How to play Hearts. Take the lead. Leave the points.
Winning a trick is not always good news. Learn Hearts with visual rules, guided practice and three computer opponents — from the first pass to shooting the moon.
4 playerseveryone for themselves26 pointsin every full dealLowest score winsmatch ends at 100+
Your Hearts practice table
REAL RULES. A LITTLE GUIDANCE.
A clever loss. A lighter score.
Practise passing and the opening trick, following suit and discarding the queen. Then play full thirteen-trick deals with a running match score.
Follow the game
Four players · left/right/across/hold passing · no points on first trick unless forced · queen does not break hearts
Avoid penalty cards in the tricks you take: each heart is 1 point, and Q♠ is 13.
02
The pass
Deal thirteen each. Pass three left, then right, then across; the fourth deal has no pass. Repeat.
03
The play
The 2♣ starts. Follow suit if possible. Highest card of the led suit takes the trick; no trumps.
04
The score
Count after thirteen tricks. At 100 or more points, the unique lowest total wins.
01
Thirteen cards each. Three you can give away.
Hearts is a four-player game without partnerships. Use a standard 52-card pack, no jokers, and deal thirteen cards to everyone. Aces are high. There is no trump suit: the suit led to each trick is the one that matters.
Before the first deal is played, each player chooses three cards to pass to their left. Everyone commits their outgoing cards before seeing what they receive. Our table asks you to select exactly three, then handles all four passes together.
Left → right
Deal one passes left. Deal two passes right.
Across → hold
Deal three passes across. Deal four keeps every card.
Repeat
Deal five passes left again. Match scores carry over.
You can pass any three cards, including the queen of spades or the two of clubs. After passing, whoever now holds 2♣ must lead it to the first trick. A pass suggestion is not mandatory; your chosen three cards are what leave your hand.
02
Follow the suit. Watch what the trick carries.
A trick is one card from each player, played clockwise. The first card establishes the led suit. If you have any card in that suit, you must play one. You can play a lower card; you are not required to beat the current highest card.
If you have none of the led suit, you may discard another suit, subject to the opening-trick restriction below. An off-suit card cannot win the trick, however high it is. The highest card of the led suit takes all four cards and leads next.
No penalty cards on the first trick, unless forced.
Our table does not allow a heart or Q♠ to be discarded on the opening trick if you have a non-penalty alternative. Following the led clubs still takes priority. If your entire remaining hand contains penalty cards, the restriction cannot prevent a play.
The computer pauses after every trick to identify the winner, the winning card and the penalty points collected. Continue when you are ready. Cards highlighted with a gold border are legal choices, not a promise of the best tactical play.
03
Hearts need an opening. The queen needs caution.
You cannot lead a heart until a heart has appeared in an earlier trick, unless your hand contains only hearts. Playing a heart when unable to follow another led suit breaks hearts and allows heart leads on later tricks.
Breaking hearts does not let you ignore the led suit. If spades were led and you still hold a spade, you must play a spade even after hearts are broken. If only hearts remain in a leader’s hand, they can lead one before the usual break.
♥ = 1
Every heart taken in a trick adds one penalty point.
Q♠ = 13
The queen carries thirteen points, not trump power.
No trumps
Only the led suit can win a trick. A discarded queen can still add its points.
In this version, playing Q♠ does not break hearts. Some groups allow it to; agree that variation before a real-world game. Spades can be led after the first trick without waiting for hearts to break.
04
Count the points. Keep the total low.
After all thirteen tricks, each player scores the penalty cards in their captured tricks. Thirteen hearts plus the queen of spades make 26 points per deal. Ordinary clubs, diamonds and the other spades have no point value.
If one player captures all thirteen hearts and Q♠, they shoot the moon. Our table gives that player zero for the deal and adds 26 to each other player instead. There is no optional minus-26 choice here.
Moon means all the penalty cards, not all the tricks.
You can let opponents take tricks containing no hearts and no queen of spades, and still shoot the moon. Collecting just thirteen hearts without Q♠ is not a moon.
Carry scores across deals. When any total reaches or exceeds 100 at the end of a deal, the player with the unique lowest total wins. If the lowest total is tied, our match continues for another deal until there is one lowest player. Do not stop midway through a deal when a penalty card appears.
05
A useful first plan. Not a guaranteed formula.
Try to avoid taking the queen of spades without trapping yourself in a suit. High spades can be risky if the queen has not appeared. A short suit may create a later opportunity to discard a penalty card, but passing away three cards also changes what you receive.
Notice which cards have been played and which players cannot follow a suit. The computer uses its own hand and the current public trick to pick legal moves. It does not inspect other players’ hands. This is a learning table, not an expert Hearts solver.
Other versions include bonus cards, different passing cycles and alternative moon scoring. This page teaches the four-player game described above; it does not apply every rule called Black Maria or Omnibus Hearts.
TRY A RULE, WITHOUT THE DEAL
If you have a diamond, you must follow it. If you are void in diamonds, Q♠ may be discarded after the first trick. It gives 13 points to the diamond winner.
Rules checked against Pagat’s Hearts rules and variations. This page’s explanations and teaching positions are original. Our chosen variations are stated above. Reviewed 18 October 2026.
FOR THE NEXT REAL DEAL
Less looking up. More playing.
Keep the setup, turn and ending close by. This sheet follows the exact version used by our practice table.
Hearts.THE QUICK REFERENCE LEARN. PLAY. REPEAT.
Deal
Four players, thirteen cards each. No partners or trumps.
Pass
Three left, three right, three across, then hold. Repeat.
Start
The holder of 2♣ must lead it. Follow suit whenever possible.
Hearts
No heart leads until broken, unless holding only hearts.
Score after thirteen tricks. At 100+, unique lowest total wins.
CARD GAME RULES · NO REAL-MONEY PLAY♠ ♥ ♣ ♦
SETTLE A QUESTION
Before the next hand. A few useful answers.
How do you play Hearts?
Deal thirteen cards each to four players. Pass according to the deal, start with 2♣, follow suit and avoid taking hearts or Q♠. Lowest match score wins.
How many points is the queen of spades?
Thirteen penalty points. Every heart is one point, giving 26 points in a full deal before a moon adjustment.
What does breaking hearts mean?
A heart has been played, usually when a player cannot follow suit. Heart leads are then allowed. A hand containing only hearts may lead one even before the break.
Does the queen of spades break hearts?
Not in our version. Some groups allow that variation, so agree before the first deal.
What is shooting the moon in Hearts?
One player takes every heart and Q♠. Here the shooter gets zero for that deal and every other player gets 26.
Can you play a heart on the first trick?
Only when unable to follow clubs and holding no non-penalty alternative. Our table otherwise blocks hearts and Q♠ on the opening trick.
Who wins when someone reaches 100?
Finish the deal first. The unique lowest total wins. If that lowest score is tied, our table plays another deal.
Can I play Hearts without passing?
Our fourth deal is a hold hand, with no pass. Other deals follow the left, right, across cycle. The practice table does not let you skip a required pass.
