Hand and foot rules

A North American canasta variant where every player gets two hands, and you cannot touch the second until the first is gone. Four to six players in partnerships.

The deck

One 52-card deck per player plus jokers, all shuffled together. Deal eleven cards as the hand and eleven more, face down and untouched, as the foot.

Wild cards

Jokers and twos are wild.

Red threes

Set aside when drawn, worth 100 each. Black threes may not be melded and block the discard pile for one turn.

The melds

Three or more of the same rank. No runs. Melds belong to the partnership.

A book is a meld of seven. Clean — no wilds — it scores 500. Dirty — with wilds — it scores 300.

Your turn

Draw two cards from the stock. Meld what you can. Discard one.

You may take the top seven cards of the discard pile if you can immediately meld the top card with two natural cards from your hand.

The opening meld

Your side's first meld of each round must reach a minimum total, rising with the round: 50, then 90, 120 and 150.

Getting into your foot

When your hand is empty, you pick up your foot and carry on. If you empty your hand on a discard, you pick up the foot but wait until your next turn.

Going out

Your side needs a set number of clean and dirty books — usually two of each — and both partners must be in their foot. Ask your partner before you do it.

Four rounds, and the highest partnership total wins.