld without spending a wild two that could help complete a different group.
• Reserve wild cards for a rank you can support. One joker and two queens form a legal dirty meld; two jokers and one queen do not.
• Watch a meld's size before adding to it. The seventh card completes a book and triggers its bonus, so a clean set of six may be worth preserving rather than turning dirty for a short-term discard.
• Plan the switch to the foot. Once your hand empties, your hidden thirteen-card foot appears. A long run of low-value discards can delay reaching that second stage.
• Count the stock as well as your cards. If players draw faster than they meld, the practice hand may end with no player out. A fresh deal gives you another chance to test a cleaner opening.

• Four-player partnership Hand and Foot: Partners share melds, use larger multi-pack stocks, and meet strict pile and permission requirements before going out.
• Canasta: Try Canasta to explore seven-card melds without a separate foot stage.
• Local rules: Some tables vary their opening meld minimums, discard-pickup rules, and book requirements. Agree on these before a physical match.

• The hidden foot changes what counts as a good play. Emptying your first hand reveals another set of cards, which can either support the melds already on the table or force a fresh plan.
• Books reward sustained collection across several turns. A clean seven-card book can feel satisfying because it reflects several deliberate choices to keep a rank together rather than using wild cards too soon.

Play a free Hand and Foot practice deal in your browser. Click cards to select melds, watch your score grow, and open the hidden foot after finishing your initial hand. The page makes the omitted partnership thresholds explicit, so you know which parts of the real table game still need a larger group and a full rules sheet. No account or real-money stake is required.

Start with natural triples, spend wild cards where they genuinely help, and look for the moment your hand empties and your foot opens. The browser isolates that two-stage rhythm so you can learn it before joining a four-player table. Play another deal to try for a clean seven-card book, then check the linked full rules for partnerships and match scoring.

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