How to Play Hearts

Players: 4, every player for themselves · Deck: standard 52 cards, aces high · Goal: have the lowest score when someone reaches 100.

The deal and the pass

Deal all 52 cards so everyone has 13. Before play, each player passes three cards: to the left on hand one, to the right on hand two, across on hand three, and no pass on hand four. Then the cycle repeats.

Playing tricks

• Whoever holds the 2♣ leads it to start the first trick.
• Follow the suit led if you can. If you can't, play any card.
• The highest card of the suit led wins the trick; there are no trumps.
• Traditionally, no hearts or Q♠ may be played on the first trick.
• You can't lead hearts until a heart has been played on an earlier trick (hearts are broken), unless you have only hearts left.

Scoring

• Each heart you take = 1 point.
• The Queen of Spades = 13 points.
• Shooting the moon: take all 13 hearts and the Q♠ in one hand and you score 0 while every opponent takes 26.

When any player reaches 100 at the end of a hand, the game ends and the lowest score wins.

Tips

• Pass high spades (A♠, K♠) if you don't hold enough low spades to protect them.
• Get rid of a whole suit early so you can dump points when it's led.
• If one player is quietly winning every heart, take one yourself to stop a moon shot.

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