Hearts
A classic 4-player trick-taking card game. Score as few points as possible — or capture every penalty card and shoot the moon.
Objective
Play hands until someone reaches 100 points. At that moment, the player with the lowest score wins. Points come from Hearts (1 each) and the Queen of Spades (13).
Players & Deck
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Standard 52-card deck (no jokers)
Setup
1.
Shuffle and deal all 52 cards — 13 to each player.
2.
Before play, pass three cards face-down (except on hold hands).
3.
The player with the 2 of Clubs leads the first trick by playing it.
Passing
Each hand uses a rotating pass direction:
The cycle repeats for the rest of the match. You cannot look at cards passed to you until you have selected your own three cards.
Play
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You must follow suit if able.
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If you cannot follow, you may play any other suit — except on the first trick, you may not discard a Heart or the Queen of Spades (unless your hand is all penalty cards).
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The highest card of the led suit wins the trick and leads the next.
Breaking Hearts
You may not lead a Heart until Hearts are broken (a Heart has been discarded on a previous trick). If you must lead and hold only Hearts, Hearts break automatically and you may lead one.
Scoring
After 13 tricks:
Shooting the Moon
If one player takes all 13 Hearts and the Queen of Spades (26 points):
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That player scores 0 for the hand
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Each other player scores 26
Winning
When any player's cumulative score reaches or exceeds 100, the hand ends the match. Lowest total wins. Tied lowest scores share the win.