What Is the Hearts Card Game?

Hearts is a classic trick-taking card game that dates back to the 1800s, designed for three to six players and best enjoyed with four. Unlike standard trick-taking games, Hearts is an evasion game — your goal isn't to win tricks but to avoid collecting point cards. Each heart carries one point, and the Queen of Spades carries a hefty 13. The player with the lowest score when any opponent reaches 100 points wins.

You'll play with a standard 52-card deck, no jokers, with Aces ranking highest and 2s lowest. There's no trump suit, which shifts strategy entirely toward avoidance and calculated discarding.

Whether you're sitting at a table with friends, playing a free hearts version on a mobile app, or competing in a hearts card game online, the core rules remain consistent. You can even enjoy hearts online against live opponents anytime.

How Are Cards Dealt and Passed in Hearts?

Before the first trick is played, two key phases shape your entire hand: the deal and the pass.

In standard 247 hearts, the dealer shuffles a 52-card deck and distributes all cards clockwise, face down, giving each of four players exactly 13 cards.

Player counts affect the deal. With three players, remove the 2 of diamonds and deal 17 cards each. With five players, remove the 2 of clubs and deal 10 cards each.

The number of players changes how cards are dealt, with certain cards removed to ensure even distribution.

After examining your hand, you'll select three cards to pass to an opponent. The passing direction rotates each hand: right first, left second, across third, and no pass fourth. This cycle then repeats. You must choose your three cards before receiving any from your opponent.

The player holding the 2 of clubs leads the first trick. If that card was removed, the 3 of clubs leads instead.

How Do You Play a Trick in Hearts?

Once the deal and pass are complete, the actual play begins with the player holding the 2 of clubs leading the first trick. You must follow suit if you hold cards in the led suit. The highest card of the led suit wins the trick, and the winner leads the next. There's no trump suit in Hearts.

Three foundational rules govern trick play:

1. Follow suit strictly — if you can't follow, discard any card, including point cards, except on the first trick.

2. First trick restrictions — you can't play hearts or the Queen of Spades on the first trick unless you're void in clubs.

3. Breaking hearts — you can't lead hearts until a heart has been discarded on a previous trick, at which point hearts are considered "broken."

You collect won tricks face down, keeping them hidden until the hand concludes and scoring begins.

When Can You Lead With Hearts?

Leading with hearts carries a specific restriction that shapes the entire flow of each hand: you can't lead a heart until the suit has been "broken."

Hearts break the moment a player discards a heart on a trick where they couldn't follow suit. Once broken, any player who wins a trick may lead a heart on the next one. This rule prevents aggressive point-dumping early in the hand, forcing players to maneuver carefully before releasing the suit.

Hearts break the instant someone discards a heart they couldn't avoid playing—and once broken, the floodgates open.

There's one notable exception: if your entire hand consists of hearts, you may lead one even before the suit is broken. You simply have no alternative.

The Queen of Spades doesn't factor into breaking hearts—discarding her doesn't open the suit. Only an actual heart discard triggers the break.

Understanding this restriction is critical because it directly influences when and how you shed dangerous cards, particularly when managing a potential moon-shooting scenario.

What Are the Point Cards in Hearts?

Hearts operates on a simple but punishing scoring system: only two types of cards carry point values, and collecting either works against you. Every trick you win gets examined at hand's end, and your score reflects what you've accumulated.

Here's what costs you points:

1. Each heart card — worth 1 point apiece, totaling 13 possible points across all heart suits.

2. The Queen of Spades — worth a steep 13 points alone, matching the entire heart suit's value.

3. All other cards — completely worthless; spades, clubs, and diamonds (excluding the Queen) carry zero point value.

Together, these point cards total 26 per hand. Your goal is avoiding them entirely, since every point you collect edges you closer to elimination.

The Queen of Spades deserves particular caution — she's worth as much as every heart combined, making her the hand's single most dangerous card.

What Does Shooting the Moon Mean in Hearts?

While point cards define what you're avoiding in Hearts, there's one bold exception to that evasion strategy: shooting the moon. This high-risk maneuver requires you to collect every single heart plus the Queen of Spades in a single hand — all 26 points' worth of penalty cards.

When you successfully shoot the moon, the scoring flips entirely. Instead of absorbing 26 points yourself, you add 26 points to each opponent's score while you receive none. It's the game's most powerful reversal mechanism and its highest evasion achievement.

Execution demands precise card control. You must secure all 13 hearts and the Queen of Spades without exception — missing even one heart invalidates the attempt entirely.

The declaration occurs at hand's end, once trick collection is complete. Because shooting the moon transforms certain defeat into decisive advantage, recognizing when your hand supports the attempt is a critical strategic skill.

Related Games

If you enjoy the trick-taking strategy of Hearts, these card and strategy games expand on similar mechanics in distinct ways:

• Spades — Like Hearts, Spades is a trick-taking card game, but instead of avoiding points, players must accurately bid the number of tricks they'll win each round, adding a layer of prediction and commitment.

• Bridge — Bridge shares Hearts' four-player, trick-taking structure, but introduces a bidding system and partnerships that demand coordinated team strategy rather than individual play.

• Euchre — Euchre strips trick-taking down to a faster, 24-card format where trump suits shift each round, making it a sharper and quicker alternative to Hearts.

• Gin Rummy — If Hearts' hand management appeals to you, Gin Rummy challenges players to build card combinations rather than win tricks, shifting the focus from avoidance to collection.

• Canasta — Canasta builds on the card-melding logic seen in rummy-style games but layers in a partnership dynamic and a complex scoring system that rewards long-term planning over single-hand decisions.

• Cribbage — Cribbage shares Hearts' emphasis on counting and card value awareness, but uniquely splits scoring between the play phase and a separate hand-counting phase using a peg board.