Hearts Card Game

Objective

The objective is to take as few points as possible. You score penalty points for hearts and the Queen of Spades, unless one player takes every point card and shoots the moon.

Setup and Play Area

• Hearts uses one standard 52-card deck with no jokers.
• Each player receives 13 cards.
• Most rounds begin with a pass: left, right, across, then no pass, repeating.
• The player holding the 2 of Clubs leads the first trick.

Available Moves

• Follow the led suit if you have a card in that suit.
• If you cannot follow suit, you may discard another card, including a heart or the Queen of Spades unless first-trick restrictions apply.
• The highest card of the led suit wins the trick and leads the next trick.
• Hearts cannot be led until hearts have been broken, unless a player has only hearts remaining.
• The Queen of Spades can be played when legal and adds 13 points to the trick winner.

Hearts Card Game Strategy

• Use the pass to remove danger. High spades are risky when you also hold the Queen of Spades or cannot protect against it.
• Track whether hearts are broken before planning a lead. A low non-heart lead can be safer early, while a heart lead can pressure opponents later.
• Dump the Queen of Spades when another player cannot follow suit, but avoid feeding it to a player who may be shooting the moon.
• Shooting the moon works best when you have enough high cards to control multiple suits after the pass.
• Count exposed suits. Being void in one suit lets you discard penalty cards instead of taking tricks.

Variants

• Some tables play to 100 points, while shorter games may use a lower target score.
• Some Hearts rules include Jack of Diamonds scoring or different passing cycles. CardGamesHQ uses the classic penalty-card rules.
• Related trick-taking games include Spades and Euchre, which use trump and different scoring incentives.