📌 Quick Info
- Name of the Game: Hearts
- Number of Players: 4 (best played with 4, but variations exist for 3–6)
- Decks Required: 1 Standard 52-card deck (no Jokers)
🎯 Objective
To avoid collecting any Hearts (each worth 1 penalty point) and especially the Queen of Spades (worth 13 penalty points). The goal is to have the lowest score at the end of the game.
🛠️ What You Need
- 1 deck of 52 cards
- Score sheet and pen
- 4 players seated around a table
🔄 How to Play – Step by Step
▶️ 1. Deal
- Each player receives 13 cards (deal entire deck).
▶️ 2. Passing Cards
Before each round, players select 3 cards to pass to another player:
- Round 1: Pass to the left
- Round 2: Pass to the right
- Round 3: Pass across
- Round 4: No passing
- (Then cycle repeats)
▶️ 3. Playing the Hand
- The player with the 2♣ leads the first trick.
- Players must follow suit if possible.
- If a player has no cards in the suit led, they may play any card (except Hearts in the first trick).
- Highest card of the lead suit wins the trick; winner leads the next trick.
▶️ 4. Restrictions
- Hearts cannot be led until a Heart or the Queen of Spades has been played in a previous trick (“Hearts are broken”).
🧮 Scoring
- Each Heart = 1 penalty point
- Queen of Spades = 13 penalty points
- Maximum score in a hand = 26 points
💥 Special Rule – Shooting the Moon
If one player collects all 13 Hearts and the Queen of Spades (26 points), they may choose:
- Add 26 points to all other players’ scores
- Or subtract 26 points from their own score (house rule)
📜 Rules Summary
- Follow suit if possible
- Hearts cannot be led until broken
- Try to avoid penalty cards
- Play continues until one player reaches or exceeds 100 points — player with the lowest score wins
🧠 Strategy Tips
- Pass high cards early, especially Q♠, A♥, K♥
- Get rid of suits with only 1 or 2 cards to gain control over what you can discard
- Avoid winning early tricks — trick control is key
- Watch other players’ discards to predict their void suits
- Shooting the Moon? Keep control of tricks and clear suits early
🧪 Example Play
- You are dealt: 2♣, 3♣, Q♠, 4♥, 5♥, 10♦, 7♦, 9♠, K♣, A♣, 6♥, 8♠, 7♥
- You pass Q♠, K♣, and 6♥ to the player on your left
- You win a trick and are forced to play Hearts — now Hearts are “broken”
- Later, you discard the Queen of Spades while void in Diamonds
- Final round: You took only 1 Heart = 1 point
📚 History & Origin
- Hearts dates back to the 1700s, evolving from European trick-avoidance games like “Reversis”
- Modern version became popular in the 19th century in the United States
- Microsoft Hearts included with Windows in the 1990s boosted global recognition
- Hearts is now a classic family, social, and online card game