BAIN HAND AND FOOT

Hey there, let me introduce you to Bain Hand and Foot, a super cool version of the classic card game Hand and Foot. It’s a trick-taking game that you can play with 3 of your friends. The ultimate goal is to be the first team to reach a score of 20,000 points and beat your opponents.

When you play Bain Hand and Foot, you team up with a partner. You and your teammate will sit across from each other, ready to conquer the game together.

SETUP

To decide who gets to be the first dealer, you can choose randomly or come up with any fun way to pick someone.

Alright, let’s get everything ready. Shuffle the deck of cards and deal 15 cards to each player. But that’s not all! The dealer will also give each player 13 more cards, which they can look at once and then put aside face down for later. These special 13 cards are called the “foot”. Exciting, right?

Now, let’s create a draw pile in the center of the table with the remaining deck. The top card of the draw pile will kickstart the discard pile.

Card Rankings and Point Values

When it comes to playing cards, it’s important to understand how they’re ranked and what they’re worth. Let me break it down for you:

First off, all suits are ranked in this order: Ace (high), King, Queen, Jack, 10, 9, 8, 7, 6, 5, and 4 (low). That’s the hierarchy of suits, so keep it in mind.

Now, let’s talk about wild cards. Jokers and twos are the wild cards of this game. They’re pretty special because they can be played to represent any of the ranked cards I just mentioned. They’re like chameleons! But here’s the catch: you can’t go too wild. You can’t have more than three wild cards in any meld or canasta. Keep that number in mind, because it’s important for the game.

And here’s another rule for you: in a meld of five or six cards, you can only have up to two wild cards. It’s like a little balancing act with those wilds. Gotta keep it fair and fun!

Now let’s talk about red threes. These special cards have some unique properties. When you draw a red three card, you need to immediately put it with your melds. It’s like a VIP, can’t keep it waiting! And here’s an interesting twist: if the very first card in the discard pile happens to be a red three, it actually freezes the pile. Nobody can touch it until a player draws it. But when that happens, boom! They have to meld that red three right away. It’s a rule, my friend.

Oh, one more thing. Red threes don’t count towards your meld requirements. They’re just there to keep things interesting. If you want to know more about scoring, check out the section below. It’s got all the juicy details.

In the game of Canasta, there’s a rule about black threes. You can’t add them to melds, except when you’re about to win. When you’re ready to go out, you can play 3 or more black threes together. No wild cards can be used in these melds.

Now, if you discard a black three and it goes on the pile, something interesting happens. The pile freezes, but only until the next turn. Once someone covers the black three with their own discard, the freeze is lifted.

In Canasta, different cards have different values. For example, jokers are worth 50 points each. Aces and twos are worth 20 points each. Kings, queens, jacks, and all the numbers from 8 to 3 are worth 10 points each. Finally, both black threes and red threes are worth 5 points each. But red threes are special, and we’ll talk about them later.

Canastas and Melds

So, let’s talk about melds. A meld is when you have three or more cards that you can add to later. But you can’t have more than seven cards in a meld – once you reach seven, it becomes a canasta.

Now, here’s the thing – you can’t have two melds of the same rank at the same time. But once you finish a meld of a certain rank, you can start another one with the same rank.

Alright, next up we have canastas. A canasta is a completed meld that has exactly seven cards. There are four types of canastas: Natural, Mixed, Wild, and Sevens.

A natural canasta is when you have seven cards of the same rank, and there are no wild cards involved. These are special because they’re worth a whopping 500 points each! You can spot them by the red card on top of the completed canasta.

Did you know that there are different types of canastas with specific rules and point values? Let me tell you about them!

A Black Canasta is a special type that consists of both natural and wild cards, all of which have the same rank. This type of canasta is worth 300 points. To create a mixed canasta, you need to start with a mixed meld, which should include at least 2 natural cards and no more than 3 wild cards. The completed canasta is identified by having a black card on top.

On the other hand, a Wild Canasta is made up of 7 wild cards, and each one of them is worth 1000 points. Remember, no natural cards are allowed in this type of canasta.

Lastly, we have the Seven Canasta, which, as the name suggests, consists of seven 7s and cannot contain any wild cards. This type of canasta is worth 1500 points.

Requirements for Creating a Meld

So, here’s what you need to know in order to start melding each round. Pay attention now, because it’s important! The points you get from the cards I just told you about? Yeah, those play a role in determining your melds score. But here’s the trick – your team’s current score will actually decide how valuable your initial meld needs to be. Interesting, isn’t it?

Now, let’s talk about making your initial meld. It’s pretty cool, because you can actually make as many melds as you want to meet the requirements. So, if you need to reach a specific number, you can start several melds of three or more cards. It’s like a strategy game, figuring out how to create the best combinations to win.

If you have a negative score, you only need a meld worth 15 or more points to start. If your score is 0 to 4995, your initial meld must be at least 50 points. With a score of 5000 to 9995, your initial meld must be worth 90 points or more. When your score is 10000 to 14995, your initial meld must be 120 points or more. And if your score is 15000 or more, your initial meld must be worth 150 or more points.

Red threes and previous canastas don’t count towards the meld requirements. Only the cards within the meld you’re playing count towards their initial value.

