Hearts — Complete Rules

Hearts is a trick-taking avoidance game (a "reverse" trick-taking game): unlike most trick games, taking tricks is dangerous rather than desirable. Certain cards carry penalty points, and the goal each hand is to take as few penalty points as possible — or, in the game's signature reversal, to take every single one of them ("Shooting the Moon"). Play proceeds over multiple hands until a player crosses a target score; the player with the lowest total score wins.

This guide covers Standard 4-Player Hearts (also called "Black Lady" in its full form) as the standard, complete ruleset, then documents common variants (Jack of Diamonds/Omnibus Hearts, alternate player counts, passing/breaking house rules). Where rules commonly differ across sources, the standard/default choice is called out explicitly.

1. Equipment and Players

• Deck: One standard 52-card deck. No jokers.
• Players: Exactly 4 by default — the deck divides evenly (13 cards each) and the passing rotation (left/right/across/hold) is defined for 4 seats. See §12 for 3/5/6-player adaptations.
• Scorepad: Hearts is a multi-hand game played to a target score. A running cumulative tally per player is required.
• Seating/turn direction: Play passes clockwise (to the left) for both dealing and trick order.

2. Objective and Point Values

The objective each hand is to avoid taking penalty cards in tricks you win. At the end of every hand, points are assessed from the cards each player has collected in their won tricks:

• Total penalty points available in a single hand: 26 (13 hearts + 13 for the Queen of Spades).
• Lower score is better. This is the inverse of most trick-taking games — you are trying to lose tricks, not win them, except when going for the moon (§9).
• The game ends when a player's cumulative score reaches or exceeds a target (default 100, see §10). At that point, whoever has the lowest total score wins — the trigger of the end condition is not itself the loser.

3. Card Ranking

Within each suit, cards rank low to high in the standard order:

2 · 3 · 4 · 5 · 6 · 7 · 8 · 9 · 10 · J · Q · K · A (high)

• Ace is always high. There is no low-ace option in Hearts (unlike Rummy) — this affects who wins a trick, not melding.
• There is no trump suit. The suit led determines what must be followed; the highest card of the suit led wins the trick regardless of what other suits were discarded into it (see §6).

4. Setup and Deal

1. Determine the first dealer (e.g., low/high card draw, or by agreement). The deal rotates clockwise one seat after every hand.
2. Shuffle and deal the entire deck face down, one card at a time, clockwise, starting with the player to the dealer's left, until all 52 cards are dealt.
   • With exactly 4 players, this gives each player 13 cards, using the whole deck evenly. No cards are left over.
3. There is no stock or discard pile in Hearts — the entire deck is always in players' hands during a hand.

5. The Passing Phase

Before play begins each hand, players pass 3 cards to another player. This is mandatory (subject to the "hold" round below) and is the primary pre-play strategic decision (getting rid of dangerous cards like the Q♠ or high spades/hearts).

5.1 Passing Direction Rotation

The direction of the pass rotates each hand in a fixed 4-hand cycle:

After hand 4, the cycle repeats starting again with "pass left" on hand 5, and so on for the rest of the game.

5.2 Mechanics of the Pass

1. Each player privately selects exactly 3 cards from their 13-card hand and places them face down.
2. All players pass simultaneously — no player may look at the cards they are about to receive before committing their own outgoing 3 cards. In practice, everyone sets their 3 cards face down first, and all four passes are exchanged at once.
3. After the exchange, each player again holds 13 cards (3 given away, 3 received) and looks at their new hand before play begins.
4. You may pass any 3 cards, including the Queen of Spades, hearts, or the 2♣ — there are no restrictions on which cards can be passed.
5. On a "hold" hand (§5.1, hand 4 of the cycle), skip this entire phase and proceed directly to play with the dealt hand.

6. Playing a Trick

Once passing is complete (or skipped on a hold hand), the hand is played as 13 tricks, each trick consisting of one card from every player.

6.1 The Opening Lead

• Whoever holds the 2 of Clubs (2♣) after the pass must lead it to start the very first trick of the hand. This is mandatory — there is no choice of opening lead.
• Because the 2♣ can be passed, the player who leads first is not necessarily the player who was dealt it — it's whoever holds it after passing resolves.

