Hearts
A trick-taking card game where the goal is to avoid points, not collect them.
- Players3 to 4 players (4 is standard)
- Play time30 to 45 minutes
- DifficultyIntermediate
- OriginLikely developed in the United States in the late 19th century from earlier European trick-taking games
- You'll needA standard 52-card deck, no jokers.
Overview
Hearts flips the usual goal of a trick-taking card game on its head: instead of trying to win tricks, players are actively trying to avoid certain cards that carry penalty points. Every heart card is worth a point, and the queen of spades is worth thirteen points on her own, so a large part of the game is steering dangerous cards away from your own hand and, when you can't avoid them, timing when you play them to do the least damage.
The game is generally believed to have developed in the United States in the late 1800s, evolving from a family of European card games in which players tried to avoid taking certain tricks. Hearts became especially popular once it was included as a built-in game on early personal computers, introducing it to a much wider audience of players who had never held a physical deck for it.
What You Need
You need a standard 52-card deck with no jokers, and paper or a way to track a running score across several hands, since a full game is usually played to a target score rather than a single round.
Setup
With four players, deal all 52 cards evenly, 13 to each player. With three players, remove the two of diamonds so the deck divides evenly into 17 cards each; with five, some groups add a second deck's low cards or simply exclude a player. Before play begins in each hand, most rule sets have every player pass three cards to a neighbor — the direction (left, right, across, or no pass at all) typically rotates hand to hand.
How to Play
The player holding the two of clubs leads the very first trick with that card. Play proceeds clockwise, and each player must follow the suit that was led if they have a card of that suit; if not, they may play any card, including a heart or the queen of spades. The highest card of the suit that was led wins the trick, and that player leads the next one. Hearts cannot be led until a heart has already been played in an earlier trick (a rule called "breaking hearts"), unless a player has nothing but hearts left in hand. At the end of the hand, players count penalty points: one point for every heart card they collected in tricks, and thirteen points for the queen of spades if they took it.
How to Win
Hands are played repeatedly until a player reaches an agreed target score, typically 100 points — at that point, the player with the lowest total score wins the game, since in Hearts you are trying to have the fewest points, not the most. A special rule called "shooting the moon" allows a player who collects every heart and the queen of spades in a single hand to instead subtract 26 points from their own score, or add 26 to every other player's score.
Tips
- Try to get rid of high spades early, before the queen of spades might force you to take her.
- Keep a low card in each suit as a 'safe' card to play when you can't avoid taking a trick.
- Pay attention to which cards have already been played to judge what opponents might be holding.
- Consider going for the moon only when you have a strong, well-supported hand across all suits.
- Void yourself of a suit early if possible, so you can discard dangerous cards later.
Common Mistakes
- Leading a heart before hearts have been broken.
- Holding onto the queen of spades too long instead of releasing her when it's safe.
- Forgetting that you must follow suit if you're able to.
- Attempting to shoot the moon with a weak hand that can't realistically collect everything.
Variations
Omnibus Hearts adds the ten of clubs as a bonus card worth negative ten points to whoever takes it. Spot Hearts scores each heart card by its face value rather than a flat point each. Black Lady, an older relative of Hearts, is played very similarly but with slightly different passing and scoring conventions depending on the region.
Frequently Asked Questions
Only if you have no clubs in your hand at all; otherwise you must follow suit with a club on the first trick.
It refers to the first time a heart is played in a hand, usually because a player had no cards of the suit that was led. Until that happens, hearts generally cannot be led.
It's a well-known but relatively rare and risky play, since it requires taking every single penalty card in the hand, and failing partway through can leave you with a very high score instead.