Does a book of 3's in Hand and Foot work?

Question

My wife and I play Hand and Foot from time to time. We have toyed with the idea of allowing a book of 3's to count positive, with the caveat that they are only positive if the book is closed and clean. If the book is not closed and clean then each of the 3's has their usual negative score.

We have not found this particularly effective because if a player attempts it then the state of that book determines the winner of the game.

My question is if anyone else has tried a book of 3's in Hand and Foot and if they have found a way to make it work.

Answer 1

Assuming you're playing with the Red (100) Black (5) variation (there are not official rules for hand and foot), then the purpose of the 3's is to add a bit of randomness to the game to offset player ability. If your goal is to remove this randomness, then you can simply treat all 3's as normal cards and the game will 'work' just fine. I have played that particular variation.

I'm not sure by which rules you're playing, but if you're allowing threes to hit the table singly, and also allowing the bonus for making a book of them, it's a bit of an unfair advantage to that random chance.

Pagat - Rules to Hand and Foot

Answer 2

I've played a variant where you are allowed to go out if in your foot by laying down 4 or more black 3's without a discard. This counts as 400 extra points.

You wouldn't be able to use them while in your hand, so you'd still have to discard them to get to your foot first.

In our games, typically the first person to reach the foot wants to pick up the pile as soon as possible and usually has a bunch of black 3's. We play simple requirements where you can pick up the whole pile if you can use the top card anywhere, which is usually always. If the partnership makes the book requirements quickly, before this player has discarded them all, then it's an extra bonus.