About Hearts
You sit at the bottom of the table with three computer players to your left, across and right. Choose Easy, Normal or Hard in the toolbar, and pick a play speed in Settings.
Hearts is the classic four-player trick-taking game where the aim is to take as few points as you can. Every heart you win costs a point and the Queen of Spades costs thirteen, unless you win all of them and shoot the moon. Here you play against three computer players, Nia, Otto and Pip, at Easy, Normal or Hard.
Also called: hearts, black lady.
How to play Hearts
- Each hand deals all 52 cards, thirteen to each player. Before play you pass three cards: tap three cards in your hand, then press Pass.
- The pass rotates every hand: left, right, across, then no pass, and round again.
- Whoever holds the 2♣ leads it to the first trick. Play goes clockwise, to your left.
- You must follow the suit that was led if you can. If you can’t, you may throw any card. Your playable cards stand up out of your hand.
- The highest card of the suit led wins the trick, and the winner leads the next one. There are no trumps.
- After thirteen tricks the hand is scored. The game ends when someone reaches 100 points, and the lowest score wins.
Rules
- Each heart taken is worth 1 point; the Queen of Spades is worth 13. The other cards are worth nothing.
- Hearts can’t be led until they are broken, that is, until someone has thrown a heart on a trick, unless you hold nothing but hearts.
- No points on the first trick: if you can’t follow clubs, you may not throw a heart or the Q♠ unless your hand holds nothing else.
- Shooting the moon: take all thirteen hearts and the Q♠ in one hand and you score 0 while every other player scores 26.
- The game is checked at the end of each hand: once anyone has 100 or more, the lowest score wins. A tie for lowest shares the win.
Hearts tips and strategy
- Pass the danger: the Q♠ when you have few spades, the A♠ and K♠ (they catch the queen), and high hearts.
- Emptying a short suit when you pass lets you throw points on other players later in the hand.
- Low spades protect you. If you hold four or five of them you can often keep the Q♠ and wait to drop her.
- Lead low spades to flush the queen out when you don’t hold her or the cards above her.
- Watch the points on each player’s name plate. If one player has taken every point so far, take a heart trick yourself to stop a moon.
- Hard computer players count every card and remember who has shown out of a suit. Normal players are steadier than Easy but still take risks.
Hearts questions
Who leads the first trick in Hearts?
The player holding the two of clubs always leads it to the first trick, after the pass. From then on, the winner of each trick leads the next one.
What does “hearts are broken” mean?
Nobody may lead a heart until a heart has been played on an earlier trick, usually thrown by someone who couldn’t follow suit. The exception is a hand with nothing but hearts left.
How does shooting the moon work?
If you take all thirteen hearts and the Queen of Spades in one hand, you score nothing and every other player scores 26. It is a gamble: miss a single heart and you keep the lot.
Why can’t I play a heart on the first trick?
The first trick is point-free: if you can’t follow clubs you must throw a card that isn’t a heart or the Q♠, unless your hand holds nothing else.
Does my game save if I close the page?
Yes. The game is saved after every card, so you can reload or come back later and carry on from the same trick. Your wins are kept separately for Easy, Normal and Hard.
Is Hearts free to play?
Yes. Hearts on Kultured Arcade is completely free: no download, no account and nothing to buy. It runs in any modern browser on a phone, tablet or computer.
Do I need to download Hearts?
No. It opens instantly in your browser and saves your progress on your device, so there is nothing to install and no sign-up.
Can I play Hearts on my phone?
Yes. The game fits your screen and works with touch as well as a mouse and keyboard, on iPhone, Android, tablets and computers.