Hearts · Complete guide
Hearts: how to play, and how to take no points at all
Every heart costs a point and the queen of spades costs thirteen. A trick-taking game where winning tricks is the last thing you want — unless you take all of them.
Hearts inverts the usual trick-taking game. You are not trying to win tricks — you are trying to avoid the penalty cards inside them. Every heart costs one point, the queen of spades costs thirteen, and the lowest score wins.
Each hand begins with a pass: three cards to your left, then right, then across, then a hand with no passing at all. You choose before you see what you receive, so the pass is a genuine decision — you are fixing your own hand and arming a specific opponent at the same time.
Then the 2♣ leads, everyone must follow suit if they can, and the whole game becomes a question of control: staying out of the lead when the lead is dangerous, and holding it when it is not. Points are almost never taken by accident. They are taken by players who ran out of safe cards.
And there is the trapdoor. Take all thirteen hearts and the queen and you have shot the moon: you score nothing and everybody else scores 26. Spotting an attempt early — and taking a single heart to stop it — is the skill that separates good Hearts players from everyone else.
How to play
Every heart costs a point and the queen of spades costs thirteen. The passing cycle, the first-trick restriction, when hearts are broken, and what happens when somebody shoots the moon.
Where it comes from
A seventeenth-century European game about losing tricks, simplified in America in the 1880s, transformed by one card, and bundled with Windows as a networking demo.
- Hearts belongs to the "reverse" family of games, descending from Reversis in Spain and France.
- The American game appeared in the 1880s, simplifying Reversis to a single penalty suit.
- Adding the queen of spades in the early 1900s transformed the game and created the moon shot.
- The variant was called Black Lady in America and Black Maria in Britain.
How to win
How to pass, why voids are worth more than low cards, how to flush out the queen of spades, and how to spot and stop a moon shot before it is too late.
- Hearts is about control: stay out of the lead when it is dangerous and keep low cards for the endgame.
- Pass away high spades if you are short in spades, and use the pass to create a void.
- A void lets you discard hearts and the queen freely — it is worth more than low cards.
- Lead low spades to flush the queen out when you hold length with the ace or king.
Common questions
How many points is the queen of spades worth?
Thirteen — as much as all thirteen hearts put together. Avoiding her is half of Hearts strategy.
When can you lead hearts?
Once hearts are broken, meaning a heart has been discarded by someone unable to follow suit. You may always play a heart when you cannot follow, just not lead one before that.
What is shooting the moon?
Taking all thirteen hearts and the queen of spades in one hand. Instead of 26 points you score zero and everyone else scores 26.
How do I stop someone shooting the moon?
Take one heart as soon as you can. One point is far better than twenty-six, and a single heart ends the attempt.
Can you play Hearts with three players?
Yes — remove the 2♦ and deal seventeen cards each. For five players remove the 2♦ and 2♣ and deal ten each.
Guides
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