Hearts rules

Quick start

1. Deal the whole 52-card deck one card at a time, so each of the 4 players gets 13. Everyone plays alone. Hearts and the queen of spades are the cards to avoid.
2. Pass 3 cards face down: to the left on the first hand, to the right on the second and across on the third. Nobody passes on the fourth. Then the cycle repeats.
3. Whoever holds the 2 of clubs leads it. Going clockwise, everyone follows suit if they can. The highest card of the suit led wins the trick. There is no trump suit.
4. If you cannot follow suit, play any card. On the first trick, though, you may not play a heart or the queen of spades unless your hand holds nothing else.
5. You may not lead a heart until a heart has been played on an earlier trick, unless you hold only hearts. The queen of spades may be led on any trick after the first.
6. Each heart you win costs 1 point and the queen of spades costs 13. Win all 14 point cards and everyone else takes 26 instead. When someone reaches 100, the lowest total wins.

Rule sheet and score sheet

Print the whole game on one page, and a score sheet made for Hearts. Both are free PDFs for Letter paper.

Download the rule sheet

PDF, 1 page. The whole game on one page.

Download the score sheet

PDF, 1 page. Laid out for Hearts.

Setup

Best with 4 players, each playing alone. Versions for 3 and 5 players, and a two-deck version for 6 to 10, are further down.

You need: A standard 52-card deck with the jokers taken out.

• In every suit the ace is the highest card and the 2 is the lowest.
• The 14 point cards hold 26 points between them, so in the one-deck game every hand has 26 points to hand out.

1. Take the jokers out of a standard 52-card deck. Have paper and a pencil ready. Everyone plays alone and keeps their own score.
2. Anyone can deal the first hand. After each hand the deal moves one seat to the left.
3. Shuffle and deal the cards one at a time, face down and clockwise, starting on the dealer’s left. With 4 players everyone gets 13 cards.
4. Sort your cards by suit. Aces are high and 2s are low. There is no trump suit.

Each player’s hand

13 cards. Everyone plays for themselves.

• With 3 or 5 players, remove the cards listed above before you shuffle, unless you use the kitty way in the versions further down.
• The cards taken out for 3 or 5 players are never point cards, so every hand still holds 26 points.

How to play

A hand starts with a pass of 3 cards, except on every fourth hand. Then 13 tricks are played. A trick is one trip around the table: each player plays one card, and the best card wins them all. The aim is to avoid winning tricks that hold hearts or the queen of spades.

1. Pass 3 cards

   Choose 3 cards and pass them face down: to the left on the first hand, to the right on the second and across the table on the third. Nobody passes on the fourth hand. Then the cycle starts again.

   • Put your 3 cards down before you pick up the ones passed to you. You may not look at what you are getting first.
   • The hand with no pass is called a hold hand.
   • With 3 or 5 players the passing cycle is different. See the versions further down.

2. Lead the 2 of clubs

   Whoever holds the 2 of clubs after the pass leads it. Going clockwise, each player plays one card and must follow suit, which means playing a card of the suit led, if they can. The highest card of the suit led wins the trick, and the winner leads next.

   • There is no trump. A card of another suit never wins a trick, however high it is.
   • You never have to beat the cards already played. The only duty is to follow suit when you can.
   • Whoever wins a trick keeps its cards face down in front of them until the hand is scored.

3. Play any card when you cannot follow suit

   If you have no card of the suit led, you may play any card. This is your chance to get rid of hearts and the queen of spades. The first trick is the exception: on it you may not play a heart or the queen of spades unless your hand holds nothing else.

   • Having no cards of a suit is called being void in it.
   • You do not have to play the queen of spades at the first chance. You may keep her until you choose to play her, unless spades are led and she is your only spade.
   • Some groups allow hearts and the queen of spades on the first trick. See the variants.

4. Wait for hearts to be broken

   You may not lead a heart until hearts are broken. They are broken once a heart has been played on an earlier trick, which usually happens when a player cannot follow suit. From then on anyone may lead a heart. If your hand holds only hearts, you may lead one even before they are broken.

   • The limit is only on leading. Playing a heart because you cannot follow suit is allowed on every trick after the first.
   • Groups differ on the queen of spades. Some count her as breaking hearts too when she is played. Agree on this before the game.
   • If hearts are not broken and you hold only hearts and the queen of spades, the strict rule makes you lead the queen. Many groups let you lead a heart instead.

5. Lead the queen of spades when you like

   Spades may be led on any trick after the first, the queen included. She wins a trick only when spades are led and nobody plays the king or ace of spades.

   • Whoever wins the trick with the queen of spades in it takes her 13 points, whoever played her.

6. Score the hand

   After 13 tricks, each player counts the point cards in the tricks they won: 1 point for each heart and 13 for the queen of spades. Add the points to each player’s total. The deal then moves left.

   • In the one-deck game the point cards hold 26 points between them, so a hand’s points always add up to 26 unless someone shoots the moon.
   • Points count against you. A trick with no point cards in it costs nothing.

7. Shoot the moon

   Winning all 13 hearts and the queen of spades in one hand is called shooting the moon. The player who does it scores 0 for that hand, and every other player scores 26.

