Classic four-player Hearts against three computer players. Pass cards, avoid the Queen of spades, shoot the moon, and see why a card cannot be played.
Hearts is a four-player trick-taking game where you try to win as few points as possible: every heart you take costs 1 point and the Queen of spades costs 13. The deck of 52 cards is dealt 13 to each player. A round is 13 tricks. In each trick every player plays one card, and the highest card of the suit that was led wins it, with the Ace high. The winner collects the four cards and leads the next trick. Cards of other suits never win, so a trick is lost to the player who followed suit highest. The 13 hearts and the Queen of spades add up to 26 points in every round. When the round ends, the points you collected are added to your total. The game ends when one player reaches 100 points, and the player with the lowest total wins. This page starts with 100, and you can switch to 50 for a shorter game.
Before the first trick of most rounds you pass three cards face down to another player. The direction changes every round: left, right, across, then no pass at all, and the cycle starts again. Good cards to pass are the Queen of spades, high spades and high hearts, and the cards of a short suit you would like to empty. The player holding the 2 of clubs leads the first trick with it. You must follow suit if you can. If you have no card of the suit led, you may play any card, except that on the first trick you may not play a heart or the Queen of spades unless every card you hold is one of those. Hearts cannot be led until a heart has been played in an earlier trick, which is called breaking hearts. The exception is a hand with nothing but hearts. The Queen of spades does not break hearts. When you tap a dimmed card, the line above the table tells you which of these rules stops it.
If one player takes all 13 hearts and the Queen of spades in a single round, that player shoots the moon. Normally the shooter scores 0 and each of the other three players gets 26 points. The menu has a switch for the other common rule, where the shooter scores minus 26 and the others score nothing. A second switch turns on the Jack of diamonds, which scores minus 10 for whoever takes it. It is off by default. The Jack bonus still applies in a moon round, after the moon points are added, so a shooter who also takes the Jack scores minus 10. If two players are tied for the lowest score when someone passes the target, the game goes on for another round, so there is never a shared win. Changing an option starts a new game, and the menu asks you to confirm when a game is in progress.
On Easy, the three computer players choose any card they are allowed to play. On Normal they follow the usual rules of thumb. They pass the Queen of spades and high cards, lead low cards, play the highest card that still loses the trick, drop the Queen of spades and high hearts when they cannot follow suit, and drop the Queen on a trick that a higher spade is already winning. If a rival has taken every point so far, they go over that rival to stop the moon. A computer player only looks at its own hand and at the cards everyone can see; it does not read yours. Tap a card to lift it and tap it again to play it. With a keyboard, use the left and right arrow keys to move along your hand and Enter to lift and play. Undo takes back your last card, Last trick shows the trick before, Scores opens the round-by-round sheet, and Hint suggests a card. Speed can be Normal, Fast or Instant, and tapping the table skips the pause. Games won and moons shot are kept in this browser.
The player holding the 2 of clubs leads it, always with that card. After any passing is done, the 2 of clubs holder is found again, so it can be a different player than before the pass. On this page it is you or the computer player who holds it, and the status line says so.
13 points, the same as 13 hearts. Each heart is 1 point. With all 13 hearts and the Queen of spades, 26 points are handed out in every round. Only if the Jack of diamonds option is on can a player also score minus 10 for taking that card.
It means taking all 13 hearts and the Queen of spades in one round. With the default rule the shooter scores 0 and the other three players get 26 each, so a shooter who was at 60 stays at 60 while the rest jump. The menu can switch to the rule where the shooter scores minus 26 instead.
On the first trick you may not play a heart or the Queen of spades unless you hold nothing else, even when you cannot follow clubs. This stops players from loading the opening trick with points. The page dims the card and shows this reason when you tap it.
Only after a heart has been played in an earlier trick, which is called breaking hearts, or when your hand holds only hearts. Until then you must lead a card of another suit. The Queen of spades is not a heart and does not break hearts.
The game ends after the round in which any player reaches 100 points (50 in the short game) and the lowest total is not tied. The lowest total wins. For example, totals of 104, 38, 61 and 72 mean the player on 38 wins. Games and moons are counted in this browser only.