By Ali. Updated September 25, 2026. Every rule here was checked against the written rules listed at the end.
What you're trying to do
You and your partner play as a team. Each of you gets three sets of cards: a hand to play first, a knee you pick up once your team finishes its first canasta, and a foot you pick up when the rest is gone. Together you build canastas, also called books: seven cards of the same rank.
Five particular canastas matter most. Your team needs a canasta of 7s, one of 5s, one of wild cards, one clean and one dirty before either of you can go out, which ends the round. A game is four rounds, and the highest total wins.
Hand, Knee and Foot began in Sun City on New Year's Eve 2005, when four canasta players went looking for a livelier game. Sue Henberger led the canasta club members who worked out the rules, and another member named it Triple Play, for the third set of cards. Clubs play it a little differently, so a few rules differ from table to table. This page teaches the version most write-ups describe, and the common differences are gathered under agree before you deal.
The cards
Four people play in two teams, with partners across from each other. You need six decks with their jokers, 324 cards in all, shuffled together.
Melds are built from the ranks 4 up to ace. Threes are never melded, and they have their own section.
What each card is worth
| Card | Points |
|---|---|
| Joker | 50 |
| Ace or 2 | 20 |
| King, queen, jack, 10, 9 or 8 | 10 |
| 7, 6, 5 or 4 | 5 |
These values count for your team when the cards are on the table, and against your team when they're still in a hand, knee or foot at the end of the round.
Setting up and dealing
- Deal each player 15 cards for the hand, 13 cards for the knee and 11 cards for the foot. Many tables share the work: one player deals the hands, the player on their right deals the knees, and the next player deals the feet.
- Set your foot face down in front of you and lay your knee across it, also face down. Pick up only your hand. No peeking at the knee or the foot.
- Lay any red threes from your hand face up on the table, and draw a card from the stock to replace each one.
- The rest of the cards go face down in the middle as the stock. Turn its top card face up to start the discard pile. If that card is a wild card, a 5, a 7 or a red three, turn up another.
- The player to the dealer's left goes first, and play moves clockwise.
Taking a turn
- Draw two cards from the stock. Instead, you can take the discard pile when you're allowed to, as explained under taking the pile.
- Meld if you can and want to: start new melds or add to your team's melds.
- Discard one card, and your turn is over.
Melds and canastas
A meld is three to seven cards of the same rank, laid face up in front of your team. Your team's melds belong to both partners, and you never add to the other team's melds.
- A meld needs at least two natural cards before a wild card joins it, and it never holds more than two wild cards.
- Melds of 5s and 7s never take wild cards.
- You can also meld wild cards on their own, working toward a canasta of seven wild cards.
- Your team can't have two unfinished melds of the same rank. Finish the canasta first, then start another of that rank if you like.
- A meld stops at seven cards, when it becomes a canasta. Whether you can add more to a finished canasta is a table rule: see agree before you deal.
At seven cards a meld becomes a canasta. A clean canasta has no wild cards, and a dirty canasta has one or two.
A clean canasta: seven kings and no wild cards. Worth 500.
A dirty canasta: five queens and two wild cards, the most it can hold. Worth 300.
Your team's first meld
Each round, the first cards your team lays down have to add up to a minimum, counted from the card values above. The minimum climbs with each round.
| Round | First meld |
|---|---|
| Round 1 | 50 |
| Round 2 | 90 |
| Round 3 | 120 |
| Round 4 | 150 |
- You can lay down several melds at once to reach it.
- Only the cards' own values count, so red threes and canasta bonuses don't.
- Once either partner has met it, you both meld freely for the rest of the round.
Counting a first meld, step by step
Say it's round 3, so your team needs 120. You're holding three kings, two aces and a joker.
Add them up: 30 and 90 make 120, exactly enough, so both melds go down together. Without the kings you'd have 90, which isn't enough in round 3.
Taking the discard pile
Instead of drawing two cards from the stock, you can take the whole discard pile. To do it:
- the top card must not be a black three,
- you must hold two cards of the same rank as that top card, and
- you must meld those three cards at once, before the rest of the pile goes into your hand.
When you take the pile, you don't discard at the end of that turn. Knock on the table instead, to show you're done. You can't take the pile if your team already has five or more cards melded in that rank, since the meld would grow past seven.
If your team hasn't met its first meld yet, the top card counts toward the minimum along with cards from your hand, but the cards underneath it do not.
Picking up your knee
The knee is what sets this game apart. When your team finishes its first canasta, the player who finished it picks up their knee, adds it to their hand and keeps playing. Their partner picks up their own knee on their next turn, after drawing.
Remember your own knee. Some tables charge 1,000 points to anyone who reminds a player to pick it up.
Picking up your foot
When you run out of cards after picking up your knee, your foot becomes your new hand. How you get there decides when you play it:
- Meld your last card and you pick up your foot at once and keep playing.
- Discard your last card and you pick up your foot, but you play it from your next turn.
Until you are in your foot, you cannot go out.
Red and black threes
- Red threes are bonus cards. Lay each one face up as soon as you get it, 100 points each. Replace the ones dealt in your hand or drawn from the stock. Ones you find in your knee or foot aren't replaced. Seven red threes on one team earn 300 more, 1,000 in all.
- A red three still in your hand, knee or foot at the end costs you 500.
- Black threes only block. Discard one and the next player can't take the pile. They can't be melded, and each one left unplayed at the end costs you 100.
