Hearts

How to Play Hearts Online

As you learn how to play the game of Hearts, remember that the deal and the play are all done clockwise. All four players are dealt 13 cards.

In the first round, after the cards are dealt, select three cards and pass them face-down to your opponent on the left. The player holding the 2 of Clubs will place the card face-up on the table. This card will lead to the first trick.

On the first trick and every subsequent trick, you must follow the suit of the leading card with each action. In this example, if a 2 of Clubs is placed on the table by your opponent, you must "follow suit." This means that you must play a card of the same suit if you have it in your hand.

In this example, it means you would play a club card. If you're unable to follow the suit of the leading card, you can play any card that isn't a Heart or the Queen of Spades. You are not permitted to play a penalty card on the first trick.

The highest card of the leading suit wins the trick, and that player then gets to lead the next trick.

After the first trick, if a player is unable to follow the suit of the leading card, they can put down a Heart instead. When this happens, it means that "Hearts are broken." It's important to note that a player cannot lead with a Heart until Hearts have been broken. If a player's hand only contains Hearts and Hearts haven't been broken yet, then they must pass the lead to the next player to the left and try to find a better hand for their next turn.

As you may recall, the goal of the Hearts game is to have the fewest points — the lower the score, the better. You don't want to take any penalty cards. BUT there's one instance where taking penalty cards is good. If you manage to take every single penalty card (13 Hearts and the Queen of Spades), then you can "Shoot the Moon." Instead of receiving the 26 points, you get away scot-free with 0 points while all your opponents suffer the 26 points as a result of you collecting the full set of penalty cards.

The Hearts game ends when the first player reaches 100 points — the player with the lowest score is the winner.