The deal and the pass
- Four players, one 52-card deck, 13 cards each. No trumps.
- Before each hand, everyone passes three cards face down: to the left on hand 1, to the right on hand 2, across on hand 3, and no pass on hand 4. Then it repeats.
Playing tricks
- Whoever holds the 2♣ leads it to the first trick.
- Follow the suit that was led if you can. If you can't, play any card.
- The highest card of the suit led wins the trick, and the winner leads next.
- On the first trick you can't play a heart or the Q♠ (unless that is all you have).
- You can't lead hearts until a heart has been played on an earlier trick ("hearts are broken"), unless you have nothing else.
Scoring
| Card | Points |
|---|---|
| Each heart | 1 |
| Queen of Spades | 13 |
| All other cards | 0 |
Shooting the moon: if one player takes all 13 hearts and the Queen of Spades, they score 0 and everyone else scores 26.
The game ends when someone reaches 100 points. The lowest score wins.
Tips
- Pass away high spades (A♠, K♠) if you don't hold the Q♠. They can catch the queen.
- Try to empty a suit early. Then you can throw your bad cards when that suit is led.
- If someone is taking every heart, make sure at least one point goes to a different player.
Ready to play?Hearts is free on phone, tablet and computer.
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