Traditional card games
Hearts
- players
- 3–6
- minutes
- 30
- years
- 8+
In the box
52-card deck
Box details
- Origin
- Traditional game, with no specific designer or publisher
- Mechanics
- Take ThatTrick-taking
Where to buy it
Near you
In a shop
Within 50 km.
The basics
Avoid taking hearts and the Queen of Spades in your tricks. With four players, everyone gets thirteen cards and passes three to a neighbour: left, right, across, then a deal with no passing. The holder of the 2 of Clubs leads; everyone must follow suit, otherwise they may discard anything, and the highest card of the suit led wins the trick. Each heart taken costs 1 point, the Queen of Spades 13; whoever takes everything scores 0, and each of the others 26. The game ends at the end of the deal in which someone reaches 100 points: the lowest total wins.
Traditional rules, checked against reference sources · October 2026
Never played? Aim of the game and full rulesStep by step, with examples, for a first game.The rules, step by step
Setup
4 players, 52 cards, 13 each
- A 52-card deck dealt out entirely among four players, one card at a time: thirteen cards each.
- With three, five or six players, cards are removed so that the deal comes out even: the 2 of Clubs with three; the 2 of Clubs and the 2 of Diamonds with five; the 2 of Clubs, the 2 of Diamonds, the 3 of Clubs and the 2 of Spades with six.
How to play
Pass 3 cards, 2 of Clubs leads, No heart lead
- Before each deal, each player passes three cards, face down, in a rotating order: to the left, to the right, across, then a deal with no passing. With three or five players, you alternate left and right, with or without a deal with no passing.
- The holder of the 2 of Clubs leads, and must play it. Without the 2 of Clubs, the lowest club in play leads.
- You must follow the suit led. Without that suit, you can discard whatever you like. There are no trumps.
- You cannot lead a heart until hearts have been broken, that is played as a discard, unless you have nothing but hearts left.
- On the first trick, you cannot discard a heart or the Queen of Spades, unless that is all you have in hand.
Scoring
Heart 1 point, Queen of Spades 13, Moon shot: 26 to others
- Each heart taken is worth 1 penalty point.
- The Queen of Spades is worth 13.
- A deal therefore hands out 26 penalty points.
- Shooting the moon: taking all thirteen hearts and the Queen of Spades. That player scores zero and the others take 26 points each.
End of the game
100 points, Lowest total
- The game ends at the end of the deal in which a player reaches or exceeds 100 points.
- The lowest total wins.
- The rules provide no tie-break: players tied on the lowest total share the win. Some tables play extra deals until a single player has the lowest total.
House rules and pitfalls
The Queen of Spades is the card nobody wants.
- The Queen of Spades is the card nobody wants. Yet the French Wikipedia advises against passing it to your left-hand neighbour, rather to the right-hand one, and suggests keeping it when you hold more than four spades.
- Trying to shoot the moon is the riskiest gamble in the game: if an opponent takes a single heart, you keep the other 25 points yourself.
- Shooting variant: instead of giving 26 points to the others, the shooter takes 26 points off their own score. Pagat leaves the choice to the shooter; Marquoir offers both.
- The sources do not agree on everything. Pagat only lists the no-points-on-the-first-trick rule among the variations, whereas the French Wikipedia and Regles.com make it the usual rule. With three players, Pagat removes the 2 of Diamonds rather than the 2 of Clubs, or leaves the spare cards in a kitty taken by the winner of the first trick; with six, the French Wikipedia adds the two jokers and deals nine cards each. Some tables also let the Queen of Spades break hearts. None of this changes the scoring.
- Variations that do change the scoring, to agree before you play: the Jack of Diamonds taking 10 points off whoever wins it, which Pagat calls Omnibus Hearts; a total of exactly 100 dropping back to 50 or to zero; a shorter game, to 50 points, which Marquoir offers.
- Other scorings reported by the sources: the Queen at 12 points, for 25 points per deal (French Wikipedia); hearts at their face value, from 2 up to 14 for the Ace, and the Queen at 25, played to 500 (Spot Hearts, on Pagat); with a 36-card deck, the Queen at 5, each heart at 1 and the last trick at 1, making 15 points per deal (French Wikipedia).
- Shooting the moon goes by several names: in French it is also called « faire la volte ».
never played?Aim of the game and full rules11 chapters · about 5 min read
Goal of the game
Take as few points as possible. Each heart taken in a trick costs 1 point, and the Queen of Spades costs 13 on her own. The game is played in tricks, like belote or whist, but the other way round: you try not to take them. Unless you go for the big coup and take everything: that is shooting the moon.
What you need
A 52-card deck, and paper or Marquoir for the scores. The game is made for four players. With three, remove the 2 of Clubs; with five, the 2 of Clubs and the 2 of Diamonds; with six, the 2 of Clubs, the 2 of Diamonds, the 3 of Clubs and the 2 of Spades, so that the deal comes out even.
Card ranking
In each suit, from highest to lowest: Ace, King, Queen, Jack, 10, 9… 2. There are no trumps.
Preparing a deal
- Deal out all the cards, one at a time: thirteen each with four players.
- Each player chooses three cards from their hand and passes them, face down, to another player. You choose your cards before looking at the ones you receive.
- The recipient changes with each deal: to the left, then to the right, then across, then a deal with no passing, and round again. With three or five players, you pass alternately to the left and to the right, with or without a deal with no passing.
