Hearts

How to play

1. How do you start a game of Hearts and pass cards?: The deal starts the moment the page loads: 52 cards, 13 to each of four players. Every hand begins with a pass of exactly three cards — left on the first hand, right on the second, across on the third, and no pass at all on the fourth, then the cycle repeats. An arrow on the table points at the player you are passing to. Drag a finger across three cards to pick them, and the pass button lights up once you have exactly three.
2. How do you play a trick, and why are some of my cards dimmed?: Whoever holds the two of clubs leads it, and after that you must follow the suit that was led if you can. Cards you are not allowed to play are dimmed; tap one and the status line names the rule that stopped it — you still hold the led suit, no points on the first trick, or hearts have not been broken yet. Play confirmation is on by default: the first tap lifts the card and spells out what it will do, the second tap actually plays it.
3. How is Hearts scored and when does the game end?: The highest card of the led suit takes the trick, and every heart plus the queen of spades in it becomes penalty points for whoever took it. Hearts are 1 point each and the queen of spades is 13, so a hand is worth exactly 26. The game ends as soon as any player reaches the target score — 50 by default for a quick game, or 100 for a standard one — and the lowest total wins. Tied lowest totals share first place.
4. What is the game code for, and can I leave mid-game?: Every game has a short code in the top-left corner. Copy it and send it to someone, or paste a code into the settings drawer, and you get exactly the same deal card for card. Games in progress are saved in this browser automatically: close the tab, come back, and the table is exactly where you left it — same hand, same trick, same scores, with no "do you want to continue" prompt. After a game ends, "play again" deals a new code and "replay this deal" in the settings uses the same one.

Rules & variants

Hearts basics: a standard 52-card deck with no jokers, four players, 13 cards each, no kitty. It is a game you play backwards — hearts and the queen of spades are penalty points and the lowest score wins. Each trick, all four players play one card; the highest card of the suit that was led takes the trick and collects whatever penalty cards are in it. Thirteen tricks make a hand, and the game runs until somebody reaches the target score.

Passing in Hearts: at the start of each hand all four players choose three cards and pass them at the same time, then receive three at the same time. You never see what the computers passed until the three cards meant for you arrive. The direction cycles left, right, across, no pass — four hands per cycle. The fourth hand skips the pass entirely, and the page says so rather than leaving you wondering.

Leading and following: each hand is opened by whoever holds the two of clubs, and that card must be led. After that, if you hold the suit that was led you must play it; when you cannot follow you may play anything, which is the main chance to unload the queen of spades. Ace is high and two is low. Suits do not beat each other — only cards of the led suit can win a trick, so a big card in another suit is simply a discard.

The three prohibitions: first, follow the led suit if you hold it. Second, no point cards on the very first trick — no hearts and no queen of spades — unless point cards are all you have left. Third, you may not lead a heart until hearts have been broken, which means a heart has actually been played to a trick, unless hearts are all you have left. This table plays it so that the queen of spades does NOT break hearts. All three rules show up as a dimmed card plus one line of explanation, so there is nothing to memorise.

Scoring: each heart is 1 point, the queen of spades is 13, everything else is 0, and a hand always totals exactly 26. Points are penalties, so lower is better. The game ends when any player reaches the target and the lowest total wins. This site offers two targets: a quick game to 50 (the default, roughly 8 to 14 minutes) and a standard game to 100 (roughly 20 to 28 minutes). The target is chosen before the deal and locked during a game. Tied lowest scores share first place, and there is no playoff.

Shooting the moon: if one player takes all 13 hearts AND the queen of spades in a single hand, the scoring flips — that player scores 0 for the hand and each of the other three takes 26. That is 78 points added to the table in one hand, not 26, which is the part that surprises people the first time it happens. It is the biggest comeback in the game, and it is also why taking a single point off someone who is collecting everything is often the best move on the board.

How many players and how long: Hearts is a four-player game — 52 cards divide into four hands of 13 with nothing left over, so three or five players do not work without changing the deal. Here you play one seat against three computer opponents, so there is nobody to wait for. Because all four hands are secret, there is no same-screen four-player mode and no pass-the-phone mode: one would destroy the game, the other would mean handing the phone over fifty times per hand. One hand takes roughly 2 to 4 minutes and is the natural place to stop.

Strategy: when passing, the three usual candidates are the ace and king of spades (they are the cards that get stuck with the queen), any singleton high card, and the last two or three cards of a side suit so that you can void it and dump danger there later. If you hold the queen of spades, count your spades — four or more usually protects her, one or two means pass her on. When following, play as low as you safely can; but the moment you know you are taking the trick anyway, take it with your most dangerous high card. Counting starts and ends with spades: how many are left and whether the queen has appeared.

Common mistakes: dodging points so carefully that you never notice one player has collected every point on the table, and then eating 26 when they shoot the moon; keeping the ace and king of spades because they are "big", when in Hearts they are the cards most likely to catch the queen; voiding a suit and then taking a trick in it again, which undoes the whole plan; and playing small on the first trick, when no point card can be played and it is the safest moment to get rid of a high one.

House rules used here: two of clubs leads, no points on the first trick, hearts must be broken before they can be led, the queen of spades does not break hearts, shooting the moon adds 26 to everyone else, and passing runs left–right–across–hold. Other tables play it differently: some let the queen of spades break hearts, some allow points on the first trick, some score a successful moon as minus 26 for the shooter, and Omnibus Hearts adds the jack of diamonds as minus 10. Those variants are listed here as knowledge, not as switches — every extra option makes the first minute heavier.

FAQ