Canasta vs Hand and Foot: What’s the Difference?

If you learned Canasta from your mother and Hand and Foot from your neighbors, you have probably wondered whether they are the same game. They are close relatives. Hand and Foot grew out of Canasta, keeps almost all of its scoring, and changes how the cards are dealt and how a game ends.

Here is the short version, then every difference rule by rule.

The main differences at a glance

	Canasta	Hand and Foot
Players	4 in partners (2, 3 and 6 also played)	4 in partners (2 to 6 common)
Decks	2 decks + 4 jokers (108 cards)	Usually one more deck than players: 5–6 for four
Cards per player	11 (with four players)	Two piles of 11: the hand and the foot
Draw each turn	1 card	2 cards
A seven-card meld is called	A canasta	A book
To go out	At least 1 canasta	A set number of books, often 2 clean and 2 dirty
Game length	First team to 5,000 points	4 rounds, highest total wins
Opening meld	Depends on your score: 15, 50, 90 or 120	Rises each round, often 50, 90, 120, 150

House rules vary more in Hand and Foot than in Canasta. Treat the Hand and Foot column as the most common version, and agree on yours before the first deal.

What stays the same

Both games are about building melds of the same rank — three or more kings, three or more sevens — and growing them to seven cards. Both use deuces and jokers as wild cards, and a meld needs more natural cards than wild ones. Card values are the same in most families:

Card	Points
Joker	50
Ace, 2	20
King down to 8	10
7 down to 4, black 3	5

A seven-card meld without wild cards (a natural or “clean” canasta or book) scores 500. With wild cards (“mixed” or “dirty”) it scores 300. Red threes are bonus cards in both games, and black threes block the discard pile for the next player.

Difference 1: two piles instead of one hand

This is the one that gives Hand and Foot its name. Each player is dealt two piles: the hand and the foot. You play from your hand first. When you have played every card from it, you pick up your foot and keep going. In Canasta you have one hand for the whole deal.

Difference 2: more decks, more cards, faster melds

Canasta uses two decks. Hand and Foot shuffles together five or six for a table of four, and you draw two cards each turn instead of one. Melds come quicker and the table fills up fast — part of why Hand and Foot feels more relaxed and social.

Difference 3: how a game ends

Canasta is a race: deals continue until a team reaches 5,000 points. Hand and Foot is played in four rounds, and the minimum points you need for your first meld go up each round. The team with the highest total after round four wins. That makes an evening of Hand and Foot predictable in length, which hosts appreciate.

Difference 4: what it takes to go out

In Canasta, a team may go out once it has at least one canasta. Hand and Foot asks for more: usually a set number of clean and dirty books (two of each is common), and you must have played your foot. Many families also add a wild-card book or require a partner’s permission to go out.

Difference 5: the discard pile

In Canasta the discard pile is the big prize: whoever takes it gets the whole pile, and a wild card discarded on it “freezes” it. In many Hand and Foot games you take only the top several cards (seven is common), so the pile matters less.

Which one should you play?

• Play Canasta if you enjoy planning, a tense discard pile and a game that rewards experience. Canasta rules.
• Play Hand and Foot if you have a bigger crowd, new players at the table, or just want a long, sociable evening. Hand and Foot rules.

Looking for more games for your group? See card games to play with family, sorted by how many people are at the table.