Hearts
A trick-taking game where you want to lose. Every heart costs you, and the queen of spades costs thirteen.
The point of Hearts is to avoid taking things, which makes it the opposite of nearly every other trick game and the reason it takes a hand or two to click.
Goal
Take as few penalty cards as you can. Each heart is one point and the queen of spades is thirteen. Twenty-six points are given out every hand, and they all go to somebody.
Play until a player reaches 100. Whoever has the fewest points at that moment wins.
Dealing and passing
Deal the whole deck, thirteen cards each. Before play, everyone chooses three cards and passes them face down, all at the same time. Pick your three before you look at what arrives.
The direction rotates each hand: left, right, across, then a hand with no passing at all. That fourth hand is where a bad deal simply has to be played.
Play
- Whoever holds the two of clubs leads it. That is always the first card of the hand.
- Everyone must follow suit if they can. If you cannot, play anything.
- The highest card of the suit led takes the trick, and that player leads next.
You may not play a heart or the queen of spades on the very first trick, even if you have nothing else, unless your hand is nothing but penalty cards.
Breaking hearts
You cannot lead a heart until hearts have been broken, which means a heart has been discarded on some earlier trick because a player could not follow suit.
The queen of spades has no such protection. She can be led at any time, and usually is, at whoever looks least ready for her.
The queen of spades
Thirteen points in one card, half the hand’s total. Most of the game is about who ends up with her.
The usual way she arrives: someone leads a low spade, the ace and king come out to flush her, and whoever holds her drops her on a trick they were never going to win. Holding the ace or king of spades with few small spades is genuinely dangerous.
Shooting the moon
Take every heart and the queen of spades in one hand and it reverses: you score nothing and everyone else takes 26.
It is rare and it is why nobody can relax. If a player has taken every penalty so far, letting them have one heart is worth doing even at a cost.
Some houses let the shooter choose to subtract 26 from their own score instead, which matters when they are already near 100.
Scoring
At the end of a hand each player counts one point per heart taken and thirteen for the queen. Keep a running total. When anyone reaches 100 the game ends and the lowest total wins.
Questions
Can I lead a heart at any time?
No, not until hearts are broken, which happens when someone discards a heart because they cannot follow suit. The queen of spades can be led whenever you like.
What is shooting the moon?
Taking all thirteen hearts and the queen of spades in a single hand. You score nothing and every other player takes 26 points instead.
Which way do I pass?
Left on the first hand, right on the second, across on the third, and no passing on the fourth. Then it repeats.
Can Hearts be played with three or five people?
Yes. Remove the two of diamonds for three players, or the two of diamonds and two of clubs for five, so the deck divides evenly. The lowest club left leads.