Player help
Blog
Short notes for players who already know a little Canasta — or who have been playing Hand and Foot for years and want our house rules in plain English. Full rules live on Rules & help.
Player-help notes
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Meld Management: Building for the Big Score
October 2026 · Clean or dirty, build in pairs, and the 200-point question to ask before every wild card.
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Wild Card Mastery: When to Hold ’Em, When to Play ’Em
October 2026 · Jokers and deuces — hold for bottlenecks, respect the ratio, get them down before they count against you.
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The Absolute Beginner’s Guide to Hand and Foot
October 2026 · Decks, the hand and the foot, a turn step by step, books, going out and scoring, for your very first game.
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Hand and Foot vs Canasta — what actually changes
October 2026 · Same family, different game — decks, hand and foot, going out, and how this table plays to 10,000.
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When to Go Out in Hand and Foot (and when to stay in)
August 2026 · Clean book, dirty book, last card — then look at the table. Going out is a choice, not a race.
Our story
How six people from three continents kept a cruise-table game going after the ship docked — that piece lives under Our story in the nav (not folded into the list above): How hands at sea became hands across the ocean.
Ready for a hand?
First games free · no download · share a room code with friends · optional video.