The five canastas you need
Before your team can go out, it needs these five canastas on the table. They are also where the big points are.
| Looks like | Canasta | Points |
|---|---|---|
| Seven 7s, no wild cards | 5,000 | |
| Seven 5s, no wild cards | 3,000 | |
| Seven wild cards | 2,500 | |
| Clean, no wild cards | 500 | |
| Dirty, one or two wild cards | 300 |
The five together are worth 11,300. Any extra canasta scores the same as its kind: a second canasta of 7s is another 5,000.
Going out
Going out ends the round, and your team scores 200 for it. You can go out when all of these are true:
- your team has all five of its required canastas,
- you are playing from your foot,
- you can get rid of every card you hold, by melding them all or by discarding the last one, and
- your partner says yes. Ask first, and the answer is binding.
The round also ends if the stock runs out. Nobody scores the 200 in that case.
Scoring a round
When the round ends, each team adds the value of every card it melded, adds its canasta bonuses, red threes and the bonus for going out, then subtracts every card left in both partners' hands, knees and feet.
A team that didn't finish all five canastas still scores the canastas it did finish. The five only decide who can go out.
A round, scored step by step
Here's how one round might add up. Your partner went out. Your team finished its five canastas: seven 7s, seven 5s, a wild canasta of two jokers and five 2s, seven kings, and a dirty canasta of five queens, a 2 and a joker. You laid down three red threes. You're in your foot, left holding a 9 and a 4.
| Part of the score | Points |
|---|---|
| Canastas: 5,000, 3,000, 2,500, 500 and 300 | 11,300 |
| Going out | 200 |
| Red threes: three at 100 each | 300 |
| Melded cards: 35 for the 7s, 35 for the 5s, 200 for the wild cards, 70 for the kings, 120 for the queens with their 2 and joker | 460 |
| Cards left in your foot: a 9 and a 4 | minus 15 |
| Score for the round | 12,245 |
Clubs score this differently. One club sheet we checked gives canastas of 7s and 5s 2,000 each and a wild canasta 1,500, and starts the first meld at 60. Use your table's numbers if they differ.
Agree before you deal
Hand, Knee and Foot has no single rulebook, and the written rules differ on the points below. Settle them before the first deal, especially with a new group.
- Taking the pile. The whole pile, as taught here, or the top card and six more.
- Taking the pile before your team has melded. Allowed, as taught here; allowed for the top card alone; or not allowed at all.
- Your partner in their foot. Some tables won't let you go out until both partners are in their feet.
- The last card when going out. A discard allowed, as taught here, or a final discard required.
- Extra cards on a finished canasta. Some tables let you add them to a canasta that isn't one of the five, though never to 5s, 7s or wild cards. Others start a new meld instead.
- Black threes left unplayed. Minus 100, as taught here, or minus 300.
- The first meld. 50, 90, 120 and 150 by round, as taught here; 60 in round 1; or going by your team's score instead of the round.
- The upcard. One card turned up to start the pile, as taught here, or no discard pile until the first discard.
Six or three players
Six players play in two teams of three, with seven decks. Everything else stays the same, including the deal of 15, 13 and 11, the four rounds and the five canastas you need to go out. Three players can also play, each on their own; settle the details at your table.
Print a score sheet
Print our free Hand, Knee and Foot score sheet: a row for each team in each of the four rounds, with the five canastas and what they score printed at the bottom. Our printables page has every sheet on the site.
Common questions
What is Hand, Knee and Foot?
A card game in the canasta family, built on Hand and Foot. Each player gets three sets of cards instead of two: the hand, the knee and the foot. It also changes when you pick up each set, which canastas you need to go out and how they score. It is also called Triple Play.
How many cards do you deal in Hand, Knee and Foot?
Fifteen for the hand, thirteen for the knee and eleven for the foot, to each player. Four players use six decks with their jokers.
When do you pick up your knee in Hand, Knee and Foot?
When your team finishes its first canasta. The player who finishes it picks up their knee right away and keeps playing, and their partner picks up their own knee on their next turn.
What canastas do you need to go out in Hand, Knee and Foot?
Five: a canasta of 7s, a canasta of 5s, a canasta of wild cards, one clean canasta and one dirty canasta. You also need to be in your foot and to have your partner's permission.
What is a canasta of 7s worth in Hand, Knee and Foot?
5,000 in the version most write-ups describe, with 3,000 for a canasta of 5s and 2,500 for a canasta of wild cards. Some clubs score these lower, so check your table's rules.
Is Hand, Knee and Foot the same game as Triple Play?
Yes. Triple Play is another name for Hand, Knee and Foot. The game began among canasta players in Sun City, and a member of their canasta club named it for the third set of cards.
Where these rules come from
Hand, Knee and Foot has no rulebook, and the general card game references, including Pagat, don't cover it. We wrote this page in our own words from Denexa Games' rules for Triple Play and Di Martin's Hand Knee and Foot blog, and checked each rule against two club rule sheets, from Neighbors of Pinehurst and the Magnolia Point Women's Club. The game's history comes from the Sun Day's 2011 story on Triple Play. The canasta values follow Denexa and Di Martin, which agree; the club sheets score some canastas differently, and the notes above say where.
If your group plays a rule differently, please tell us through the contact page. Red Threes is independent and isn't affiliated with any of these sites, clubs or card makers.