Hearts Rules: How to Play

A phone, tablet or computer with a browser. Each player uses their own device, and your hand shows on your own screen and nowhere else.

Three or more can play, and four is the usual game. Hearts plays best with three to five. Bots can fill any empty seat.

Every card is dealt out. Before each hand, everyone passes three cards they do not want to another player.

Then the tricks begin. One player leads a card, and everyone else plays one card in turn. You must follow the suit that was led if you can. The highest card of that suit takes the trick, and whoever takes it leads the next one.

Hearts and the queen of spades score against whoever takes them. After the last trick, each player adds up what they took. Hands are played until someone reaches the target score, and then the lowest score wins.

Every card is dealt, so everyone has the same number. When the deck does not divide evenly, the lowest diamonds and clubs come out first, in this order: 2♦, 2♣, 3♦, 3♣, and so on. Hearts and spades never come out, so every hand holds the same points.

• Three players: the 2♦ comes out, and everyone gets 17 cards.
• Four players: the whole deck, 13 cards each.
• Five players: the 2♦ and 2♣ come out, and everyone gets 10 cards.
• Six players or more: a second deck goes in, with every five players adding one more deck. The setup screen warns you, since Hearts plays best with three to five.
• The setup screen says how many cards each player will get and which cards are left out.
• The cards are shuffled fresh for every hand.

1. Host a room and share the room code or invite link, or play on your own with bots.
2. Add bots in the lobby, or with the Add a bot button on the setup screen.
3. Start the game. Everyone gathers on the game screen.
4. The host picks the rules (see Every setting below). Everyone else sees the same choices but cannot change them.
5. The host taps Deal.
6. Everyone on the game screen at that moment gets a seat, in the order they joined the room. Bots get seats too.

At the start of each hand, everyone chooses three cards to pass. Tap three cards to raise them. Tap a raised card again to put it back. When three are raised, the button says who they are going to. Tap it to pass.

Everyone passes at the same moment. Each seat shows a tick once that player has chosen. When the last player has chosen, the cards change hands. The three you were passed are lit in your hand for a few seconds.

With the usual rule, the direction rotates from hand to hand:

• With an even number of players: left, then right, then across the table, then a hand with no passing. Then it starts again.
• With an odd number of players there is no seat straight across: left, then right, then a hand with no passing.
• The host can choose to pass left every hand, or never pass at all.
• You cannot see the cards anyone else passes until they reach you.

Whoever holds the lowest club leads it. That is the 2♣, unless it was left out of the deal.

On the first trick you may not play a heart or the queen of spades, even if you have no clubs. The one exception is a hand that holds nothing else. The host can turn this rule off.

1. The banner over the table says whose turn it is. When it is yours, it says Your turn.
2. The cards you may play are lit. The rest are dimmed.
3. Play a card. If you have a card of the suit that was led, you must play one.
4. If you have none of that suit, play any card. This is your chance to get rid of a heart or the queen of spades.
5. When everyone has played, the highest card of the suit that was led takes the trick. A card of any other suit can never take it, however high it is.
6. The trick shows for a moment, then slides to whoever took it. That player leads the next trick.

You may not lead a heart until hearts are broken, which means a heart has been played on an earlier trick by someone who had none of the suit led.

If your hand is nothing but hearts, you may lead one anyway.

With the setting Queen breaks hearts turned on, playing the queen of spades breaks hearts too.

You may lead the queen of spades, or any spade, at any time.

After the last trick, each player scores the cards they took:

• Each heart: 1 point.
• The queen of spades: 13 points.
• Every other card: nothing, unless the jack of diamonds rule is on.
• That makes 26 points in every hand. With two decks there are 52, with two queens of spades.

If one player takes every heart and the queen of spades in a single hand, they shoot the moon. Instead of taking 26 points, the points go the other way. The host picks how:

• Everyone else +26 (the usual rule). The shooter scores nothing for the hand.
• Shooter −26. The shooter takes 26 off their own score, and everyone else scores nothing.
• Shooter chooses. After the last trick, the shooter gets two buttons: Everyone else +26, or Take 26 off mine.
• With two decks, you must take every heart and both queens, and the moon is worth 52.
• The jack of diamonds is not needed to shoot the moon. If the jack rule is on, it still takes 10 off whoever took it.

After each hand, a table shows what everyone scored in that hand and their totals, lowest first. If someone shot the moon, it says so. The host taps Deal the next hand.

The game ends after the hand in which anyone reaches the target: 100 points, or 50 for a shorter game. The player with the lowest total wins. If two or more share the lowest total, they share the win.

When the game is over, the host can tap Play again to go back to the setup screen.

The host picks these on the setup screen before the deal. The host’s choices are kept on their phone for next time. Under the choices, a line says what the passing and moon rules mean.

