How to Play Hearts
The world's favourite evasion game — the only table where winning tricks is usually the mistake.
Play Hearts freeHearts — also known as Black Lady for its infamous queen — is the classic 4-player card game where the goal is turned upside down: points are penalties, and the winner is the player who collects the fewest. Descended from the old European game of Reversis and perfected in America in the 1880s, it later became the office-break legend of a generation through its bundled computer versions. Easy rules, cruel decisions: every hand is thirteen small chances to dodge — or to trap someone else.
What you need
- 4 players, everyone for themselves.
- A standard 52-card deck, 13 cards each, aces high. No trump suit — ever.
- The cards to fear: every heart (1 point each) and the Queen of Spades (13 points) — 26 penalty points in every hand.
Passing — the opening duel
Before play, every player picks 3 cards and passes them face-down, all at once. The direction follows a fixed cycle by hand number:
- Hand 1 — pass left
- Hand 2 — pass right
- Hand 3 — pass across
- Hand 4 — hold (no pass), then the cycle repeats
You see the cards you receive only after committing your own three — no peeking, no reacting. Passing is where hands are won: dump your dangerous high spades and lonely high hearts, or keep them and plan something bolder. In this app the pass is timed at 30 seconds; if it expires, your three highest cards are passed automatically.
Playing a trick
- The holder of the 2♣ must lead it to the first trick.
- Play follows clockwise; you must follow suit if you can.
- Out of the led suit? Discard anything — this is how hearts (and the Queen) land on other people's tricks.
- The trick goes to the highest card of the led suit — discards never win, no matter how high.
- The winner leads next. Remember: here, "winning" a trick often means collecting the poison in it.
The safe first trick
No penalty card — no heart, no Q♠ — may be played to the first trick (unless a hand is so extreme it has nothing else). Everyone gets one trick of peace.
Breaking hearts
Hearts may not be led until one has been discarded on an earlier trick — "breaking" hearts. A player holding nothing but hearts may lead one anyway. And a classic subtlety this app keeps: the Queen of Spades does not break hearts — she may be led any time after trick 1, but her appearance doesn't open heart leads.
One trick, worked out
Spades are led mid-hand — and the hunt for the Queen begins:
North wins the trick — and 13 points. The K♠ was trapped: forced to head a cheap spade lead while the Queen was still loose. This is the heart of Hearts: high spades are hostages until the Lady falls.
Scoring
| Card(s) | Penalty |
|---|---|
| Each heart | 1 point |
| Queen of Spades | 13 points |
| Whole hand | 26 points, shared out by play |
| Shooting the moon (taking all 26) | opponents +26 each, shooter 0 — see below |
Shooting the moon
Take every heart and the Queen in one hand and the disaster inverts: your three opponents take 26 points each while you take none. It's the game's grand gamble — one missed heart and you've simply collected 25 points of garbage. In this app the standard digital convention applies: if adding +26 to the others would end the game with the shooter still losing, the moon auto-flips to −26 off the shooter's own score instead — the shooter always gets the better outcome.
Winning the match
The game ends the moment any player reaches 100 points at the end of a hand — and the player with the lowest total wins. If the lowest scores are tied, further hands are played until the tie breaks.
Strategy — five habits of survivors
- Pass with a plan. Naked high spades (A♠, K♠ without cover) are the classic pass — unless you're keeping them to hunt the Queen yourself.
- Count hearts and watch the Queen. Thirteen hearts, one Lady. Knowing what's fallen tells you when a trick is safe to win.
- Create a void early. Empty a suit and every later lead of it becomes a chance to dump poison.
- Take a small trick on purpose. Winning a two-point trick to keep the lead — and steer it — beats dodging into a 15-point ambush later.
- Respect the moon. When one player keeps taking hearts on purpose, spoil it early: take one cheap heart yourself and their gamble collapses.
Etiquette & fair play
- Pass in good faith and in time — the table waits for the slowest passer.
- Play at a steady pace: each card has a 15-second timer here; on timeout the lowest legal card goes for you.
- Running penalty counts for the hand are visible to everyone in this app — watching them is not cheating, it's the game.
- No gloating when the Lady lands. Her next visit might be yours.
Frequently asked questions
Who leads the first trick?
Whoever holds the 2♣ — and they must lead exactly that card. Play then proceeds clockwise.
Can I play a heart on the first trick?
No — no hearts and no Q♠ on trick one, unless your hand contains nothing else (then the exception applies and you may discard them).
When can hearts be led?
After hearts are "broken" — a heart discarded on an earlier trick. Exception: a hand of only hearts may lead one.
Does the Queen of Spades break hearts?
No — this app plays the classic rule. The Queen may be led any time after trick 1, but only an actual heart discard opens heart leads.
Is there a trump suit?
No. The highest card of the led suit always wins the trick; discards can never win. That's why a void suit is such a weapon.
What is shooting the moon worth?
All 26 points in one hand: your opponents gain +26 each and you take nothing — or, if that would end the game with you still losing, it automatically becomes −26 off your own score instead. You always get the better version.
What happens at 100 points?
The game ends after the hand in which anyone reaches 100, and the lowest score wins. Ties at the bottom are broken by playing more hands.
What should I pass?
The textbook pass is unguarded high spades and tall lonely hearts. But if you hold long protected spades, consider keeping the Lady's guards and hunting instead.
Why did someone deliberately take a trick full of hearts?
Either damage control (taking 2 now to dodge 10 later), keeping the lead to steer the hand — or the opening moves of a moon shot. Watch them closely.
Why is it called Black Lady?
After the Queen of Spades, worth half the hand's penalty by herself. Many tables treat the whole game and its queen-hunting drama as synonymous with her name.
Is this the same Hearts as the famous computer version?
The same classic rules, including the passing cycle (left, right, across, hold). If you played it on an office computer once, you already know this game.
How long is a match?
To 100 points — usually 6–10 hands, around 20 minutes online. The pace quickens as everyone nears the cliff.
How many points is the Queen of Spades?
Thirteen penalty points — the same as all thirteen hearts combined. That single card decides most hands, which is why the game is also called Black Lady. Full breakdown in Hearts scoring.
How do you score Hearts?
Each heart is one penalty point and the Queen of Spades is thirteen, so a hand holds 26 points. You want the lowest score, and the game ends when any player reaches 100. See Hearts scoring for worked examples.
What is the difference between Hearts and Spades?
Hearts is about avoiding tricks and has no trump suit or partnerships; Spades is about bidding for tricks with spades permanently trump and fixed partners. Low score wins Hearts, high score wins Spades.
Glossary
- Black Lady
- The Queen of Spades — 13 points and the game's other name.
- Breaking hearts
- The first heart discarded, unlocking heart leads.
- Discard
- A card thrown when void in the led suit — how poison changes hands.
- Ducking
- Playing under the current best card to avoid winning the trick.
- Hold hand
- Every fourth hand, when no cards are passed.
- Shooting the moon
- Taking all 26 penalty points on purpose — triumph or 25-point tragedy.
- Smoking out the Queen
- Leading low spades to force the Q♠'s holder to drop her.
- Void
- Holding none of a suit — your licence to discard.
Keep reading
- Hearts Strategy
- Hearts Variants
- Hearts Scoring — points, the Queen and the moon.
- Shooting the Moon — how to do it and how to stop it.
- Hearts for 3 Players — three-handed rules, 5 and 6 too.