The rules
Players and cards
Four players, each playing for themselves, with one standard deck of 52 cards and no jokers. In every suit the cards rank from the ace, highest, down through the king, queen, jack and ten to the two, lowest. No suit is trumps.
The deal
For each hand the deck is shuffled and dealt out, thirteen cards to each player. Playing alone, your device shuffles. At a live table every seat shuffles in turn, our server for the bots, so the deal is fair as long as one shuffle is honest: how that works.
The pass
Before the first trick, each player chooses three cards and passes them on, face down. The direction goes round in fours: the first hand passes to the left, the second to the right, the third across, and the fourth not at all. The fifth passes to the left again. Everyone chooses before anyone sees what they receive.
The first lead
Whoever holds the two of clubs after the pass leads it to the first trick. Play goes to the left, each player adding one card to the trick.
Following suit
Each player must play a card of the suit that was led, if they hold one. A player who holds none may play any card, within the two rules below.
No points on the first trick
No heart may be played to the first trick, and nor may the queen of spades. The one exception is a player with no clubs whose hand is nothing but hearts and the queen of spades: they play one of those.
Breaking hearts
A heart may not be led until a heart has been played to an earlier trick; hearts are then broken. A player who holds nothing but hearts may lead one anyway. The queen of spades doesn't break hearts, and may be led at any time.
Taking a trick
The highest card of the suit that was led takes the trick. A card of another suit can't take it, however high. Whoever takes a trick keeps its cards and leads the next. A hand is thirteen tricks.
Scoring
At the end of each hand, every heart a player took scores them one point, and the queen of spades scores thirteen. No other card scores. A hand's points always add up to 26, and each player's go onto their score.
Shooting the moon
A player who takes all 26 points in a hand scores nothing for it, and each of the other three scores 26. There's more on shooting the moon.
The end of the game
A game is played to 50 points, or to 100 if chosen in Game options before it starts. It ends after the hand in which anyone's score reaches that number or passes it, never in the middle of a hand. The lowest score wins, and players tied for the lowest share the win.
At a live table
Who you play with
Play live seats people near each other's rating, and Play friends seats whoever is in the room. Seats nobody fills go to bots, and every bot is marked as one.
The clock
Every decision has a few seconds' grace, and each hand has a bank of time that thinking past the grace uses up. Once a player's grace is spent, their seat shows how much is left. When someone's bank runs out, the others can boot them, and a bot takes their seat.
Leaving
A player who leaves, is booted, or stops answering is replaced at once by a bot, which plays their seat to the end of the game; the seat doesn't come back to them. In a rated game, a player who left counts as finishing last. More on leaving a game early.
Rated games
A rated game moves your rating by how your final score compares with each of the other three players': the lower score wins each pair, and equal scores halve it. Bots that sat down at the deal are rated the same way. An unrated game changes no ratings.
Variants not played here
Hearts is played many ways. These are the common variants this game leaves out.
- The jack of diamonds. In Omnibus Hearts, whoever takes the jack of diamonds takes ten points off their score. Here it scores nothing.
- The queen breaks hearts. Some tables count the queen of spades as breaking hearts. Here only a heart does.
- Points on the first trick. Some tables let hearts and the queen of spades be played to the first trick. Here they can't, unless a player has nothing else.
- A choice on the moon. Some let a player who shoots the moon take 26 off their own score instead. Here the others always take the 26.
- Other passes. Some tables pass four cards, or pass in another order. Here it is always three: left, right, across, then none.
- Other leads. Some tables have the player on the dealer's left lead any card. Here the two of clubs always leads.
- Three or five players. Hearts can be played by three or five, with a card or two taken out of the deck. Here it is always four.