How to Play Hearts: A Beginner’s Guide to the Classic Card Game

In the card game of Hearts, players avoid certain cards that add points to their score. Played between four players, when a player accumulates at or over a certain number of points, the game is over, and the player with the lowest score is the winner.

The card game of Hearts has two variants. The Jack of Diamonds game, which has a jack that subtracts 10 points, and a non-jack game, on which this article will be based.

The Scoring

The points added are 1 point for any heart received (noting the name Hearts), and then 13 for a Queen of Spades, which is 26 in total. As such, the real emphasis is on avoiding the Queen of Spades and then the hearts. With the exception of a player trying to shoot the moon, which is when they receive all the point-scoring cards. If this happens, you can deduct 26 points from your own score or add 26 to all rival players.

Starting the Game

When the game starts, 13 cards are dealt to the four players randomly. Then, players pass three cards from their starting hand to another player. As such, they can remove three higher-ranked and scoring cards if they wish. Each player will receive three cards passed to them.

The player with the 2 of clubs plays that card first, and then cards are played clockwise. Players must play the first suit played, if they have cards of the same suit, or otherwise they can play an alternative of their choice. Four cards are played in total, and the player with the highest suited card receives any scoring cards played. Then they play the next card. When all the cards dealt are played, the hand is over, and the points received by players are added to an overall total.

Tactics

So overall, players can either play to avoid point scoring cards, which is usually best. Or otherwise, they can play to receive cards if they have been dealt a poor hand, which will add points to their score and maybe shoot the moon.

At any rate, if a player is seeking to avoid scoring cards, then they should pass some of their higher-ranked cards over. Especially, the Queen of Spades and any high hearts dealt. Then, in the opening stages, play the highest-ranked cards they have from the non-scoring suites, progressing to the lower.

If, however, the player is aiming to shoot the moon, then they should pass low cards over. Then they need to be deceptive and play lower cards to begin with. If all goes well, with the low cards offloaded, they can then receive all the point cards and shoot. It should be noted that attempting to shoot is risky, so it should be tried only if the player has many higher-ranked cards to play.

Another good tactic is to remove non-scoring suites from your cards. If you can do this sooner, then when the suite is played, you can play any other card you wish. As such, high cards along with point scoring cards.

The Endgame

The overall final point total can vary in Hearts. Usually, 50 points is a reasonable end score, but you can also play higher. 100 can also be played, but do not make the score too high! At any rate, when one player reaches the end score, the game is over, with final scores recorded and compared. The player with the lowest score at this point wins the game, with 2nd, 3rd, and 4th place for progressively higher scoring players.

Overall, Hearts is a fun card game to play. Either with or without the Jack of diamonds variant, as covered here.