Hand 'n Foot Lingo

Learning to play Hand 'n Foot requires not only learning the rules of the game, but also the lingo and terminology. That way when someone talks about melds, freezing the deck, and villains, you'll understand perfectly what he means.

Let's start by talking about the decks that give the game its name: The Hand and Foot. Each player gets two decks consisting of 11 cards each. The deck he plays from first is called the Hand. The other one is the Foot. You only play from the Foot once you use up your Hand.

Now let's go over some of the cards. When you play Hand 'n Foot, Queens are now Ladies, Kings are Lords, Jacks are Villains, and Jokers and Jesters are Wild Cards. Yes, Jokers and Jesters are different from each other.

Melds are important, and they are part of winning the game. You make Melds by laying down a series of seven cards of the same rank face-up on the table. You can your partner can play on the same Melds.

There are different kinds of Melds or Groups. A "Clean Group" is one that consists of cards that are all the same, otherwise known as Natural Cards. This gives you the most points. Dirty Groups have Wild Cards mixed in. However, you can have Clean Groups made up entirely of Wild Cards.

Freezing the deck means you place a Wild Card, a Lady, or a Villain sideways on the Discard stack. This blocks anyone from picking up the Discard stack. That is, unless someone can produce a Natural Pair that matches the card on top of the pile.