Hearts Rule Variations

Hearts has been played around kitchen tables for well over a century, and nearly every family has a rule or two of its own. If the way you learned is a little different from our standard Hearts rules, that's normal. Here are the variations we hear about most, and how to set them in our free Hearts game.

Game Length: Play to 100 or 50

The usual game ends when someone reaches 100 points at the end of a hand, and the lowest score wins. That takes around half an hour. If you want a quicker game, playing to 50 works well. Some families also play a fixed number of hands, or keep going until someone hits a higher number, like 150.

In our game: open Settings → House rules and choose "Play to 100 points" or "Play to 50 points". It starts with your next game.

No Points on the First Trick

Many players follow the rule that no hearts and no queen of spades may be played on the first trick, the one started by the 2 of clubs. It keeps someone from getting stuck with points before anyone has had a chance to plan. If a player truly has nothing else to play, they may break the rule.

Other families let anything go on the first trick. A player with no clubs can drop the queen of spades right away, which makes the opening much more exciting.

In our game: "No points on the first trick" is on by default. Turn it off under Settings → House rules.

Breaking Hearts

In standard play you can't lead a heart until hearts are "broken," meaning someone has played a heart on an earlier trick because they couldn't follow suit. A player who holds nothing but hearts may lead one anyway. Some families skip this rule entirely and let anyone lead hearts at any time.

Does the Queen of Spades Break Hearts?

This is a long-running table debate. Some players say that once the queen of spades has been played, points are on the board, so hearts are broken. Others say only a heart can break hearts. Both are common. Our game follows the second way: playing the queen of spades does not break hearts.

In our game: "Hearts must be broken before leading them" is on by default. Turn it off under Settings → House rules to lead hearts whenever you like.

Scoring a Moon Shot

When one player takes all 13 hearts and the queen of spades, they've shot the moon. There are two popular ways to score it:

Adding 26 to everyone else can push another player over 100 and end the game. Subtracting from the shooter is gentler on the table. Some families let the shooter choose whichever method helps them more.

A few players also know "shooting the sun": taking every one of the 13 tricks, not just all the points, for an even bigger reward. It's rare and the scoring varies from table to table. Our game doesn't support it; a hand where you take every trick scores as an ordinary moon shot.

In our game: under Settings → House rules, "Shooting the moon" lets you choose "Everyone else gets 26 points" or "The shooter takes 26 points off their own score".

The Jack of Diamonds (−10)

In this popular variation, whoever takes the jack of diamonds gets 10 points off their score. It's often called Omnibus Hearts. It gives you something to chase instead of only things to avoid, and it makes diamonds tricks much more interesting.

With the jack in play, a hand no longer always adds up to 26. A moon shot still needs only the hearts and the queen of spades; the jack counts −10 for whoever won it either way.

In our game: turn on "Jack of diamonds is worth −10" under Settings → House rules. It's off by default.

Passing Variations

Our game uses the most common pattern: pass three cards to the left, then right, then across, then a hand with no passing, and repeat. Families also play:

• No hold hand: left, right, across, and then left again, with no passless hand.
• Left and right only, alternating every hand.
• Passing four cards instead of three, sometimes used with fewer players.
• No passing at all, the oldest and simplest way to play.

In our game: passing is always three cards in the left, right, across, hold pattern. The other passing styles aren't available.

Different Numbers of Players

Hearts is best with four, but it stretches. With three players, people usually remove the 2 of diamonds so the deck divides into 17 cards each. With five, they take out the 2 of diamonds and 2 of clubs, and the 3 of clubs leads first. With six or more, two decks or partnerships come into play. Two-player versions exist too, though they feel quite different.

In our game: Hearts is always four players, you against three computer players. If you'd like a partner at the table, try Spades, the classic partnership trick-taking game.

Other House Rules You May Know

• Exactly 100 resets: landing on exactly 100 drops your score back to 0 or 50.
• Ten of hearts or other bonus cards: some tables give one more card a special value.
• Must play the queen when able: a few families require the queen of spades to be discarded at the first chance.

Our game doesn't use these, but they're all fun to try around the table. For tips that work under any rules, read our Hearts strategy guide.