Hearts is a trick-taking game for four players, each for themselves, using a standard 52-card deck. Here the twist is that you're trying not to win points: every heart is worth 1 and the Queen of Spades is worth 13. Lowest score wins. Tap any step to open it.
The Basics
1
The goal — low score wins
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Hearts flips the usual instinct on its head: you don't want to win tricks that contain points. Points are counted up over many hands, and the game ends when someone reaches an agreed total (commonly 100).
- The player with the lowest score wins — so the whole game you're dodging points, not chasing them.
- Each hand, all 52 cards are dealt out — 13 to each of the four players. Cards rank normally: 2 (low) up to Ace (high) within each suit.
The points to avoid: each heart = 1 point (13 in the deck) and the Queen of Spades = 13 points — 26 points are in play every hand. That "Black Lady" is the card everyone fears.
2
The pass
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Before play begins, each player picks three cards from their hand and passes them face-down to another player — a chance to unload dangerous cards (high hearts, the Queen of Spades, high spades).
- The direction rotates each hand: pass left, then right, then across, then a "hold hand" with no pass — then the cycle repeats.
- You choose and pass your three cards before you look at what you're receiving, so it's a small gamble every time.
Ask yourself: what would hurt most to be stuck with? The Q♠ and your highest hearts and spades are the usual candidates to pass away.
The Play
3
Leading & following suit
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The player holding the 2 of Clubs leads it to start the first trick. Going clockwise, each other player plays one card.
- You must follow the suit that was led if you can. Only if you have none of that suit may you play something else (that's called "sloughing" or "discarding").
- The highest card of the suit led wins the trick — other suits can't win, no matter how high. The winner leads the next trick.
- Whoever wins a trick collects the point cards in it — those hearts and that dreaded Queen count against them at the hand's end.
Key instinct: winning a trick isn't good or bad by itself — it only matters whether the trick carried points. Often you want to lose tricks.
4
"Breaking" hearts
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Hearts can't be led right away. A player may only lead a heart once hearts have been "broken" — meaning a heart (or the Queen of Spades) has already been played on some earlier trick because someone couldn't follow suit.
- Until then, if it's your lead you must lead a different suit.
- You can still play a heart earlier when you're following — for instance, if clubs are led and you have no clubs, you may sluff a heart. That itself breaks hearts.
- Common courtesy rule: no points at all may be played on the very first trick (no hearts, no Q♠).
Why it matters: the "hearts broken" rule keeps anyone from dumping points too early and gives the hand its careful, building tension.
Scoring
5
Counting up the points
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When all 13 tricks are played, each player totals the point cards they collected and adds it to their running score:
- Each heart = 1 point.
- The Queen of Spades = 13 points.
- All other cards are worth nothing — 26 points are handed out every single hand.
Remember: these are bad points. A hand where you take zero is a perfect hand. Over the game, the lowest total wins.
6
Shooting the moon
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Here's the twist that makes Hearts thrilling. If a single player manages to take all 26 points in one hand — every heart and the Queen of Spades — they've "shot the moon."
- Instead of taking 26, that player scores 0, and every other player is charged 26 points instead.
- (A common option: the shooter may instead subtract 26 from their own score. Tables agree which version they use.)
- It's a bold, risky play — miss by a single point and you're stuck with a huge score. But pulled off, it flips the whole game.
Watch for it: if one player is scooping up hearts on purpose, someone may need to deliberately take a point to "stop the moon" and spoil the run.
7
Ending the game
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Hands continue, with the pass direction rotating each time, until at least one player reaches the target score (often 100).
- At that point the game ends and the player with the fewest points wins.
- Because a single hand only ever hands out 26 points (and a moon can swing things wildly), the lead can change right up to the finish.
New to Hearts? Just sit down and play a hand or two — it clicks fast, and the table will happily point out when hearts have been broken or a moon might be on.