Play Hearts Online

How to play

1. Hearts is played with four players and a standard deck of 52 cards. Every player gets 13 cards.
2. Before each hand you pass three cards: to the left in the first hand, to the right in the second, across in the third, and in every fourth hand nobody passes.
3. The player with the 2 of clubs leads the first trick. Play goes clockwise, and everyone must follow suit if they can.
4. The highest card of the suit that was led wins the trick. The winner leads the next trick.
5. If you cannot follow suit, you may play any card, so this is your chance to get rid of hearts or the queen of spades. On the first trick, however, nobody may play hearts or the queen of spades.
6. You may only lead hearts once hearts are broken, meaning a heart has been played on an earlier trick, or when you have nothing but hearts left.
7. Each heart you take is worth 1 point and the queen of spades is worth 13, so there are 26 points in every hand.
8. Take all 26 points in one hand and you shoot the moon: you score 0 and every other player gets 26.
9. The game ends as soon as a player reaches 100 points. The player with the lowest score wins.

Tips and tricks

• Pass the queen, king and ace of spades if you only have a few spades. With five or more spades you can usually keep them safely.
• Try to empty a whole suit when you pass. Once you are void in a suit, you can drop hearts and the queen of spades on the others.
• Hold on to low cards, especially low hearts, so you can duck under tricks that contain points later in the hand.
• Lead low spades early to force out the queen of spades, as long as you do not hold the queen, king or ace yourself.
• Keep count of the hearts that have been played. Late in the hand one high heart can cost you a whole trick of points.
• Watch the scores next to each player. If one player is taking every point, give away a heart to stop them from shooting the moon.

About Hearts

Hearts is one of the most popular card games in the world. Many people know it from Windows, where Microsoft Hearts came pre-installed for years. Four players each get 13 cards and play tricks, but unlike most card games you want to avoid winning them: every heart you take costs a point, and the queen of spades costs thirteen.

You can start playing straight away against three computer players. Want to play Hearts with friends? Click "Play with friends" and send the link via WhatsApp, email or any message. Whoever opens it sits at your table instantly, without an account or app. Empty seats are played by the computer, so you can play with one, two or three friends.

During a game with friends you can chat, and the score is always visible next to every player: their total, and the hearts they took this hand. If someone leaves, the computer takes over their seat and the game carries on.