What is a trick
A player plays a card: this is the lead, and its suit is the suit led. Each player in turn, clockwise, plays a card. The trick is won by the highest card of the suit led; cards of other suits can never win it. Whoever wins the trick gathers it in front of them and leads to the next one.
The rules of play
- Whoever has the 2 of Clubs leads to the first trick, with that card. If it has been removed, the lowest club in play leads.
- You must follow suit: play a card of the suit led if you have one.
- If you don't have one, you discard any card you like. This is the perfect moment to slip the Queen of Spades or a high heart into a trick you will not win.
- No points on the first trick: you cannot discard a heart or the Queen of Spades on it, unless that is all you have.
- Hearts closed: no leading a heart before a heart has been discarded, unless hearts are all you have left.
for example
Léa leads the 5 of Spades. Tom plays the King of Spades. Sam has no spades left: he discards the Queen of Spades. Zoé plays the 9 of Spades. Tom has the highest spade: he takes the trick, and the Queen's 13 points with it.
Scoring points
At the end of the deal, each player counts what they have taken:
- each heart: 1 point;
- the Queen of Spades: 13 points;
- the other cards are worth nothing.
A deal hands out 26 points in total.
Shooting the moon
If a player takes all thirteen hearts and the Queen of Spades, they have "shot the moon": they score 0, and each of the others takes 26 points. In Marquoir, enter 0 for them and 26 for each of the others. If your table plays the variant in which the shooter takes 26 points off their own score, choose it when you start and enter −26 for them, 0 for the others. It is a gamble: an opponent only has to keep a single heart for the would-be shooter to end up with twenty-odd points.
End of the game
Deals follow one another until a player reaches or exceeds 100 points. The game ends at the end of that deal; the player with the lowest total has won. If two players are tied on the lowest total, the rules do not separate them: they share the win, unless the table plays extra deals until a single player is ahead.
Tips for beginners
- Beware of the Ace and King of Spades: those are the cards that end up taking the Queen. With plenty of spades, on the other hand, keep the Queen: you can discard her later.
- Get rid of a whole suit during the passing: you will then be able to discard at will.
- Keep your low hearts: they let you duck under a heart trick.
- If a player is taking all the hearts, beware: they may be trying to shoot the moon, and someone has to take one from them.
- Without the Queen, lead low spades: with neither the King nor the Ace of Spades, you push whoever holds the Queen into playing her sooner or later. Pagat calls this "smoking her out".
- As soon as you are void in the suit led, that is the safe moment to discard the Queen.
Where the game comes from
Games of the hearts family have been played in the United States since the late 19th century: at first, only the hearts counted. In 1909, the American writer R. F. Foster described a form in which the Queen of Spades joins the penalties, under the names discard hearts or Black Lady. Shooting the moon appeared later, in Britain, in 1939. In 1992, Microsoft shipped the game with Windows as Microsoft Hearts; in the French version, it is called « La Dame de pique ».
Going further
Variants · Frequently asked questions · In the same family
Variants
Game to
100 points (usual)
50 points (short game)
Shooting the moon (all 26 points)
+26 to the others
Usual rule: whoever takes everything scores zero, and each of the others takes 26 points.
-26 for the shooter
Variant: whoever takes everything takes 26 points off their own score. Enter -26 for them, 0 for the others.
choose them when you start a game: the scorer adapts
Frequently asked questions
When can you lead a heart?
Only once hearts are "broken", that is after a heart has been discarded on a trick of another suit. Unless you have nothing but hearts left in hand.
Can you play the Queen of Spades on the first trick?
No, neither the Queen nor a heart, unless that is all you have. The first trick should cost nobody anything.
How much is the Queen of Spades worth?
Thirteen penalty points, as much as all thirteen hearts put together: she is the most expensive card in the game. A few tables count her as 12, which brings a deal down to 25 points; agree on it before you start.
What is shooting the moon?
Taking all thirteen hearts and the Queen of Spades in the same deal. Whoever manages it scores zero and each of the others takes 26 points. Some tables prefer to take 26 points off the shooter's score instead: decide before you start, Marquoir offers both.
Which cards do you pass before the deal?
Three, to a neighbour, in a rotating order: to the left, to the right, across, then a deal with no passing, and round again. You choose your three cards before looking at the ones you receive.
How many points are there in a deal?
Twenty-six: one per heart and thirteen for the Queen of Spades. If a deal's total is not 26, a mistake has crept into the scores entered; shooting the moon is the only exception, since each of the others then takes 26 points.
How does the game end?
At the end of the deal in which a player reaches or exceeds 100 points. The lowest total wins; two tied players share the win, unless you play one more deal to separate them.
Hearts, Black Lady, Dame de pique: is it the same game?
Yes, give or take a few details. Hearts names a whole family of games in which you avoid hearts; the form that adds the Queen of Spades at 13 points and the passing of cards is called Black Lady, and it is the one played today under the name Hearts, and in French as Dame de pique. Black Maria, on the other hand, is a separate British variant.
Is it the game that came with Windows?
Yes: Windows shipped this game for a long time, as Microsoft Hearts, from Windows for Workgroups 3.1 in 1992 onwards. It follows the usual rules, with a game that ends when a player goes past 100 points. Marquoir does not let you play against the computer: it gives the rules and keeps the scores of a game played with real cards.
Can two people play?
The game is played with three to six, and four is the ideal number. There are two-player adaptations, with a dummy hand, which Pagat mentions without this page describing them.