6.2 Following Suit

• Each player, in clockwise order starting with the leader, must play a card of the suit led if they hold one ("follow suit").
• If a player has no card of the suit led, they may play any card from their hand, including a heart or the Queen of Spades — this is called a "sluff" or "discard" — subject to the first-trick restriction in §7.
• The highest-ranked card of the suit led wins the trick, regardless of any other suits played into it (there is no trump). Cards of a suit other than the one led never win the trick, no matter how high their rank.
• The winner of a trick collects all 4 cards face down into their won-tricks pile (any points therein will count against them at scoring) and leads the next trick.

6.3 Breaking Hearts

• Hearts cannot be led until a heart has been played (discarded, not necessarily won) on some earlier trick — this is called "breaking hearts" or "hearts are broken."
• A heart is "broken" the moment any player plays a heart card, whether it was played to follow suit or sluffed while void in another suit.
• Exception — forced break: if it is a player's turn to lead and their entire remaining hand consists only of hearts (and, by default, the Queen of Spades — see §12.5), they are permitted (in fact forced) to lead a heart even if hearts have not yet been broken, since they have no other legal card to lead.
• The Queen of Spades does not break hearts by default when discarded (only actual heart cards do) — see §12.5 for the variant that also treats Q♠ as breaking hearts.
• Once broken, hearts remain "broken" for the rest of that hand; the flag resets at the start of the next hand.

6.4 Turn Summary

Trick winner (or 2♣ holder on trick 1) LEADS a card
  → each other player, clockwise, plays a card:
      - must follow the suit led if able
      - if void in that suit, may play any card (subject to §7 on trick 1)
      - may not LEAD a heart unless hearts are broken (§6.3), except when leading (see forced-break exception)
  → highest card of the suit led WINS the trick
  → winner collects the 4 cards and leads the next trick

Repeat until all 13 tricks are played and every card has been used.

7. First-Trick Special Rules

The very first trick of each hand (started by the 2♣) has extra restrictions, since no points should be "dumped" before anyone has had a chance to pass or plan around them:

• No player may play a heart or the Queen of Spades on the first trick, even if they are void in clubs — unless their hand contains only hearts and/or the Queen of Spades (i.e., they hold zero non-point cards and are physically unable to follow the restriction). In that forced case, they must play a point card, and it does count against them normally.
• This restriction applies only to trick 1. From trick 2 onward, any void player may sluff a heart or the Queen of Spades freely (subject to §6.3 for leading, not discarding).
• The 2♣ leader obviously is not affected by this (clubs are never a point card).

Lenient alternative (§12.6): some house rules allow a void player to discard hearts/Q♠ on the first trick whenever they are void in clubs, with no "only point cards left" carve-out required. Default is the strict version above (no points on trick 1 unless truly forced).

8. End-of-Hand Scoring

1. Once all 13 tricks have been played, each player looks through the cards in their won-tricks pile and tallies:
   • 1 point per heart card collected.
   • 13 points if they collected the Queen of Spades.
2. Add these to the player's running cumulative game score.
3. A player who took no hearts and not the Queen of Spades scores 0 for that hand.
4. Check for Shooting the Moon (§9) before finalizing — it overrides the normal per-card tally for that hand.
5. Check the game-end condition (§10).
6. Rotate the deal one seat clockwise, advance the passing-direction cycle (§5.1) by one step, and deal the next hand.

9. Shooting the Moon

If a single player takes all 13 hearts AND the Queen of Spades in one hand (i.e., all 26 available penalty points), they may instead invoke "Shooting the Moon" (also called "running the table" / "taking the moon"), which inverts the scoring for that hand:

• Default resolution: the shooter scores 0 points for the hand, and every other player scores 26 points.
• This is automatically detected (not an optional declaration) — if a player's won-tricks pile contains all 13 hearts and the Q♠, the moon-shot scoring applies instead of the normal per-card tally.

