Hand Card Game Rules: How to Play Hand & Saudi Hand

Updated September 29, 2026

Hand (هاند) is one of the most-played card games in the Arab world: a fast Rummy game where you race to empty your hand while your opponents get stuck with penalty points. This guide covers the Hand card game rules exactly as they work on Kroot, including the Saudi Hand and Hand Partners modes. Once you know the basics, you can play Hand free on Kroot against friends or bots.

What is Hand?

Hand is a draw-and-discard melding game from the Rummy family. The classic version is a favourite in Jordan, Lebanon and Palestine, while Saudi Hand is popular in Saudi Arabia and the Gulf. There are no tricks and no trumps: each turn you draw, lay down combinations and throw one card away. (It is not the American “Hand and Foot”.) If you like melding games, also see how to play Banakil, its team-based cousin.

Players and cards

• Players: 2, 3 or 4 on Kroot (the traditional game allows up to 5). Hand Partners is always 4 players, partners sitting opposite.
• Deck: two 52-card decks plus 2 Jokers, 106 cards. The Jokers are the only wild cards; Aces are not wild.
• Deal: 14 cards each. The player after the dealer, the opener, gets a 15th card.
• Piles: the rest of the deck is the face-down stock pile. The discard pile is the fire pile (كومة النار).
• Direction: counterclockwise, with the dealer moving one seat every round.

Objective

Empty your hand by melding and laying off. The first player to go out ends the round with a bonus; everyone else pays for the cards they still hold. After 5 rounds the lowest total wins, so negative is good.

How a turn works

The opener starts the round by discarding one card to create the fire pile, without drawing (they already hold 15). After that, every turn has three steps:

1. Draw one card from the top of the stock or the top of the fire pile.
2. Meld (optional): lay down new melds, lay off cards onto melds on the table, or swap out a Joker. Laying off and swaps are only allowed after you have opened.
3. Discard one card onto the fire pile. Every turn ends with a discard.

Taking from the fire pile has a condition: you must use that card the same turn in a brand-new meld with at least two cards from your hand. If you have not opened yet, the melds you lay that turn must total 51 or more. On Kroot the pickup is tentative, so if the meld does not work you can put the card back and draw from the stock instead.

Turns are timed. If your clock runs out, Kroot plays a safe automatic turn for you, and if you disconnect, an AI player holds your seat.

Melds: sets and runs

A meld is 3 or more cards laid face up:

• Run: 3+ consecutive cards of the same suit, like 5♥ 6♥ 7♥. An Ace can be low (A-2-3) or high (Q-K-A), but runs never wrap, so K-A-2 is illegal.
• Set: 3 or 4 cards of the same rank in different suits, like 9♠ 9♥ 9♦. With two decks, identical cards exist, but two identical cards can never share a set.
• Jokers: one Joker per meld at most. A Joker counts as the card it replaces; on the open end of a run, Kroot counts it as the lower of the two possible cards.

The 51-point opening

The first time you lay cards down in a round, the melds you place that turn must total at least 51 points. You can combine several melds: K♠ Q♠ J♠ (30) plus 7♥ 7♦ 7♣ (21) opens with exactly 51. Lay-offs do not count toward 51, and you cannot lay off until you have opened. Once open, you can meld freely and add cards to any meld on the table, including your opponents’.

Swapping a Joker

After opening, if you hold the real card a tabled Joker represents, you can swap it in and take the Joker.

Winning a round: going out

You go out by melding or laying off every card except one, then discarding that last card. You can never meld your final card, and you cannot go out on your first turn of a round. When someone goes out, the round ends and is scored.

Going “Hand” (هاند!) means laying down your entire hand in a single turn, all in fresh melds of your own, having not melded earlier in the round and without laying off or swapping a Joker. A Hand doubles every score in the round.

If the stock runs out, the fire pile is shuffled into a new stock, up to three times per round. On a fourth exhaustion the round is scored as it stands, with no winner and no -30 bonus.

Scoring and penalties

Scores double exactly once: a Hand winner gets -60, never -120. Example: A goes out, B has opened and holds K♠, 4♦ and a Joker (+29), C holds two Aces (+22), and D never opened (+100). Had A gone Hand, the round would read -60, +58, +44 and +200.

Match end: a game lasts 5 rounds and the lowest total wins. Ties go to whoever went out in more rounds, then to whoever collected fewer penalty points.

Modes on Kroot

When you create a room you pick one of three modes.

Hand

The standard rules above: 2 to 4 players, each for themselves, with a flat 51-point opening.

Saudi Hand (هاند سعودي)

Same cards and scoring, with three changes:

• Rising opening bar: the first opener in a round needs 51+. Each later opener must beat the previous opening total by at least 1, so after openings of 51 and 60, the next needs 61+. The bar resets every round.
• Low Ace: an Ace in an A-2-3 run counts as 1, not 11. Left in hand, it still costs 11.
• Joker swaps in sets: a Joker in a set with only two real cards can only be taken by adding both missing cards.

Hand Partners (هاند شراكة)

Four players, two teams, partners opposite. Each player must still open with their own 51. When one partner goes out, the team scores -30 (or -60 for a Hand) and the other partner’s cards are not counted, even if they never opened. The losing team adds both players’ penalties, so a Hand against two unopened opponents costs them +400. The lowest team total after 5 rounds wins.

Strategy tips for beginners

• Plan your 51 early. High cards reach 51 fast, but they are expensive if you get caught holding them.
• Do not wait too long to open. Never opening costs a flat +100, or +200 against a Hand.
• Take from the fire pile only when it completes a meld now.
• Use Jokers rather than hoarding them. A Joker still in your hand at round end costs 15.
• Watch what others pick up and avoid discarding cards that fit their plans.
• Chase a Hand only when you are close. Holding back while others open can leave you with +100 or worse.

Play Hand online

Ready to try it? Play Hand free on Kroot in your browser. Tap Quick Play to face bots instantly, or create a room in any of the three modes and share the room code with friends. Empty seats fill with AI players, spectators can watch, and the game works in Arabic and English.