Hearts
Goal
Finish with the lowest score by avoiding hearts and the queen of spades.
Key Terms
- Trick: One card per player; highest card of the led suit wins.
- Lead: The first card played to a trick; its suit must be followed.
- Follow suit: If you have the led suit, you must play it.
- Break hearts: Hearts can only be led after a heart is discarded.
Setup
- Deal all cards to 4 players (13 each).
- Commonly pass 3 cards (left, right, across, then no pass).
- To find the first leader, everyone checks their own hand; the player holding the 2 of clubs leads the first trick.
Trick Play
- Players must follow suit if possible.
- Hearts cannot be led until “broken” (a heart is discarded on another suit).
Scoring
- Each heart = 1 point.
- Queen of spades = 13 points.
- Shooting the moon: take all point cards, score 0 and others score 26.
Example Trick
Clubs are led, so you must play a club if you have one. If you have no clubs, you may discard a heart, which breaks hearts.
End
- Play to a target score (often 100). Lowest score wins.