Family Hand & Foot – Complete Rules

1. Setup

• Deck Count: Use (number_of_players + 1) standard 52-card decks (including Jokers).
  Example: 2 players → 3 decks; 4 players → 5 decks.
• Dealing:
  • Each player starts with two piles:
    • Hand: 11 cards (held in hand).
    • Foot: 11 cards (face-down, revealed when hand is empty).
• Wild Cards:
  • Jokers (and any extra printed/advertisement cards) are wild.
  • 2s are also wild.
• Wild Card Values:
  • Joker or extra wild = 50 points.
  • 2 = 20 points.

2. Card Point Values

Notes:

• Negative points apply if cards remain in hand/foot at end of round.
• Red 3 penalty applies only if still held when round ends.

3. Play Down Rules

• Initial Requirement:
  • Round 1: Must lay down cards totaling at least 60 points from your hand in a single turn.
  • Round 2: Requirement = 90 points.
  • Each subsequent round: +30 points.
• Wild Card Restriction:
  • At all times, no meld (book) may contain more wilds than natural cards.
• Important: Points for playing down come only from the cards you lay down in that turn, not from your total hand.

4. Turn Sequence

1. Draw Phase
   • Default: Draw two cards from the draw pile.
   • Special Unlock: If you've already met the play-down requirement for the round (60, 90, 120, etc.) and you have two natural cards in hand that match the top card of the discard pile:
     1. Lay down the two matching cards plus the top discard as a meld (no wilds allowed for this unlock).
     2. Take the top discard and the next 5 cards from the discard pile into your hand.
2. Meld/Book Phase
   • If you haven't played down yet, you must lay down cards from your hand worth at least the current round's point requirement in one turn to start your books.
   • Once you've played down:
     • You may add cards to only your own existing melds/books.
     • You may start new melds if you have 3+ of the same card.
     • You cannot play on another player's books.
3. Discard Phase
   • Discard exactly one card to end your turn.
   • Discards are placed face-up in a pile; only the top card is visible.

5. Discard Rules

• Discards are stacked face-up; only the top card is visible.
• Unlock Rule:
  1. If the previous player discards a card you have at least two matching natural cards of in your hand:
     • Immediately play your matching natural cards down (no wilds allowed for this unlock).
     • Take the top discarded card.
     • Draw 5 additional cards from the draw pile.
  2. If fewer than 5 cards remain in draw pile, take what's left.

6. Books

• Clean Book: All natural cards, no wilds.
• Dirty Book: Contains wilds, but never more wilds than natural cards.
• Book Size:
  • Complete at 7 cards but may contain more.
• End-Game Requirement:
  • Must have at least 1 clean book and 1 dirty book to go out.

7. Moving to the Foot

• When your hand is empty, turn over your foot pile and continue playing.
• Must finish playing your foot before going out.

8. Ending the Round

• Conditions to Go Out:
  • At least 1 clean book.
  • At least 1 dirty book.
  • No cards left in hand or foot (discard optional — you may play all remaining cards).
• Bonus:
  • Player who goes out first gets +100 points.
  • All others get one more turn.

9. Scoring

• Positive Points:
  • Cards in completed books and melds on table score their value.
• Negative Points:
  • Cards left in hand or foot count as negative points.
  • Black 3 = -5 points each.
  • Red 3 = -300 points each (only if still held at round end).

10. Example Turn

1. You start your turn with:
   • 3 Kings = 3 × 10 = 30 points
   • 2 Eights = 2 × 5 = 10 points
   • 1 Wild 2 = 20 points
2. You lay them down in one turn: Total = 60 points → enough to start books in Round 1.
3. Once down, you can add more cards to your own books in future turns to score more points.

11. Strategy Tips

• Discard red 3s as soon as possible to avoid -300 point penalty.
• Track cards in discard pile to use the unlock rule effectively.
• Save wilds for high-value plays but never exceed the natural card count in a meld.