   • Some groups take 26 off the shooter’s total instead, or let the shooter choose. Agree on the rule before the game. See the variants.

Example: no clubs on the first trick

North holds the 2 of clubs after the pass and leads it. East plays the king of clubs. South has no clubs and would love to get rid of the queen of spades, but on the first trick that is not allowed, and neither is a heart. South plays the ace of diamonds. West plays the 9 of clubs. East’s king is the highest club, so East wins the trick. East leads next, and may not lead a heart because none has been played yet.

North leads

East

The highest club wins

South

No clubs, and no point cards allowed yet

West

Scoring

Points are bad in hearts. You take them for the hearts and the queen of spades in the tricks you win, and the lowest total wins.

• In the one-deck game, add up each hand’s points as a check. Without a moon they come to 26. When someone shoots the moon they come to 26 for each other player, which is 78 with 4 players.
• If two or more players tie for the lowest total when the game ends, the main rules do not settle it. Some groups play more hands until one player is lowest alone.

The game ends after the hand in which any player reaches 100 points or more. The player with the lowest total wins.

Give each player a column. After each hand, write the points each player took and their new total. Note which way the next pass goes, so nobody forgets.

Scorekeeper

Enter the points each player took in a hand, and it checks that they add up to 26. Mark a moon and it scores it for you. Before the game, choose the moon rule: 26 to everyone else, or 26 off the shooter. It ends the game when someone reaches 100 and shows the lowest total. It is set up for one deck, so it does not suit Cancellation Hearts or the jack of diamonds rule. It works in this browser, keeps the game if the page reloads, and needs no account.

Other ways to play

House rules and other versions

Moon: take 26 off the shooter

The player who shoots the moon has 26 points taken off their total, and nobody else scores for that hand.

Moon: the shooter chooses

The shooter picks one: take 26 off their own total, or add 26 to every other player’s total.

Moon: add 26 unless it hands someone the game

Everyone else gets 26 as usual. If that would end the game with one of them winning, take 26 off the shooter’s total instead.

Points allowed on the first trick

A player with no clubs may play a heart or the queen of spades on the first trick, like any other trick.

The queen of spades breaks hearts

Hearts count as broken once the queen of spades has been played, as well as once a heart has been played.

Hearts may be led at any time

There is no breaking rule. Whoever has the lead may lead a heart.

Dealer’s left leads first

The player on the dealer’s left leads the first trick in place of the holder of the 2 of clubs, and may lead any card. Groups that also limit leading hearts make it any card but a heart.

Get rid of the queen at once

You must play the queen of spades at the first safe chance, such as the first time you cannot follow suit.

Jack of diamonds (Omnibus Hearts)

Whoever wins the jack of diamonds takes 10 points off their score. Some groups use the 10 of diamonds instead. A moon still needs every heart and the queen of spades. The jack’s 10 points come off for whoever took it, the shooter included.

Shooting the sun

Winning every trick in a hand, not only every point card, counts as 52 points in place of 26. It is scored the same way as a moon.

Exactly 100

A player whose total is exactly 100 at the end of a hand drops back to 50, or to 0 in some groups.

Shorter game

Play to 50 points instead of 100.

Other passing cycles

Some groups play left, right and across with no hold hand. Others replace the hold hand with a scatter, where each player passes 1 card to each of the others.

Kitty of 4 cards

Deal 12 cards each and put the last 4 face down as a kitty. The first player to win a heart or the queen of spades in a trick also takes the kitty, with any points in it.

Partnership Hearts

Four players form two teams, with partners across from each other. Each team scores the points in both partners’ tricks. A team that wins every point card gives the other team 26, or takes 26 off its own score. Some partnerships pass 3 cards to each other on every hand instead of the usual pass.

Rule questions

Words used in Hearts

Trick

One round in which each player plays one card. With 4 players a hand has 13 tricks.

Lead

To play the first card of a trick.

Follow suit

To play a card of the same suit as the card that was led.

Void

Having no cards of a suit. When you are void in the suit led, you may play any card.

Point cards

The 13 hearts and the queen of spades. Also called penalty cards.

Pass

Giving 3 cards face down to another player before a hand is played.

Hold hand

A hand with no pass. With 4 players, every fourth hand.

Breaking hearts

Playing the first heart of a hand. After that, hearts may be led.

Shooting the moon

Winning all 13 hearts and the queen of spades in one hand. Also called a slam.

Kitty

Spare cards set face down during the deal. Who takes them depends on the version, often the winner of the first trick.

Scatter

A pass where each player gives cards to every other player, in place of all to one player.

Omnibus Hearts

Hearts in which the jack of diamonds, or in some groups the 10 of diamonds, takes 10 points off the score of whoever wins it.

What you need

• A standard deck of playing cardsAll 52 cards are used with 4 players. Cancellation Hearts for 6 or more needs two decks.Find it on Amazon (A standard deck of playing cards, opens in a new tab)
• A score padOptional. Plain paper works, and so does the free printable score sheet.Find it on Amazon (A score pad, opens in a new tab)

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