Bill's Hand and Foot Card Game Rules

BASIC INFO

• 2, 3, 4, or 6 players
  • 2 players play against each other
  • 3 players play against each other
  • 4 players play as partners (2 vs 2)
  • 6 players play as partners (3 vs 3   OR   2 vs 2 vs 2)
• Standard playing cards deck (52 cards, 4 suits)
  • Numer of Jokers is optional (0, 2, or 4 per deck)
  • Two's and Jokers are considered to be Wild
  • Start with 1 more deck then the number of players
  • Add an extra deck if draw pile runs low

Game

• Winning player/team is whoever has the highest score
• Each Game consists of 1 to 6 rounds
• Possible rounds: 30, 60, 90, 120, 150, and 200
  (200 Round has special rules)

Round

• A 30 point round requires minimum of 30 opening points for first set of cards played; and so on for the higher point rounds
• To go out
  • A player/team must meet the required minimum number of clean and dirty books (ie 3 Clean and 3 Dirty)
    • Clean books only contain cards of the same rank (4-Ace)
    • Dirty books contain one or more wild cards
    • House rules determine the minimum number of books to go out
  • A player must have played both their HAND and their FOOT
  • Final card must be discarded

Initial Deal

• 11 cards to each player - this is their Hand
• 11 cards to each player - this is their Foot
• One card face up as start of Discard Pile
• Remaining cards are the Draw Pile

Player turns consist of three phases: Draw, Play, and Discard

DRAW - BEGIN TURN BY ADDING CARDS TO YOUR HAND

• Start turn by drawing from either Draw Pile or from Discard Pile
• Drawing from Draw Pile
  • House rules set number of cards to draw
• Drawing from Discard Pile
  • House rules set number of cards to draw from the Discard Pile
  • Must have 2 cards in your hand which match the top card of the Discard Pile
  • Discard Pile can not be taken if a Three or Wild card is top card
  • House rules may allow 1 wild and 1 matching card to be used
  • Top card of Discard Pile and the two cards from hand are immediately placed on table book, the remaining cards are placed in player's hand
  • House rules determine whether player/team must already be down

PLAY - GAIN POINTS BY PLAYING CARDS FROM YOUR HAND ONTO YOUR TEAM'S BOOKS

• 3 or more cards required to start new open book for each rank
• Maximum of 3 wilds (2's and Jokers) in any book
• Number of natural cards must be greater then number of wild cards
• 7th card causes book to be closed
• Once book is closed, a new open book can be started for that rank
• Natural cards can be added to closed book, but wild cards cannot
• House rules may allow optional Wild books
  • Wild books do NOT count as either clean or dirty, but are separate
  • Additional wild cards can not be added to a closed book of Wilds

DISCARD - END TURN BY REMOVING 1 CARD FROM YOUR HAND

• If you discard and still have cards in your hand then play passes to next player
• If you add last card of your Hand to a book (open or closed), then you pick up your Foot and continue turn
• If you discard last card of your Hand, then your turn ends, and you start playing your Foot on next turn
• Must keep at least 1 card in your Foot unless going out
• You can only discard last card of your Foot if you are able to go out

End Round / Go Out

• You discard the last card in your Foot
• You must have the required number of closed Clean and Dirty books
• You must have approval of your partner(s)
• House rules may require all team members to be in their Foot before any player can go out

Scoring At End Of Each Round

• Point value per card

  Rank	Value		Rank	Value		Rank	Value
  Four	5		Eight	10		Queen	10
  Five	5		Nine	10		King	10
  Six	5		Ten	10		Ace	20
  Seven	5		Jack	10		Two	20
  						Joker	50

• Each closed clean book is worth 500 points
• Each closed dirty book is worth 300 points
• Player/team that went out receives 100 bonus points
• Players/teams receive points for each card in books (closed and open)
• Cards left in player's hand/foot count against them
• Hose rules may include special bonuses and penalties
• Points are accumulated from each round
• Game winner is player/team with highest score after final round

House Rules
House rules reflect different modifications and enhancements that the host or club or players agree with. They may include additional rule restrictions, or additional features that result in extra bonuses and penalties. Here are some typical ones:

• Red Three's
  • Can be exchanged for new cards
  • Bonus points for each red three exchanged
  • Penalty points for each red three left in Hand or Foot
• Penalty points for each black three left in Hand or Foot
• Number of books required to go out
  • Minimum number of books required to go out
  • Minimum number of clean books
  • Minimum number of dirty books
  • Can even be expressed by statements such as "Total of 7 books to go out, 3 clean, 3 dirty, and 1 of either". This would allow 3+4, 4+3, 5+3, 3+6, etc
• Number of cards to be drawn from the Draw Pile
• Discard Pile
  • Number of cards to be drawn from Discard Pile
  • Requirements
    • Must have two cards in hand that match the top Discard Pile
    • Allow 1 wild and 1 matching card in hand to be used
    • Does the team already need to be down before taking top cards of Discard Pile
    • If not, can top card of Discard Pile and cards used to pick it up count towards the minimum Round requirement
• Book of Wilds
  • Are Book of Wilds allowed
  • Bonus points for completed book of Wilds
  • Penalty points for open (incomplete) book of Wilds
• Do all members of team need to be Foot before a player can go out

200 Round - Hand, Foot, and Tail

• The 200 Round starts off like a normal game
• 11 cards are dealt to your Hand and to your Foot
• 1 card is then dealt to your "Tail"
• Each time the player draws new cards (from Draw Pile or Discard Pile) they will also add an extra card to their tail
  If they normally draw 3 cards from the draw pile, then a 4th card will be added to their tail
   
  If they take the top 7 cards from the discard pile, then the 8th card will automatically be added to their tail
• Players first play their Hand, then their Foot, and then they play the Tail
• While they are playing their tail they will still be drawing that extra card
• The 200 Round usually requires more books to go out

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