Play Hearts Online for Free
You can play Hearts in your browser with friends, real players, or bots. There’s nothing to download and no sign-up required, and you can play in full screen on both desktop and mobile.
How to Play Hearts — Quick Guide
Goal
To win Hearts, finish the game with the fewest points. Points are scored for taking penalty cards. Each = 1 point, the Q = 13 points, all others = 0. The game continues until 100 points are reached.
First deal
Each player is dealt 13 cards, then each chooses 3 cards from their hand and passes them to the player on their left.
Trick play
The first trick always starts with 2.
The first card played in a trick sets the suit. Going clockwise, each player must follow that suit if they can. If you do not have a card in the led suit, you may play any card. You cannot play or Q on the first trick.
The player with the highest card in the lead suit takes the trick and leads the next trick.
Following tricks
Deal 2 — pass 3 cards to the right. Deal 3 — pass across. Deal 4 — no passing. Then repeat.
Shooting the Moon
If a player takes all and the Q in a deal, they score 0, and each opponent scores 26 points.
What is a Hearts card game?
Hearts is a card game from the Whist family of trick taking games. This family also includes Bridge and Spades. Hearts is usually played by four people with a standard 52 card deck, and it is best known for having players try to keep their score low.
Hearts first appeared in the United States around 1880 and likely grew out of older European games such as Reversis. Early card game books, such as the 1887 edition of The Standard Hoyle, already described Hearts as an established game in the US. Over time, regional versions became more common than the original form. For example, in 1909 the queen of spades (Q) was added as the highest penalty card and was called the Black Lady. That version became widely used and helped shape the modern game.
In the early 1990s, Hearts became familiar to a wider audience through computer versions. Microsoft included Hearts with Windows 3.11 as a multiplayer network game you could play over a local network. Later, Windows Me and Windows XP also included an online version called Internet Hearts. Today you can start a match in your browser, invite friends, play with real players, or practice against bots. Play Hearts on thesolitaire.com.
Hearts Card Game Rules — Step-by-Step
Hearts uses one standard 52-card deck.
- Each player is dealt 13 cards.
- A deal, also called a hand, is one full play-through of all 52 cards, with 13 cards per player. Each deal has 13 rounds called tricks, and each trick is made when every player plays one card.
- Each player selects 3 cards and passes them face down to the player on their left. Which cards you choose to pass depends on your strategy.
- The 2 is always the lead for the first trick. Every deal starts with the 2.
- The first card played in a trick sets the lead suit. Going clockwise, each player must follow suit if they can. If you do not have a card in the lead suit, you may play any card.
- You can't play a or the Q on the first trick.
- The player with the highest card in the lead suit takes the trick.
- The player who won the previous trick leads the next trick.
- You may lead with any card except a Heart. Hearts can’t be led until they’re broken, which happens when someone plays a Heart on a trick led with another suit. After Hearts are broken, you may lead Hearts.
- Going clockwise, each player must follow the lead suit if they can. If you do not have a card in the lead suit, you may play any card.
- Points are scored by taking penalty cards.
- Each is worth 1 point. The Q is worth 13 points. All other cards are worth 0.
- If a player takes all and the Q in a deal, that player scores 0 points, and each opponent scores 26 points.
- At the start of each deal you pass three cards. The passing direction changes from deal to deal and follows this pattern:
- Deal 1: Left
- Deal 2: Right
- Deal 3: Across
- Deal 4: No Passing
- Deal 5+: Repeat the 4 patterns above.
- The game ends when any player reaches 100 points or more.
- To win Hearts, finish the game with the fewest points.
Hearts Glossary of Terms
- Lead: The first card played in a trick.
- Lead suit: The suit of the lead card, the first card played in a trick.
- Following suit: Playing a card in the lead suit when you have one.
- Deal or Hand: One full play-through of all the cards. With four players, that is 13 tricks.
- Trick: One round where each player plays one card.
- Shooting the moon: Taking all of the point-scoring cards in a deal, meaning all Hearts and the queen of spades. Instead of scoring 26 points, that player scores 0 and each opponent scores 26.
- Breaking hearts: Playing a Heart on a trick led with another suit. After that, Hearts can be led.