Hearts
Cards Used
Hearts is played with a standard 52-card deck and is typically for 3 to 6 players. No jokers are used. Each player is dealt all the cards evenly, or as evenly as possible depending on the number of players.
Aim of the Game
The aim of Hearts is to score as few points as possible by avoiding certain penalty cards—mainly any cards in the Hearts suit and the Queen of Spades.
Point Scoring
Scoring is based on penalty points: each Heart card is worth 1 point and the Queen of Spades is worth 13 points. The goal is to avoid taking these cards in tricks. The game usually continues until one player reaches a set score (often 50 or 100 points), and the player with the lowest total score wins.
How to Deal
All cards are dealt evenly among players. Each player keeps their cards hidden in a hand. Before the first trick of each round, players usually pass three cards to another player (direction of passing changes each round: left, right, across, then no pass, depending on the cycle).
Gameplay
- 1
Players take turns playing one card into a trick. The player with the 2 of Clubs usually starts the first trick. Players must follow suit if they can; if they cannot, they may play any other card.
- 2
The highest card of the suit led wins the trick, and the winner collects the cards and leads the next trick.
- 3
Players try to avoid winning tricks that contain Hearts or the Queen of Spades. However, Hearts cannot be led until they have been “broken” (played in a previous trick when a player could not follow suit).
- 4
The round continues until all cards have been played, and points are then calculated based on penalty cards taken.
- 5
The game continues over multiple rounds until a player reaches the target score, and the lowest scorer wins.
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