How to Play Hearts: Rules, Scoring, and Strategy for Beginners

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Hearts is one of the most beloved card games ever bundled with a computer, and one of the easiest trick-taking games to learn: four players, one deck, and a single guiding idea — points are bad. Every heart you capture costs you 1 point, the Queen of Spades costs 13, and the lowest score wins. Yet under those simple rules sits real strategy: what you pass, when you take a trick on purpose, and whether you dare to shoot the moon. This guide walks through everything a new player needs — setup, the passing phase, trick play, scoring, and the tactics that separate beginners from players who consistently dodge the Queen.

What You Need

Hearts is played by four people with a standard 52-card deck, no jokers. There are no partnerships and no bidding — every player is on their own. Aces are high, and there is no trump suit. If you are playing with physical cards you also want a pen and paper for scores; online, the computer deals, enforces the rules, and keeps score for you. You can play Hearts free online here against three AI opponents.

Setup and Dealing

Shuffle and deal the entire deck clockwise, one card at a time, so that each of the four players holds exactly 13 cards. Take a moment to sort your hand by suit — Hearts is a game of counting and voids, and a sorted hand makes both much easier to see.

The Passing Phase

Before each hand, every player chooses three cards and passes them face-down to another player. The direction rotates in a four-hand cycle: pass to the left, then to the right, then across the table, and on the fourth hand nobody passes at all (the "hold" hand). You must choose your three cards before looking at the ones being passed to you.

What should you pass? The classic priorities: high spades (the Ace and King are magnets for the Queen of Spades), high hearts, and cards that empty out a suit entirely. Creating a "void" — no cards in some suit — is the strongest single move in Hearts, because every time that suit is led you may discard any card you like, including penalty cards, onto the trick.

Playing a Hand: Tricks

1. The player holding the 2 of Clubs leads it to open the first trick. This is mandatory.
2. Play proceeds clockwise. Each player must follow suit — play a card of the suit that was led — if they can.
3. A player with no cards in the led suit may discard any card, with one exception: no hearts and no Queen of Spades may be played on the very first trick (unless, vanishingly rarely, a hand holds nothing but penalty cards).
4. The highest card of the led suit wins the trick. Discarded off-suit cards never win.
5. The trick winner collects the four cards (face-down) and leads the next trick.
6. Hearts may not be led until they are "broken" — until a heart has been played on an earlier trick. If hearts are all you hold, you may lead them anyway.
7. After 13 tricks the hand is over and everyone counts their penalty cards.

Scoring

• Each heart captured: 1 point (13 total in the deck).
• The Queen of Spades: 13 points.
• Everything else: 0 points.
• Hands are repeated until any player reaches 100 points — then the game ends and the LOWEST total wins.

Because there are exactly 26 penalty points in every hand, you can always check your counting: the four players’ hand scores add up to 26 — unless someone shot the moon, in which case the scores shown are one 0 and three 26s.

Shooting the Moon

The famous exception: capture all 26 penalty points in one hand — every heart and the Queen of Spades — and instead of a disaster you score zero while each opponent is handed 26 points. Shooting the moon is thrilling and genuinely difficult; it usually requires a long, strong heart suit and careful timing. For beginners the more useful skill is spotting when an opponent is attempting it: a player who starts deliberately winning heart tricks must be stopped by taking even a single heart yourself.

Beginner Strategy Tips

1. Get rid of the Ace and King of Spades in the pass unless you hold several low spades to hide behind.
2. Lead low spades early when you do not hold the Queen — it forces her out on someone else’s terms, not yours.
3. Keep a few low hearts. The 2, 3, and 4 of hearts let you duck under heart tricks late in the hand.
4. Count to thirteen. Each suit has 13 cards; noticing that a suit has "run out" tells you exactly when a lead becomes dangerous.
5. Do not panic about taking points — taking 2 or 3 cheap points to avoid a trick containing the Queen is excellent trade.
6. Watch what opponents discard. A player throwing diamonds on a club trick is void in clubs — and their next discard may be the Queen.

Hearts, Spades, and the Windows Legacy

Hearts earned its worldwide audience the same way Klondike Solitaire and FreeCell did: it shipped free with Windows, beginning with Windows for Workgroups 3.1 in 1992. A whole generation learned trick-taking on that little green table. Its cousin Spades is the mirror image — there you bid and try to WIN tricks, usually with a partner, while in Hearts you play alone and mostly try to lose them. If you enjoy games where memory and planning beat luck, our guide to card games for two or more players covers the whole family.

Frequently Asked Questions

How many people do you need to play Hearts?

The standard game is exactly four players, everyone for themselves. Three- and five-player variants exist (removing or adding cards so the deal comes out even), but four-player Hearts is the classic form — and the version you can play here against three AI opponents.

Can you play Hearts online for free?

Yes — you can play Hearts free in your browser on Pure Solitaire, with no download and no sign-up. You face three AI opponents that pass, duck, and hunt the Queen just like human players.

What is the Queen of Spades worth in Hearts?

Thirteen points — as much as all thirteen hearts combined. Avoiding her, or deciding exactly who gets stuck with her, is the core drama of every hand.

When can you play a heart?

You may discard a heart any time you cannot follow suit (except on the first trick). You may only LEAD a heart after hearts have been broken — that is, after any heart has been played on an earlier trick — or when hearts are the only cards left in your hand.

What happens if you get all the hearts and the Queen of Spades?

That is "shooting the moon": you score zero for the hand and every opponent scores 26. Miss even one heart, though, and you simply eat all the points you collected.

Is Hearts luck or skill?

Both, tilted toward skill over a full game. Any single hand depends on the deal, but passing decisions, void management, and card counting decide who wins across many hands — which is why the same players tend to win consistently.