• Game to: 50 or 100 (the usual).
• Passing: Rotate (the usual), Left every hand, or None.
• Shoot the moon: Others (everyone else +26, the usual), Me (the shooter −26), or Choose (the shooter picks).
• Jack of diamonds: No score (the usual), or −10 for whoever takes it.
• First trick: No points (the usual), or Points OK, which lets a heart or the queen be thrown on the first trick.
• Queen breaks hearts: No (the usual), or Yes.
• Turn clock: 20 seconds, 30 seconds (the usual), 1 minute, or Off.
• Bots: Easy, Medium or Hard, for every bot at the table at once.

With the clock on, each play has the time the host chose. The seconds left appear in the banner for the last 8 seconds.

The pass gets twice as long as a turn, since everyone passes at once.

If the clock runs out on your turn, a card is played for you, picked the way a Medium bot would pick it. If it runs out while you are passing, three cards are passed for you. The shooter choosing the moon is on the clock too, and the better choice is made for them.

With the clock off, the table waits for you.

• With two decks there are two of every card. If both copies land on the same trick and they are the highest, the one played later takes it.
• With two decks, the first trick opens with the lowest club, and only one copy of it leads.
• You must follow suit whenever you can. There is no way to play a card that is not allowed: it stays dimmed and will not leave your hand.
• The jack of diamonds rule does not make it a point card. It may be played on the first trick.
• A score can go below zero, with the moon taken off your own score or the jack of diamonds.
• The game ends only at the end of a hand, however far past the target someone goes during it.
• Someone puts their phone down: their seat is held for two minutes. On their turn the banner says they are away and counts down. With the clock on, a card is still played for them when the clock runs out. After two minutes, their cards are played for them at once until they come back.
• A late joiner: seats are set when the host deals. Anyone who arrives after the deal watches the table and gets a seat in the next game.
• The host leaves: if the host taps the ×, the game ends and everyone goes back to the lobby. If the host’s phone drops out of the room, another phone takes over and the game carries on, with every hand where it was.

Up to three bots can join a room. A bot takes a seat like any player, and takes about a second before each play, so you can watch it.

Bots see only what their seat could see: their own cards and the cards played. They never look at another hand or at what anyone else passes.

• Easy plays any card it is allowed, at random, but never drops the queen of spades onto a trick it is going to take. It passes its three highest cards.
• Medium plays by the usual rules of thumb. It passes away the queen of spades and the high spades and hearts, ducks under the card that is winning, and throws the queen or a high heart when it has none of the suit led.
• Hard plays like Medium and keeps count: who has run out of which suit, and whether the queen has been played. It tries to stop anyone shooting the moon, and shoots it itself when the chance comes.

Hearts needs three seats, so add two or three bots and deal. With three bots you play the usual four-handed game.

Pick how well the bots play on the setup screen.

Host a room and send the room code or invite link. Friends open it on their own phones, wherever they are.

Each phone shows the other players across the top, what each has taken this hand (a heart count, and the queen once someone has her), the trick in the middle and your own cards along the bottom.

Open joinme.games/watch on a TV or laptop and enter the room code. The big screen shows the seats around the table, each with what it has taken this hand, the trick as it is played, the scores between hands and the final standings.

Nobody’s cards are shown on the TV. Players play from their own phones; the TV only watches.

• Drag a card up out of your hand to play it.
• Or tap a card to raise it, then tap it again to play it.
• To pass, tap three cards, then tap the Pass button.
• Your cards are sorted by suit, clubs, diamonds, spades and hearts, low to high, with a gap between suits.
• If your hand is wider than the screen, swipe it sideways. On your turn it scrolls to the first card you can play.
• The question mark shows the instructions.
• The × leaves the game.

How do you play Hearts?

Everyone is dealt the whole deck and passes three cards. The lowest club leads, and you must follow the suit led if you can. The highest card of that suit takes the trick. Each heart you take is a point and the queen of spades is 13. When someone reaches 100, the lowest score wins.

Can you play Hearts with three players?

Yes. The 2♦ comes out so the deck divides evenly, and everyone gets 17 cards. With an odd number of players the pass goes left, then right, then a hand with no pass.

How many points is the queen of spades in Hearts?

13 points. Each heart is 1 point, so a hand holds 26 points in all.

When can you lead hearts?

Once hearts are broken: a heart has been played on an earlier trick. If your hand is nothing but hearts, you may lead one anyway. A house rule lets the queen of spades break hearts too.

What is shooting the moon in Hearts?

Taking every heart and the queen of spades in one hand. Instead of taking 26 points, the shooter gives 26 to everyone else. The host can pick the other way, 26 off the shooter’s own score, or let the shooter choose.

Which way do you pass in Hearts?

Left, then right, then across the table, then a hand with no passing, and round again. With an odd number of players there is no across. The host can make it left every hand, or no passing at all.

What does the jack of diamonds do in Hearts?

In the usual game, nothing. It is a house rule: turn it on and the jack of diamonds takes 10 points off whoever wins it.

How do you win at Hearts?

Have the lowest score when the game ends. It ends after the hand in which anyone reaches the target, 100 points or 50 for a short game. A tie for lowest shares the win.