The rulebook

How to play Hearts

A trick-taking game where you want the FEWEST points, not the most. Every heart is worth a point, the Q♠ is worth thirteen, and the player with the lowest total when someone crosses the target wins.

Step 1

The deal

Everyone gets an even hand — thirteen cards each at four players, with the deck stripped of a few low cards at 3, 5 or 6 so the deal always comes out even. Play always moves to the LEFT.

Step 2

Passing

Before the first trick, most hands pass left, right, across, hold — rotating every hand (across is skipped at an odd seat count). Look at what you're stuck with, and pass along the cards you least want to be caught holding.

Step 3

Playing a trick

Whoever holds the lowest club in play opens the very first trick. After that, the winner of each trick leads the next one. You must follow the suit that was led if you can; if you can't, play anything you like. The highest card of the led suit wins the trick — there is no trump suit.

Step 4

Two safety rules

Nobody may play a heart or the Q♠ on the very first trick, unless that's genuinely all they have left. And hearts can't be led until they've been broken — played by someone forced to give one up on another suit's lead — unless a seat holds nothing but hearts.

Step 5

Scoring a hand

Whoever takes a trick keeps every card in it. At hand's end, each heart taken is worth 1 point and the Q♠ is worth 13. Lower is better — you want as few of these as possible.

Step 6

Shooting the moon

Old moon — the shooter scores 0 for the hand, everyone else takes the full hand value.

Step 7

Winning the match

The match ends the hand someone's running total crosses 100 points (the default; a host can set 50, 100, 150 or 200). Whoever has the LOWEST total at that point wins — Hearts is a low-score game.