Rules of Hearts

Hearts is a 4-person card game played over several rounds. Each round, players take tricks and score points for those tricks.

How to Win

When any player breaks 100 points, whoever has the lowest score wins.

The Round

The deck is dealt evenly to all players. Each player selects 3 cards and passes them to another player. The direction of the pass alternates each round: left, right, across, and no pass.

Players play tricks until all cards have been played. Whoever has ♣2 must lead it as the start of the first trick. After the lead card is played, players take turns clockwise playing a card from their hand that matches the suit of the lead card. Once all 4 cards have been played, (Ace is high), whoever played the highest rank card takes the trick. If a player doesn't have any cards that match the lead suit in hand, they can play any card. Only cards of the lead suit can win the trick.

Breaking Hearts

During the round, ♥ can only be played as the lead suit if hearts have been "broken". hearts are broken when any ♥ is played off-suit on a trick.

There are two common house rules related to breaking hearts:

• - Hearts are automatically broken after three tricks have been completed.
• - The queen of spades also breaks hearts.

If a player needs to lead a card and only has hearts in their hand, they must lead a heart regardless of if hearts have been broken. Doing so breaks hearts.

Scoring

At the end of the round, players score points based on cards they took in tricks throughout the round:

• Every ♥ = 1 point
• ♠Q = 13 points

Using Hearts Scorepad, tap a player's score box to select them, then use the score buttons to add or subtract to their score from the round.

Shooting the Moon

If one player takes all 26 available points in a single round, they "shoot the moon". Players who shoot the moon take 0 points for the round, and all other players take 26 points.

A common rule variant allows players who shoot the moon to subtract 26 points from their score rather than add to everyone else's score. Hearts Scorepad includes a -26 button to accomodate this common case.

3 or 5 Players

To play Hearts with 3 players, simply remove ♦2 from the deck. The deck can then be evenly dealt to three players. Additionally, remove the "across" pass direction. Each round, alternate passing left, right, and no pass.

To play Hearts with 5 players, remove ♦2 and ♦3 from the deck. The deck can then be evenly dealt to five players. Additionally, remove the "across" pass direction. Each round, alternate passing left, right, two to the left, two to the right, and no pass.

To configure the number of players in the game on your Hearts Scorepad, tap the gear in the top-right to open Settings, then select the appropriate number of players.