How to Play Hearts
Hearts is a game about losing. You are not trying to win tricks — you are trying to avoid them, or more precisely to avoid the thirteen hearts and the queen of spades. The player with the fewest points wins.
That inversion is what makes it interesting. Every trick you take is a decision about whether the cost is worth the control.
The basics
Four players, one standard deck, thirteen cards each. A game runs over several rounds and ends when someone reaches 100 points. Lowest total wins.
Scoring: each heart is 1 point, the queen of spades is 13. That is 26 points per round, and the queen alone is half of them. Most games are decided by who gets stuck with her.
The pass
Before each round, everyone chooses three cards to pass — face down, all at once, so nobody sees what is coming until it lands.
The direction rotates: left, right, across, then no pass at all, repeating. The fourth round with no passing is often the hardest, because you are stuck with exactly what you were dealt.
Pass what hurts you. The usual candidates:
- The queen of spades, unless you can protect her (see below).
- The ace and king of spades, which are worse than the queen in one specific way: they cannot duck under her. If someone leads spades and you hold the ace, you take the trick — and the queen if she falls.
- High hearts, which take points directly.
- Cards from a short suit, so you go void and can discard danger later.
Playing a round
The two of clubs always leads the first trick. Whoever holds it plays it, no choice involved.
You must follow the led suit if you can. Only when you are void may you play anything.
No points on the first trick. You cannot dump a heart or the queen on the opening trick unless your hand is nothing but points.
Hearts may not be led until they are "broken" — that is, until a heart has been discarded on some earlier trick because someone was void. The exception is a hand containing nothing but hearts.
Highest card of the led suit takes the trick, along with any points in it, and leads the next one.
The queen of spades
Half the game. A few things worth internalising:
Holding her is not automatically bad. If you also hold several low spades, you can duck under spade leads and drop her on someone else when they lead the ace or king. Guards are what make her safe — the queen with two low spades is manageable, the queen alone is a liability.
The ace and king of spades are more dangerous than the queen when you do not hold her. Every spade lead risks pulling her onto your trick.
Leading low spades early is how you flush her out while you still control the round.
Shooting the moon
Take all 26 points — every heart and the queen — and the scoring inverts: you score zero and everyone else takes 26.
It is rare and it is a gamble. Attempting it and taking 25 of 26 is the worst outcome in the game, because you get all of them and nobody else gets the penalty.
When it is worth trying: a hand with long, high cards in one suit, several high hearts, and the queen with guards. You need to win every pointed trick, which means controlling the lead almost throughout.
How to stop someone else: watch for a player taking every early trick. The counter is to take exactly one pointed trick yourself — a single heart is enough to break the attempt, and it is far cheaper than 26.
Playing here
Start a table and share the link. Up to three friends can join with the room code; any seat still empty when you start is filled by a bot, so a game never waits on someone who did not show up.
Rooms survive disconnection. Close the tab, lose signal, or refresh, and rejoining puts you back in the same seat with your hand intact — the table lives on the server, not in anyone's browser, so it does not matter who created it or whether they are still there.
Your hand is only ever sent to you. Other players' cards are not hidden in the interface — they are never transmitted at all.
Common questions
Why can I not lead hearts? They have not been broken yet. Someone must discard a heart on another suit first.
Why can I only play one card? You are following suit. If you hold any card of the led suit, you must play one.
Why did I get 26 points? Someone shot the moon — they took every point, so everyone else takes the full penalty.
Can I pass the queen of spades? Yes, and often you should. But a well-guarded queen is safer than an unguarded ace of spades.
What happens if someone leaves? Nothing breaks. Their seat waits for them, and they can rejoin with the same link.
Last updated 2026-08-22