FOOT!

This is the more family friendly version of ZOOT! - using 5-letter words instead of 7.

CLICK HERE FOR THE FOOT! DICTIONARY

ages : 6 - adult players : 2 - 4

Zoot Deck

Each ZOOT deck contains 118 letter cards and 4 wild cards

Letter Frequency

Each letter appears a certain number of times :
A-10 B-2 C-2 D-4 E-14 F-2 G-5 H-3 I-9 J-2 K-2 L-4 M-3 N-6 O-9 P-3 Q-2 R-7 S-5 T-6 U-4 V-2 W-3 X-3 Y-3 Z-3

Point Value

Every card has a point value :
VOWELS - 1 CONSONANTS - 3 VWXY - 10 JQZ - 20 WILD - 0

OBJECT

To obtain the highest number of points by combining the 5 cards in your hand into a single word.

Hint - that word below (JAZZY) will win you the game. Every time.

START PLAY

Choose a Dealer

Place the deck face down in the middle of the table. Each player cuts the deck. The player who turns up a card closest to A becomes the first dealer. All cards are then returned to the deck.

Shuffle the Deck

Keep the wild cards separate. Each player is dealt 5 cards, plus a wild card. The wild cards remain on the table until the last play of each round, and remain with the player for the entire game. The remaining cards are placed in the center as a draw pile, and the top card is turned over to start the discard pile.

First Round

The player to the dealer’s left goes first. Play continues clockwise. Each turn starts by either drawing a card from the draw pile or picking up the top discard. The goal is to use all the cards in your hand (except for the one you will discard to finish your turn) to spell a single five-letter word. Discarding one card completes the turn.

Going out

A player can only go out during his/her turn. After drawing, a player must be able to arrange all the cards in his/her hand into a five-letter word, with one card remaining. He/she says ZOOT, lays five cards down to create a word, and discards the remaining card to go out. The first player to go out each round scores 10 additional points.

Finishing a Round

When a player goes out, the remaining players each have one last turn. Each remaining player, in turn, will either draw from the deck or pick up the top discard. At this point the player will also add a wildcard to his/her hand. The player will then (if possible) lay down a five-letter word and discard two cards. He/she will score the number of points on the cards used to build a word. If a player cannot create a word, the score for their hand is zero.

Keeping Score

The scorekeeper records the points and keeps a running tally. The first player to go out each round scores 10 additional points. After scores for the round have been recorded, wild cards are returned to the players. They place their remaining cards face up on the discard pile.

Continuing Play

The player with the lowest score places their cards on the discard pile last, and leaves the card of their choice face up, on the top of the pile. The deal then passes to the player on their right. This means that the losing player goes first on the next hand. If more than one player has the same low score at the end of the round, the previous dealer deals again, choosing the starting card for the player to his/her left from that players hand.

ALLOWABLE WORDS

In order to score points, the word must be in the Zoot dictionary. No proper nouns, acronyms, abbreviated, or hyphenated words are allowed. All words must use five letters.

CHALLENGES

If any player does not believe that a word played is allowable, then he/she may challenge the word after it is laid down and before the cards are gathered for the next round. Players then consult the dictionary.

If the word is not allowable, the challenged player is given a zero score for that round. He/she may not rearrange the cards into another word. The challenger adds the point value of the rejected word to his/her score.

If the word is allowable, the point value of the challenged word is deducted from the challenger’s score.

Final Round

Play continues until all cards have been used. When all cards have been used, the discard pile is turned over (without shuffling) and becomes the draw pile for the final round. Once the final round is completed, the scores are tallied. The player with the highest total score for all rounds wins.