Hearts Rules: Passing, Scoring and Shooting the Moon

Hearts is a trick-taking game for four players with no partners and a single goal: do not take tricks that contain hearts or the queen of spades. Many people first met it as a computer game, but it plays better with real cards, and it is a gentle way into trick-taking because the rules are short.

This page follows the standard American rules as set out on pagat.com and by Bicycle Cards. Where groups play differently, the variation is marked, so you can agree on the details before the first deal.

Goal of the game

You score penalty points for the tricks you win, so the aim is the opposite of most card games: finish with the lowest total. Play continues over several hands until one player reaches 100 points. The player with the fewest points then wins.

Cards and penalty points

Use a standard 52-card deck without jokers. Cards rank from ace (high) down to 2 (low). There is no trump suit.

All penalty cards together add up to 13 + 13 = 26 points per hand. After every hand the points taken must add up to 26 (unless someone shot the moon or you play with the jack of diamonds), and if they do not, someone counted wrong.

Dealing

One player deals clockwise, one card at a time, until each of the four players holds 13 cards. The deal passes to the left after each hand. The player to the dealer's left does not have to lead; the opening lead goes to whoever holds the 2 of clubs, as explained below.

Passing cards

Before the first trick, everyone chooses 3 cards from their hand and passes them face down. You must choose your cards before you pick up the ones you are given. The direction rotates every hand:

Passing is where most of the strategy sits. It is the only time you can shape your hand, so use it to dump danger: high hearts, the ace or king of spades if you do not hold enough low spades to protect them, and one-off cards that can leave you with a void (no cards) in a suit.

Playing a hand

1. The player holding the 2 of clubs places it face up to start the first trick.
2. Play goes clockwise. Each player must follow suit if they can.
3. If you have no card of the suit led, you may play any card, including a heart or the queen of spades.
4. The highest card of the suit led takes the trick, and the winner leads the next one.
5. The cards of the trick are collected face down in front of the winner. The hand is over after 13 tricks.

Hearts broken. You cannot lead a heart until a heart has been played on an earlier trick, usually when someone could not follow suit. Pagat's version only counts hearts. Bicycle's version also lets the queen of spades break hearts, and the queen itself can be led at any time. If all you hold is hearts, you may lead one.

First trick. Pagat's standard rules let you dump penalty cards on trick one if you have no clubs. Bicycle Cards does not. Pick one and stay with it.

Scoring a hand

After the 13th trick, each player counts the penalty cards in the tricks they won and adds that number to their running total. Ignore tricks with no hearts and no queen.

Example of a hand

Ana, Ben, Cy and Dee have these totals going into the hand: Ana 40, Ben 52, Cy 31, Dee 47. After the hand, Dee has taken no penalty cards at all. The other three split the 26 points like this:

Check: 15 + 6 + 5 + 0 = 26, so we counted all 13 hearts (2 + 6 + 5) and the queen. Cy leads at 36, Dee is at 47.

Shooting the moon

If one player takes every heart and the queen of spades, that player has "shot the moon". The standard rules let the shooter choose:

• subtract 26 from their own total, or
• add 26 to each opponent's total.

Bicycle's description is the second option only (shooter scores 0, everyone else 26). Subtracting 26 helps a shooter who is far behind. Adding 26 to everyone else suits a shooter who already leads. Pagat also lists house rules in which the shooter always subtracts, or always adds to the others.

Shooting the moon is risky. You need long suits and a lot of high cards, and any opponent who takes one heart or the queen of spades stops you. If you see someone collecting penalty cards on purpose, take one.

End of the game

The game ends when a player reaches or passes 100 points at the end of a hand. The player with the lowest total wins. Some groups play to 50 for a shorter game. If the lowest players are tied, play another hand.

Variations

• Three players: remove the 2 of diamonds, deal 17 cards each, the 2 of clubs leads (Bicycle Cards says the 3 of clubs).
• Five players: remove two cards (commonly the 2 of diamonds and the 2 of clubs), deal 10 cards each, the 3 of clubs leads. Sources differ on exactly which cards are taken out.
• Jack of diamonds (Omnibus Hearts): the jack of diamonds is worth minus 10 for whoever takes it. The net total in a hand is then 16, not 26.
• Hearts can be led at any time in some groups.
• The queen of spades breaks hearts in others.
• No points on the first trick: the rule Bicycle Cards uses, no hearts or queen of spades discarded on trick one.
• Cancellation Hearts (6 to 10 players, two decks) and Black Maria (usually three or four players) are different games in the same family.

Tips for better play

1. Pass high hearts first. An ace of hearts in your hand with no protection will eventually take points. Pass it.
2. Handle the queen of spades with care. Pass it away if you have three or fewer spades. Keep it only if you hold plenty of low spades to protect it.
3. Create a void early. An empty suit lets you throw off high cards when someone leads it.
4. Lead low cards early. A low lead is unlikely to win a trick full of points.
5. Track the queen of spades. While it is still out, leading a high spade is dangerous, and leading spades low can flush it out of a hand that holds it.
6. Watch for a moon shot. If one player takes every heart in the first few tricks, stop them by keeping a single low heart for the end.
7. Avoid winning tricks that carry points, unless you are sure nobody is close to shooting the moon.

Common mistakes

• Passing in the wrong direction, or picking up the passed cards before choosing your own.
• Leading a heart before hearts are broken.
• Forgetting to follow suit. A revoke (not following suit when you could) is a rules breach, so agree on a penalty before you start.
• Miscounting: the 26-point check at the end of each hand catches most counting errors.
• Arguing about house rules in the middle of a hand instead of before the deal.

Where Hearts comes from

Pagat dates the first appearance of Hearts to the end of the 19th century. It later reached a huge audience as a computer game bundled with Windows, and many players learned the rules from that program. Hearts belongs to a family of trick-avoidance games, the opposite of Spades, where you must win the tricks you bid.