Mathematically-equivalent alternative phrasing (same net effect, different bookkeeping): subtract 26 from the shooter's score instead of adding 26 to everyone else. Both produce the same relative standings; default representation is "shooter +0, others +26" since it keeps all scores non-negative, which is simpler for a running tally and for target-score comparisons (§10). "Moon or sun" doubling variant (§12.7): some rulesets also let a player "shoot the sun" (take all 13 tricks outright, a strict superset of the moon) for an even larger bonus/penalty swing. Not standard — treat taking all 13 tricks as an ordinary moon shot (still just 0 / 26, since sun-shooting always includes the moon).

• Only one player can shoot the moon per hand — it requires taking literally all 26 points, which by definition no other player can share in.
• If no single player collects all 26 points, scoring proceeds normally per §8 (each player charged for exactly the point-cards they individually collected).

10. End of the Game

• After each hand's scoring (§8–§9), check whether any player's cumulative score has reached or exceeded the target score (default 100 points; 50 is a common "short game" alternative).
• Once triggered, the game ends immediately after that hand is fully scored (do not play a partial extra hand).
• The winner is the player with the LOWEST cumulative score, not the player who crossed the threshold — crossing the target is only the end-of-game trigger, never a loss condition by itself.
• Tie-break: if two or more players are tied for the lowest score when the game ends, play one additional full hand (continuing the passing-direction rotation) and re-check; repeat until the tie is broken. (House rules vary here — some just declare a shared win — but sudden-death extra hands is the more common convention.)

11. Special Situations and Edge Cases

• Passing the 2♣ away: perfectly legal. Whoever holds the 2♣ after the pass leads the first trick, even if that's not who was originally dealt it.
• Passing on a "hold" hand: no exchange occurs at all (§5.1) — the hand is simply played as dealt, not passed with an empty selection.
• Void in the suit led, but it's the first trick: the strict first-trick rule (§7) can force a player who is void in clubs to play a non-point card even though they'd rather dump a heart — unless literally every card in their hand is a heart or the Q♠, in which case they have no other legal choice.
• Forced to lead hearts before broken: only occurs when a trick-winner's remaining hand is 100% hearts (and Q♠ if using the §12.5 variant). This can realistically happen late in a hand, and is a legitimate exception to §6.3.
• A player is void in the suit led and hearts aren't broken yet, but they hold non-heart cards too: they may still sluff a heart in this case (breaking hearts) — the "hearts not broken" restriction only limits leading a new trick with a heart, never discarding one when void. (First-trick restriction, §7, is the only thing that limits discarding.)
• Determining the trick winner: compare only the cards that match the suit led; the highest rank among those wins. Cards of other suits played (sluffs) are never eligible to win, no matter their rank.
• Shooting the moon isn't visible until the very last trick: an opponent could still snag a single heart on trick 13 and spoil it, so the moon condition is only ever checked once all 13 tricks of the hand are complete.
• Score exactly equal to the target after a moon shot: the +26 applied to non-shooters can push multiple players over the target simultaneously in one hand; the winner is still whoever has the lowest score among all players, which in this scenario is very likely the shooter (score 0 or unchanged).

12. Common Variants and House Rules (Summary Table)

Each of these can be adopted independently as a house rule. The Default column is the standard, most widely used choice.

12.13 Notable Named Relatives (for context)

• Black Lady — essentially identical to standard Hearts; the name is used interchangeably, sometimes with the strict first-trick rule (§7) as its defining feature versus looser "Hearts."
• Omnibus Hearts — adds the Jack of Diamonds bonus (§12.8) and sometimes a 10-of-clubs "double the hand's score" card.
• Cancellation Hearts — played with 2 decks and 6+ players; identical point cards from each deck can "cancel" each other out of a trick. Not implemented here.
• Spades-based games (e.g., Spades) are a different family entirely (bidding, trump) — not related to Hearts beyond sharing a 52-card deck.

These are mentioned only for context, to clarify what standard Hearts is not — each is a distinct game or variant with its own rulebook.

