Hearts

How to play Hearts

Hearts is one of the most popular trick-taking card games in the world, played for generations with a standard 52-card deck. It is an "evasion" game: unlike most trick-takers, you do not want to win tricks — you want to avoid them. Every heart you collect is worth one penalty point and the Queen of Spades is worth a hefty thirteen, so the goal is to duck, dump and dodge your way to the lowest score at the table. In this version you sit as South against three computer opponents — West, North and East — over a series of hands until someone reaches 100 points, at which moment the player with the fewest points wins the match. It is easy to learn in a single hand yet rich enough to reward a lifetime of play, thanks to the passing phase, the ever-present threat of the Queen and the daring "shoot the moon" gambit.

The goal

Hearts is scored in reverse: points are bad, and you are trying to end the match with the LOWEST total, not the highest. Each hand hands out 26 penalty points in total — one for each of the thirteen hearts and thirteen for the Queen of Spades. The match keeps going, hand after hand, until at least one player reaches 100 points. At that moment the game stops and whoever has collected the fewest points across all the hands is the winner. Because you play three computer opponents, finishing lowest means beating all three of them, and that is what earns you ranking points.

Setup and the deal

A full 52-card deck is shuffled and dealt out evenly, thirteen cards to each of the four players. There are no partnerships — every player is on their own. Cards rank in the usual order with the Ace high and the two low, and suits have no trump: a trick is simply won by the highest card of the suit that was led. You always sit in the South seat and see only your own thirteen cards; the three computer hands stay face down, exactly as they would across a real table. Play proceeds one trick at a time until all thirteen tricks of the hand are played, then the hand is scored and a new hand is dealt.

Passing three cards

Before a hand begins you choose three cards from your hand and pass them, unseen, to another player, while simultaneously receiving three from someone else. The direction rotates every hand in a fixed cycle: pass left on the first hand, right on the second, across (to the player opposite) on the third, and on the fourth hand there is no passing at all. Then the cycle repeats. Passing is your one chance to shape your hand before the fight begins — it is when you shed dangerous high cards, try to create a "void" in a suit so you can dump penalty cards later, and decide what to do with the Queen of Spades if you were dealt her. Choose your three cards, confirm, and the hand begins.

Playing a hand

• The player holding the two of clubs must lead it to the very first trick. Everyone else, going in turn, plays one card. You must follow the suit that was led if you can — if clubs are led and you hold a club, you must play a club.
• If you have no card of the led suit you may play any card — this is your chance to "sluff" a heart or even the Queen of Spades onto a trick you are not going to win.
• The trick is won by the highest card of the suit that was led; off-suit cards, however high, cannot win. The winner of a trick collects all four cards (face down, for scoring) and leads the next trick.
• On the very first trick no one may play a heart or the Queen of Spades, even when void in clubs — the first trick is always "blood-free" unless a player literally has nothing else to play.
• Hearts may not be LED until they have been "broken" — that is, until a heart or the Queen of Spades has been played to an earlier trick (typically as a sluff). The only exception is when a player has nothing but hearts left in hand, in which case they are allowed to lead one.

Scoring

When all thirteen tricks are done, each player counts the penalty cards they took in. Every heart is worth 1 point and the Queen of Spades is worth 13, for a total of 26 points floating around each hand. Those points are added to your running total, and remember — you WANT this number to stay small. The scoreboard shows the points each player took this hand as well as everyone's running total, so you can always see who is winning (the lowest number) and who is in trouble.

Shooting the moon

There is one spectacular exception to the "collect nothing" rule, called shooting the moon. If a single player manages to take ALL 26 points in one hand — every last heart plus the Queen of Spades — the scoring flips: instead of taking 26 points, that player scores zero and each of the other three players is hit with 26 points. It is a bold, high-risk play that can swing a whole match, but it is easily wrecked: if even one heart or the Queen slips into someone else's pile, the shooter simply eats all the points they collected. Watch for an opponent who is scooping up every trick — you may need to deliberately take a heart to spoil their moon.

Winning the match

Hands keep being dealt until at least one player's running total reaches 100 points. The match then ends and the player with the LOWEST total wins — the 100-point ceiling is simply the trigger that stops the game. If the two lowest scores happen to be tied when the game would end, another hand is dealt to break the tie (sudden death), so there is always a single clear winner. Beat all three computers to the finish line — that is, end the match in front — and you earn ranking points for the difficulty you chose.

Playing the computer (ranked)

You choose one of three difficulty levels before the match. Easy plays almost at random and dumps its high cards clumsily, so beginners can win comfortably. Normal follows suit sensibly, ducks under tricks it does not want, tries to avoid the Queen of Spades and rarely gives away easy points. Expert tracks which suits opponents have run out of, actively hunts to hand you the Queen, discards its dangerous cards safely and keeps an eye out for anyone trying to shoot the moon. The computer thinks entirely on your device, so it works offline. Win the match — finish with the lowest score — to earn ranking points: Easy +10, Normal +30, Expert +100. Sign in to record your best result on the leaderboard.

Strategy tips

• Get rid of danger in the pass. High spades — the Ace, King and especially the Queen — can trap you into taking the 13-point Queen. If you hold the Queen with little protection, passing her away is often wise; if you keep her, hang on to low spades to guard her.
• Create a void. Passing away all your cards of one suit means that as soon as that suit is led you can throw a heart or the Queen onto someone else's trick. A void is one of the most powerful tools in Hearts.
• Play low and duck. When you are forced to follow suit, playing your highest card that still stays UNDER the current winner sheds a dangerous card without winning the trick. Winning a trick means taking whatever points are in it, so duck whenever you can.
• Lead your low cards. Leading a two, three or four makes it hard for opponents to force you to win, and it draws out their high cards. Save your Ace and King for when you actually want to win a trick — for example to grab the lead and steer the play.
• Watch for the moon. If one opponent is winning trick after trick and no hearts have landed elsewhere, they may be shooting the moon. Breaking it up by deliberately winning a single heart is far cheaper than letting them stick all three of you with 26 points.

Frequently asked questions