Once you’ve played and met the initial meld requirement for your team, you can’t complete a canasta until your partner has completed a canasta and picked up their foot.

LET’S PLAY!

I want to tell you about how the card game begins. It’s a fun game that you can play with your friends or family. The game starts with the player sitting to the left of the dealer, and then it goes around the table in a clockwise direction. So, each person gets a turn to play. When it’s your turn, there are a few things you need to do.

The first thing you do is draw two cards from the draw pile. The draw pile is where all the cards that haven’t been played yet are kept. You can also choose to draw the entire discard pile if you want. The discard pile is where players put the cards they don’t want anymore.

After you’ve drawn your cards, you can start a meld if you want to. A meld is when you put together cards of the same rank. You can also add cards to any melds that your team has already started. A team is a group of people playing together.

Finally, you need to end your turn by discarding one card from your hand. You put the card face up on the discard pile. Then it’s the next player’s turn to play.

Let me tell you about something else that can happen in the game. When a player has completed a canasta, they can take a look at their foot. A canasta is a special meld that requires seven cards of the same rank. To count as a canasta, you need to play the seventh and final card to the meld. Once you’ve done that and discarded for your turn, you can pick up your foot and add it to your hand.

Once my team finishes a seven canasta, we can start a garbage pile. In the garbage pile, we can meld cards of the same rank as our completed canasta. These cards count towards our score. However, we cannot meld 7s in the garbage pile.

Discard Pile

We use the discard pile a lot in the game.

You can discard any card to the pile, except for sevens, which cannot be discarded.

If the discard pile is frozen, you can’t draw from it. The discard pile gets temporarily frozen if a black three is discarded on top of it. It can also be frozen until someone unfreezes it by discarding a wild card on top.

When a wild card is discarded, we place it sideways in the pile to show that it’s frozen. The only way to unfreeze it is to draw from the pile, as I’ll explain below.

If you have two natural cards that match the top card of the discard pile, you can draw from the pile whether it’s frozen or unfrozen. But here’s the catch – once you draw, you have to meld the top card with the two cards from your hand. Oh, and if you haven’t met your meld requirement yet, you’ll have to do that too. After that, you can grab the rest of the discard pile and add it to your hand. Don’t forget to play any red threes with your team’s melds!

Now, when the discard pile isn’t frozen, there’s a little rule to keep in mind. You can only take the top card if you have a meld with less than seven cards of the same rank. And of course, you’ll need to play that card right away.

Time to Wrap It Up

When you’re playing a game, there are a few ways it can come to an end. Let me explain them to you. First, a team can go out, which I’ll describe in a moment. Second, the stock of cards may run out, and a player wants or needs to draw from it. And third, a player may end up with a hand full of sevens.

Now, let’s talk about what happens when the draw pile is empty. Just because it’s empty doesn’t mean the game is over. The round can keep going as long as the player taking their turn can draw the top card from the discard pile. But once they can’t do that anymore, or if they no longer want to, and they try to draw from the empty stock, then the round is over.

Getting a hand full of sevens to end the round doesn’t happen very often. You’re not supposed to try to make it happen on purpose. Instead, you should try to play your cards legally and keep a valid discard. The only way this can happen accidentally is if you draw cards and end up with all sevens. If that does happen, though, you can put all your sevens together, meld them, and since you don’t have a legal discard, the round will be over.

Getting Ready to Go Out

In order to go out, my team needs to have at least one completed canasta of each type. It’s also important that we have all 8 red threes played on the table. If we haven’t met these requirements, we won’t be able to go out or make any move that would leave us with no cards left in our hands.

When I’m ready to go out, I can ask my partner for permission, but it’s not mandatory. If I decide to ask, I have to follow whatever my partner says.

To officially go out, I have to meld all the cards in my hand, except one. I will then discard that final card, so I have no cards left at the end of my turn. Just remember, the last card I discard cannot be a 7.

Scoring Time

Once the round is over, it’s time to start scoring.

If someone goes out at the end of a round, the team gets an extra 200 points. They also get points for the cards in their melds, any bonus points for completed canastas, and the melded red threes. Then they need to subtract the points from the remaining cards in their hand and their partner’s hand, including the foot.

The value of red threes can change depending on whether you complete a seven canasta or not. If you complete a seven canasta, all the melded 7s are worth 100 points. But if you don’t complete a seven canasta or if you didn’t meld the red threes (only if they were in your foot and you never picked them up), then each red three is worth -100 points.

Sometimes, a round of a game can end without any player going out. In those cases, the round is scored differently. The 100-point bonus for going out is not awarded to either team.

What Happens at the End of the Game?

The game ends when a team reaches a score of 20,000 or more at the end of a round. If both teams exceed this goal, then the team with the higher score wins. If there is a tie, additional rounds are played until a winner is determined.

Hey there, I’m Amber (they/them). I’m a writer living in Austin, and I’m a connoisseur when it comes to gaming. I consider myself a gaming master, and I have a great passion for dogs, plants, and D&D.

Hey there, I’m Amber (they/them). I’m a writer living in Austin, and I’m a connoisseur when it comes to gaming. I consider myself a gaming master, and I have a great passion for dogs, plants, and D&D.