This guide is for recreational learning only and does not promote real-money gambling. Hearts is a classic four-player trick-avoidance card game, played in fixed seating order without teams. Unlike Whist or Bridge, your goal is not to win tricks. Instead, you want to avoid collecting heart cards and the Queen of Spades, which carry penalty points. It uses a standard 52-card deck, with Ace high and 2 low within each suit.
Players sit around the table, each playing independently. Draw a card to pick the first dealer, and the deal passes clockwise after every hand. The dealer shuffles, the player to the dealer’s right cuts the deck, then all cards are dealt one at a time clockwise. With four players, everyone gets exactly 13 cards. No cards are left in the stock or kitty.
Before play begins, each hand starts with a card-passing phase. This is one of Hearts’ defining features. In the first hand, every player selects three cards from their hand and passes them to the player on their left. The next hand, three cards go to the right. The third hand, players pass three cards to the player sitting opposite. On the fourth hand, no cards are passed at all. This four-pass cycle repeats for the whole game. Passing lets you get rid of dangerous high cards that might force you to take penalty tricks.
Trick play starts with the player who holds the 2 of Clubs. This player must lead the 2 of Clubs for the first trick. Play continues clockwise. The standard follow-suit rule applies: if you have a card matching the suit that was led, you must play it. If you cannot follow suit, you may discard any card from another suit, including hearts or the Queen of Spades.
Important rule: hearts cannot be led until hearts have been “broken”. Hearts are broken when a player discards a heart on a trick where they cannot follow suit. Before hearts are broken, you cannot open a trick with a heart. Once broken, hearts can be led freely for the rest of the hand.
Who wins each trick? The highest card in the suit that was led takes the trick. There are no trump cards in Hearts. The winner of the trick gathers all four cards and leads the next trick.
Scoring is simple. Each heart card is worth 1 penalty point. The Queen of Spades (often called the Black Lady) is worth 13 penalty points. At the end of each hand, players add up all penalty cards they collected. There is a special move called “shooting the moon”. If one player collects all thirteen hearts plus the Queen of Spades, they shoot the moon. Instead of taking 26 penalty points, that player scores zero, and the other three players each add 26 penalty points to their total. Most casual tables use this rule, though some groups play house rules to disable shooting the moon.
The game continues over multiple hands until one player reaches or exceeds 100 total penalty points. At that point, the game ends, and the player with the fewest penalty points wins.
Common beginner mistakes. New players often pass their safest low cards instead of dumping high spades and high hearts. Another frequent error is playing a heart on the first trick, which is illegal. Many players also forget that the Queen of Spades can be discarded at any time once you cannot follow suit, and it is a very dangerous card to keep.
Hearts is a game of reading the table and careful passing. You learn to offload risky cards, avoid taking unwanted tricks, and watch for opponents trying to shoot the moon. Once you master the passing cycle, the heart-break rule and Black Lady scoring, you can enjoy this light, social four-player card game with friends.