How to Play Hearts
Objective
Avoid taking tricks that contain hearts or the Queen of Spades.
The player with the lowest score at the end of the game wins.
Card Points
- Each heart card: 1 point
- Queen of Spades (Q♠): 13 points
- All other cards: 0 points
Passing Cards
Before each round, players select 3 cards to pass to another player.
The passing direction rotates each round: Left, Right, Across, then no pass.
Playing Tricks
- The player with the 2 of Clubs leads the first trick.
- Players must follow suit if possible. If not, they can play any card.
- Hearts cannot be led until a heart has been played on a previous trick ("breaking hearts").
- No points can be played on the first trick (no hearts or Queen of Spades).
- The highest card of the led suit wins the trick.
Shooting the Moon
If a player takes all 26 points (all hearts + Queen of Spades),
they score 0 and every other player receives 26 points.
Scoring
The game ends when any player reaches 100 points.
The player with the lowest score wins.