13. Strategy Notes (Not Rules)

Not part of the rules, but they explain why the rules create interesting decisions:

• Void yourself early. Getting rid of every card in a suit (especially a short suit) as early as possible gives you "sluffing" options later to dump hearts or the Q♠ when you can't follow suit.
• The Queen of Spades is the single biggest threat. 13 points in one card — track who might be void in spades before playing a high spade, since it can get "sluffed" a dangerous card onto you, or conversely be careful leading spades yourself if you hold the Queen.
• Passing is about damage control, not offense. Passing away your highest, most dangerous cards (especially Q♠ and high hearts/spades) reduces your own risk; passing low clubs/diamonds you don't need is usually wasted opportunity.
• Consider the moon shot only with a strong hand. Attempting to take every point is high-risk/high-reward — if you fall even one heart short of all 26, you've simply taken on a huge normal-scoring hand instead. Strong moon-shot hands typically have many high cards concentrated in few suits plus the Q♠ or protection against it.
• Watch when hearts break. Once broken, hearts become fair game to lead — this often signals a shift in who is trying to force points onto opponents versus who is dumping to survive.

14. Hand Quick Reference

Each hand, in order:

1. Deal 13 cards to each of 4 players.
2. Pass 3 cards per the rotation (left / right / across / hold) — simultaneous, then reveal.
3. Whoever holds the 2♣ leads it to start Trick 1.
4. For each of 13 tricks:
   • Players follow suit if able; otherwise may sluff any card (trick 1 restricted per §7).
   • May not lead a heart until hearts are broken (unless forced — hand is all hearts/Q♠).
   • Highest card of the suit led wins; winner collects the trick and leads next.
5. After trick 13, tally points (1/heart, 13/Q♠) per player from their won tricks.
6. Check for a Shot the Moon (26/26 by one player) → invert to 0 / 26-each instead.
7. Add to running totals; check if any total ≥ target score (100) → if so, game over, lowest total wins (tie → extra hand).
8. Otherwise, rotate deal clockwise, advance the passing rotation, and start the next hand.

15. Glossary

• Trick: One card played by each player in turn; the highest card of the suit led wins it.
• Follow suit: Play a card of the same suit that was led, if you hold one — mandatory.
• Sluff / Discard: Play a card of a different suit than led, only allowed when void in the led suit.
• Lead: The first card played to a trick, which sets the suit that must be followed; also, "to lead" a suit means to open a trick with it.
• Breaking hearts: The moment any heart is first played in a hand, after which hearts may legally be led.
• Shooting the Moon: Taking all 13 hearts and the Queen of Spades in a single hand; inverts scoring (0 for the shooter, 26 for everyone else).
• Q♠ / "The Black Lady" / "The Black Maria": The Queen of Spades, worth 13 penalty points — the single most dangerous card in the game.
• Passing: The pre-play exchange of 3 cards per hand in a rotating direction (left/right/across/hold).
• Void: Holding no cards of a particular suit.
• Target score: The cumulative-score threshold that ends the game (default 100); lowest total wins once reached.

16. Recommended Standard Ruleset

If you just want one clean, unambiguous way to play, this is it:

• 1 standard 52-card deck, no jokers, exactly 4 players, 13 cards each.
• Passing rotation: left → right → across → hold, repeating every 4 hands; simultaneous 3-card pass, any cards eligible.
• Card ranking: 2 (low) through Ace (high), standard per suit, no trump.
• Opening lead: whoever holds the 2♣ after passing must lead it.
• Follow suit mandatory; if void, may play any card (subject to first-trick rule).
• First trick: no hearts or Q♠ may be played unless a player's hand is composed entirely of point cards.
• Hearts cannot be led until broken (played once, by any means), except when forced (leader's hand is all hearts/Q♠).
• Queen of Spades does not break hearts by itself (default off, §12.5).
• Scoring: 1 point per heart taken, 13 points for the Q♠, tallied into a running cumulative total per player.
• Shooting the Moon: a player taking all 26 points in a hand scores 0 instead; every other player takes +26 instead of their normal (0) tally.
• Game ends when any player's total reaches 100; the player with the lowest total wins (tie → play additional hands until resolved).
• Every variant in §12 (player count, target score, Jack of Diamonds, Spot Hearts, Q♠-breaks-hearts, first-trick strictness) can be swapped in as a house rule if your table prefers it.

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