How to play the Hearts card game
Four players share a standard 52-card deck, so everyone gets 13 cards and a round lasts 13 tricks. Aces are high and there is no trump suit.
- Pass three cards. Before play, everyone picks three cards to pass: to the left in round 1, to the right in round 2, across in round 3, and no passing in round 4. Then the cycle repeats.
- Open with the 2 of Clubs. Whoever holds it leads the first trick.
- Follow suit. Going clockwise, each player adds one card, and you must play the suit that was led if you have it.
- Discard when you can't follow. With no card of the led suit, you may play anything. This is your chance to slip a heart or the Queen of Spades to someone else.
- Win or lose the trick. The highest card of the led suit takes all four cards, and that player leads next.
- Count the damage. After the 13th trick, everyone adds the penalty points they took to their running total. When a player reaches 100 or more, the game ends and the lowest total wins.
Hearts rules and scoring
The table uses the standard modern rules, and the game simply refuses an illegal card, so you can never break a rule by accident:
- No points on trick one: you cannot drop a heart or the Queen of Spades on the first trick unless your hand leaves you no other choice.
- Hearts must be broken: nobody may lead a heart until one has been played on an earlier trick, unless they hold only hearts.
- Passing rotates: left, right, across, then a round with no passing. All four players choose their three cards at the same time, and the cards change hands once everyone has passed.
| Cards taken | Penalty |
|---|---|
| Each heart | 1 point |
| Queen of Spades | 13 points |
| All 13 hearts plus the Queen (shooting the moon) | 0 for you, 26 for each opponent |
Every round holds exactly 26 penalty points. The game ends after the round in which anyone reaches 100 points; the player with the lowest total wins, and if two or more players share the lowest total, the game is a draw for them. A round takes three to five minutes and a full game usually runs six to ten rounds. Finished games feed your profile stats and the Hearts leaderboard.
Hearts strategy that actually saves points
What to pass
Pass the cards that will hurt you: the Queen of Spades unless she sits behind four or more low spades, the Ace and King of Spades when your spades are short, and high hearts. Passing a short suit can leave you void early. Remember what you passed: if you sent the Queen left, that player holds her.
Handling the Queen of Spades
- High spades without low ones are a liability. If you hold the Ace or King of Spades and few small spades, a spade lead can force you to win the trick that contains the Queen.
- The Queen is safe behind low spades. Holding her with three or four small spades usually lets you duck spade leads until you can discard her on someone else.
- Lead spades to flush her out when you hold only low spades. Someone above you has to deal with the Queen.
Managing your suits
- Create a void early. Play out a short suit early; once it is gone, every lead of it is a chance to discard.
- Spend high clubs and diamonds early, while every player can still follow and nobody can dump hearts on the trick.
- Remember who showed out. A player who could not follow a suit can unload points on every later trick in it.
The moon
Shooting the moon needs high hearts, control of spades and long strong suits. If an opponent is quietly collecting every point, take a single heart yourself to stop them: one point is far cheaper than 26.
Play Hearts online with friends or anyone
Hearts was made for four people, and the online tables keep that feel:
- Play online to take a seat at a public table with whoever is available and play a full game to 100.
- Play with a friend to get a private table link. Share it with up to three people; when your group is seated, the host presses Start now.
- Play vs computer for a solo hand against West, North and East.
Online tables use exactly the same rules as the solo game: the same passing cycle, first-trick rules, hearts broken rule, shoot the moon and game to 100. Your cards and your pass are shown only to you, and the server checks every play. A 30-second timer keeps things moving; if it runs out, your three highest cards are passed or your lowest legal card is played for you. The score is kept round after round and the result counts once, when the game ends. Leaving before the end counts as a loss, and a player who sits in between rounds takes over that seat and its score.
A short history of Hearts
Hearts belongs to a family of trick-avoidance games that goes back to Reversis, played in Europe in the 1700s and 1800s. A simple form of Hearts, where only hearts counted, was being played in the United States by the late 1800s. Adding the Queen of Spades as a 13-point card created the version often called Black Lady, which is the game most people now know as Hearts.
The game reached millions of new players when Microsoft shipped it with Windows in the early 1990s.
Hearts on a phone or tablet
On a phone your 13 cards fan across the bottom of the screen and the trick builds in a cross in the middle, with West, North and East labeled. Tap three cards to choose your pass, then a single tap plays a card; cards you may not play are dimmed. Solo games are saved after every card, totals included, so a call or a refresh in the middle of trick 9 picks up exactly where you left off. Add NitroPlayer to your home screen to open Hearts in full screen with one tap.
More trick-taking and card games
If you want to win tricks instead of dodging them, team up with a partner in Spades, the bidding card game. For a head-to-head card duel, try Gin Rummy with sets and runs.
