Card game rules
Hearts rules: passing, scoring and shooting the moon
Hearts is a trick-taking game where you try to avoid taking certain cards. Every heart costs you a point, the queen of spades costs thirteen, and the lowest score when the game ends is the winner.
The basics
What you need and what you are trying to do
Hearts is played with a standard 52-card deck and, ideally, four players. Everyone plays for themselves. Each hand is a series of 13 tricks, and the aim is to take as few penalty cards as possible. Ace is the highest card and two is the lowest. There is no trump suit.
Deal all 52 cards out, 13 to each player. Play a hand, add up what everyone took, write the scores down, and deal again. When any player reaches 100 points or more, the game ends and the lowest total wins.
Before the first trick
Passing three cards
Once everyone has looked at their cards, each player picks three and passes them face down to another player. The direction rotates every hand, and the fourth hand is a hold hand with no passing at all. Then it starts over.
Choose your three cards before you look at what you are receiving. Players usually pass their highest cards, especially the queen of spades and the ace and king of spades, because those are the ones most likely to cost points. Some players pass the three cards of a short suit so they can get rid of it quickly and discard high cards later.
Playing a hand
How a hand goes, trick by trick
Lead the two of clubs
The player holding the two of clubs starts, and plays it face up. Play then moves clockwise.
Follow suit
Each player must play a card of the suit that was led if they have one. If you cannot, you may play any card, including a heart or the queen of spades.
Highest card of the led suit wins
Whoever played the highest card in the suit that was led takes the trick and leads the next one. Cards of other suits never win.
No points on the first trick
In most groups you cannot play a heart or the queen of spades on the first trick, unless your hand has nothing else.
Hearts are broken first
You cannot lead a heart until one has been played on an earlier trick, or unless you hold nothing but hearts. Leading a heart for the first time is called breaking hearts.
Count up
After 13 tricks, each player counts the hearts and the queen of spades they took, and adds them to their running total.
Scoring
How many points each card is worth
| Card | Points | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Each heart | 1 point | Ace through two of hearts |
| Queen of spades | 13 points | Also called the Black Lady or Black Maria |
| Everything else | 0 points | No other card scores |
| Total per hand | 26 points | 13 hearts plus the queen of spades |
Check that every hand adds up to 26 across the table. If it does not, someone has miscounted. Scores only ever go up, so after a few hands the totals climb quickly toward 100.
Ending the game
Play until at least one player passes 100. The lowest score then wins, even if that player is not the one who finished the final hand. If two players tie for the lowest, play another hand or share the win.
The big swing
Shooting the moon
If one player takes all 13 hearts and the queen of spades in the same hand, they have shot the moon. The usual scoring is that the shooter scores 0 and each of the other players takes 26 points. Some groups let the shooter choose instead to subtract 26 from their own score, which is the better pick when they are the one in danger of going out.
The other players try to stop it. As soon as two different players have taken a penalty card, the moon is off, so the table will often hand a single heart to a rival just to break up a run.
A hand worth trying for the moon usually has long, high runs in several suits plus the ace and king of spades, or a strong hand in hearts itself. A shot that is stopped halfway often means you took a lot of points yourself.
Common variations
House rules you will meet
- Jack of diamonds
- In the version often called Omnibus Hearts, the jack of diamonds is worth minus 10. Whoever takes it lowers their score.
- Three players
- Remove the two of diamonds. Each player gets 17 cards and the two of clubs still leads.
- Five players
- Remove the two of diamonds and the two of clubs. Each player gets 10 cards, and the lead goes to whoever holds the three of clubs.
- Passing four cards
- Common in some groups: pass four cards instead of three, or choose a different cycle.
- Different target
- Some tables play to 50 for a short game or 150 for a long one.
- Queen of spades on trick one
- Strict groups forbid hearts and the queen of spades on trick one. Looser ones allow it.
Agree on any variation before the first deal. If your group has its own rules, write them down so nobody has to argue about them later.
Questions
Quick answers
- How many points is the queen of spades worth in Hearts?
- 13 points against you. Each heart is 1 point, so every hand hands out 26 points in total: 13 hearts plus the queen of spades. The goal is to finish with the lowest score, so you want to take as few of those cards as you can.
- What does shooting the moon mean?
- It means taking all 13 hearts and the queen of spades in a single hand. Instead of 26 points for you, the other players each score 26 (or, in some groups, you subtract 26 from your own total). It is risky, because you only pull it off if you win nearly every trick that matters.
- How do you win Hearts?
- The game ends when someone reaches 100 points or more. The player with the lowest total at that point wins. Hearts is one of the few card games where a low score is good.
- Who leads first in Hearts?
- Whoever holds the two of clubs leads it to the first trick, and everyone must follow with a club if they can. On that first trick you normally cannot play a heart or the queen of spades, unless you have nothing else.
- Can you play Hearts with three or five players?
- Yes. With three, take out the two of diamonds so each player gets 17 cards. With five, take out the two of diamonds and the two of clubs for 10 cards each. Four players is the standard game and the one these rules describe.