Trick-avoidance. Pass three cards, dodge hearts and the Queen of Spades — unless you can shoot the moon.
Setup & play
Standard 52-card deck, 4 players (3-7 supported with deck adjustments). Deal all cards evenly; remove low cards if the deck doesn't divide evenly.
Each hand begins with a pass: 3 cards left, then right, then across, then "keeper" (no pass), repeating. The player with the 2 of clubs leads the first trick. Hearts cannot be led until they're "broken" by being played on another suit.
Scoring
Each heart taken = 1 penalty point. Queen of Spades = 13 penalty points. Lowest score wins.
Shooting the moon: If a single player takes ALL 13 hearts and the Queen of Spades in one hand, they score 0 and everyone else takes 26. Some groups let the shooter choose: subtract 26 from themselves instead.
Jack of Diamonds variant: The Jack of Diamonds = -10 points (a reward). Adds a third strategic card.
Game end: First to reach the target (default 100) — but since low wins, hitting the target means someone else won. The lowest score across all players at that point is the winner.
Variants
- Classic Hearts
Default. Pass cycle, no Jack of Diamonds.
- Omnibus / Jack of Diamonds
Adds the JD = -10 rule. Slightly faster, more decisions.
- Black Maria
British variant — adds the Ace and King of Spades as penalty cards. Not toggled in the scorecard.
Common house-rule decisions
These are the questions that come up most often. The Rules tab toggles between the common choices — agree before the first hand or you’ll re-litigate them mid-game.
- Shoot-the-moon scoring — add 26 to others (default) or subtract 26 from shooter, or shooter chooses.
- Jack of Diamonds rule on/off.
- Whether the 2 of clubs lead is required.
- Whether you can pass the QS on the first pass.
- Whether you must play the QS as soon as you have no clubs ("bleed" rule).
- Target score — 100 (default), 50 for a quicker game, 200 for a long night.