Medium Standard
Hearts
Avoid the hearts — and beware the Queen of Spades.
Hearts is a classic trick-avoidance game where you want to avoid winning hearts or the dreaded Queen of Spades. But if you collect ALL the penalty cards you "Shoot the Moon" and punish everyone else instead.
🎯 Objective
Have the lowest score when any player reaches 100 points.
🃏 Setup
- Use a standard 52-card deck; deal 13 cards to each of 4 players.
- Each player passes 3 cards left (first round); direction rotates; fourth round: no pass.
- The player holding 2♣ leads the first trick.
▶ How to Play
- The lead player may play any card except a heart on the first trick (unless only hearts remain).
- All others must follow suit if possible; if not, discard any card.
- Highest card of the led suit wins the trick. No trump.
- Hearts may not be led until "heart break" — a heart has been discarded on a prior trick.
- The winner of each trick leads the next.
📊 Scoring
Each ♥ = 1 pt. Q♠ = 13 pts. All others = 0. Lowest score wins. Shoot the Moon: take all 13 hearts AND Q♠ → each other player gets 26 pts.