Hearts

Overview

A trick-taking game for four where the aim is to score as few points as possible. Hearts cost a point each and the Queen of Spades costs thirteen.

No governing body publishes rules for this game. This page describes the most common form. House rules vary, so agree them before you start.

1. Setup

Deal the full 52-card deck evenly — thirteen cards each. Aces are high and there is no trump suit.

2. Passing

Before each hand, every player chooses three cards to pass, then picks up what they were passed. Choose before you look at what is coming.

The direction rotates each hand:

1. Pass left
2. Pass right
3. Pass across
4. No pass — play the hand as dealt

Then the cycle repeats.

3. Play

The holder of the two of clubs leads it to start the first trick.

Players follow suit if they can. If you cannot, you may play anything, subject to the restrictions below. The highest card of the led suit wins the trick, and that player leads the next.

4. Restrictions

No points on the first trick. You may not play a heart or the Queen of Spades on trick one, unless your hand contains nothing but point cards.

Hearts must be broken. You may not lead a heart until a heart has been discarded on an earlier trick, or the Queen of Spades has been played — unless hearts are all you hold.

You may always play a heart when you cannot follow suit. That is how hearts get broken.

5. Scoring

Card	Points
Each heart	1
Queen of Spades	13

A full hand distributes 26 points.

6. Shooting the moon

If one player takes all thirteen hearts and the Queen of Spades, they score zero and every other player scores 26.

Some tables instead let the shooter subtract 26 from their own score. Agree which before you start — it changes the endgame considerably.

An attempt that falls one card short is catastrophic, which is what makes it interesting.

7. Winning

Play continues until someone reaches 100 points. The player with the lowest score at that moment wins.

8. Strategy

Void yourself in a suit early so you can discard the Queen or dump hearts.

Watch the Queen of Spades. Holding the Ace or King of spades without enough low spades to protect them is the classic trap.

Count the hearts played. If someone is collecting them all, one of you must take a heart to stop the moon shot.

Commonly argued

• You must follow suit. The restrictions only apply when you cannot.
• Hearts must be broken before leading one, but may be discarded any time you are void.
• No points on the first trick, including the Queen.
• Shooting the moon requires all fourteen point cards — thirteen hearts and the Queen. Thirteen is not enough.
• The lowest score wins, which surprises people every time.