Play Hearts Online

Game Overview & Trick Rules (Game Specification)

• Players & Deck: 4 players (South is the human player, West, North, and East are AI). Played with a standard 52-card deck without jokers, 13 cards dealt to each player.
• Passing Phase: Before trick play, players pass 3 cards each round in a 4-round cycle: Round 1 to the Left (South to West, West to North, North to East, East to South); Round 2 to the Right (South to East, East to North, North to West, West to South); Round 3 Across (South to North & North to South, West to East & East to West); Round 4 Hold / No passing (Left ➔ Right ➔ Across ➔ Hold).
• Opening Lead: The player holding the Two of Clubs (2♣) must lead it on the very first trick.
• Trick 1 Protection: No penalty cards (no Hearts ♥ and no Queen of Spades ♠Q) may be discarded on the first trick, unless a player holds nothing but penalty cards.
• Following Suit: Players must follow the suit led if they hold cards of that suit. If void in the led suit, any card of any other suit may be discarded.
• Breaking Hearts: A player cannot lead Hearts until Hearts have been "broken" (discarded on a previous trick) or unless the leader has only Hearts left in hand.
• Winning the Trick (Trick Taking): The highest card of the suit led wins the trick (Ace high, 2 low; no trump suit). The winner collects all 4 cards and leads the next trick.

Scoring System & Shooting the Moon

Hearts is an evasion game where the lowest score wins. Rounds continue until a player reaches the score threshold.

♥ Hearts

Each Heart (♥) = 1 penalty point (13 Hearts = 13 points total)

♠Q Queen of Spades

Queen of Spades (♠Q / Black Maria) = 13 penalty points

Round Total

Fixed Round Total = 26 penalty points distributed across all players each round

End Game

End Game Condition: Once any player reaches 100 penalty points (or 50 in Quick Play), the unique lowest score wins. If the lowest score is tied, play another round.

Shooting the Moon

Capture all 13 Hearts and the Queen of Spades. Under the standard rule, the shooter scores 0 while each of the other 3 players receives 26 penalty points. An optional rule lets the shooter subtract 26 points instead.

Essential Hearts Strategies

• Protect your High Spades: If you hold Ace or King of Spades, keep lower Spades to guard against being forced to take the Queen.
• Short-Suiting: Pass low clubs or diamonds to empty a suit quickly, giving you a chance to slough high cards early.
• Duck Penalties: Play cards just underneath the highest card on the trick to dump high ranks without winning the trick.
• Watch for the Moonshot: If one player is sweeping every heart and high spade, do not hesitate to sacrifice a trick to stop them!