How to Play Hearts: Rules & Free Online Game

Object of the game

Hearts is a trick-avoidance game: you don’t want to take tricks that contain point cards. Every heart counts one point and the Queen of Spades 13 – and points are bad. Everyone plays for themselves; there are no partners.

A game lasts several hands. Once someone has reached 50 points at the end of a hand (100 in the classic game), it’s over and the lowest score wins. Only a player who takes every single point card in a hand turns the tables: they “shoot the moon”.

Setup: the deck and the deal

Hearts uses a standard 52-card deck without jokers. In every suit the 2 is lowest and the Ace highest: 2, 3, 4 … 10, Jack, Queen, King, Ace. There are no trumps.

All the cards are dealt, so everyone has the same number. With three or five players that only works out if cards are removed first:

• 4 players: all 52 cards, 13 each
• 3 players: without the 2 of Diamonds, 17 each
• 5 players: without the 2 of Diamonds and the 2 of Clubs, 10 each

Hearts rules: passing cards

After the deal, everyone picks 3 cards to pass to another player. Everyone passes at the same time, so you only see what you’re getting once you’ve given away your three.

The direction changes every hand. Left means the next player clockwise, right the previous one:

• With four players: left, right, across, then one hand with no passing – and round again.
• With three or five players: left, right, no passing – and round again.
• The table always shows which way you’re passing this hand.

Leading: the 2 of Clubs and breaking hearts

After the pass, whoever holds the 2 of Clubs leads it to the first trick – with five players that’s the 3 of Clubs, since the 2 has been removed. It may well be a card you were just passed. After that, whoever took the last trick leads.

You may lead any suit except hearts. Hearts can only be led once they’re “broken”:

• Hearts are broken as soon as the first heart of the hand has been played – usually because someone couldn’t follow suit and discarded one.
• If you have nothing but hearts left, you may lead one anyway.
• You can lead the Queen of Spades whenever you like. She doesn’t break hearts.
• Every new hand starts with hearts unbroken again.

Following suit, discarding and winning tricks

Play goes clockwise, one card each. You must follow suit if you can. If you have no card of the suit led, discard any card you like – ideally a heart or the Queen of Spades, because the points go to whoever takes the trick.

The first trick is the exception: you may not discard a point card there – no hearts and not the Queen of Spades – unless you have nothing else.

The highest card of the suit led takes the trick. Discards from other suits never win, not even an Ace. The winner collects any point cards in the trick and leads the next one.

Example with four players: Anna, Ben, Cem and Dana sit clockwise in that order. On the third trick Ben leads the 9 of Diamonds and Cem plays the King of Diamonds. Dana is out of diamonds and discards the Queen of Spades; Anna follows with the 4 of Diamonds. Cem’s King is the highest diamond, so he takes the trick – Queen included, 13 points. He leads next; hearts still aren’t broken.

Scoring

Once all the cards have been played, the hand is over. Everyone counts the point cards in their tricks and adds them to their running total – nothing ever gets subtracted here. The cards are worth:

• Each heart: 1 point
• Queen of Spades: 13 points
• Every other card: 0 points

Shooting the moon

There are 26 points in every hand, whether three, four or five are playing – only the 2 of Diamonds and 2 of Clubs are ever removed. Take all 26 – all 13 hearts and the Queen of Spades – and you’ve shot the moon: you score 0 and everyone else gets 26.

It’s a gamble: miss even one heart and you’re stuck with 25. Example: Dana already has the Queen of Spades and eleven hearts. If she takes the last two as well, Anna, Ben and Cem get 26 points each and Dana none. But if Ben wins a trick with one of those hearts in it, Dana scores 25 and Ben 1.

End of the game: who wins?

The score is only checked after a complete hand: if anyone then has 50 points or more, the game is over. That’s our standard short game; the table option “Classic: play to 100” gives you the traditional target.

The player with the lowest score wins. If several players tie for lowest, they share the win.

With four players, a short game usually lasts four to six hands; a classic game to 100 takes roughly twice as many.

Play Hearts online with friends or Homies

At Tavern Jack you can play Hearts free in your browser – on your phone or your computer, with no sign-up and no app. Create a room, send the link to your friends and start.

Short of players? Homies can fill the empty seats if you like: our bar’s regulars, computer opponents in three levels – Easy, Normal and Hard. You can also play entirely on your own against them.

When several people play together, a turn timer makes sure nobody waits forever. If someone stops playing or leaves the game, a Homie takes over their seat.

Choose “Classic: play to 100” on the game’s coaster when you create the table, or later in the lobby. New to Hearts? A short interactive tutorial walks you through passing, following suit and discarding.

Variants, house rules and history

Hearts goes back to late-19th-century America. In the early 20th century the Queen of Spades was added as a penalty card – strictly speaking that version is called Black Lady, but today almost everyone just calls it Hearts. Many people know it as Microsoft Hearts, which came with Windows from the early 1990s up to Windows 7.

Common differences – and what applies at Tavern Jack:

• Black Maria (mainly in Britain): besides the Queen, the King of Spades (10) and the Ace of Spades (7) usually cost points too. Here: only the hearts and the Queen of Spades.
• Omnibus Hearts: whoever takes the Jack of Diamonds (sometimes the 10) subtracts 10 points. Here: no bonus card.
• “New moon”: the shooter subtracts 26 from their own score instead of giving 26 to everyone else. Here: everyone else gets 26.
• Spot Hearts: hearts score by rank – Ace 14, King 13, Queen 12, Jack 11, the rest at face value. Here: every heart is 1 point.
• The Queen of Spades breaks hearts. Here: she doesn’t – only a heart breaks hearts.
• Point cards allowed on the first trick. Here: only if you have nothing else.
• Playing to 100 points. Here: 50 by default, with “Classic: play to 100” as a table option.