Hearts card game: play free online, passing and moon tips

What is Hearts?

Classic Hearts against Zip, Buffer and Skip, no partners. Each heart is 1 point and the Q♠ is 13, so duck your way to the lowest score. This table plays to 50 instead of 100.

Hearts is a trick-taking game where winning tricks is usually bad news. Four players each play for themselves; every heart you take costs a point, and the Queen of Spades costs 13. The lowest score wins, so the game is all about ducking, dumping and timing.

Hearts comes from an old European family of games, the Reversis family, where the aim was to avoid tricks. It appears in American card books from the late 1800s, and the Queen of Spades penalty was added later, giving the version sometimes called Black Lady. In Britain, Black Maria also punishes the King and Ace of Spades, and Omnibus Hearts adds a bonus for the Jack of Diamonds. Many players first met the game on Windows, which shipped a version for years.

On SkillXGames you play against Zip, Buffer and Skip. Every seat shows its running total and the points it has taken this hand, the log lists each trick, and the opponents pass, duck and stop moon shots on their own. The table plays to 50 rather than 100, so a full game is shorter without changing the rules of each hand.

At a glance

Category

Card Room

Difficulty

Medium

Play time

10–15 min

Price

Free, in your browser, sign-up optional

How to play

Pass three

Before each hand, pass 3 cards: left, then right, then across, then no pass, and repeat.

Follow suit

The 2♣ leads the first trick. Play the suit led if you can; the highest card of that suit takes the trick.

Dodge the points

Each heart is 1 point, the Q♠ 13. No points on the first trick, and hearts can't be led until one has been discarded.

Shoot the moon

Take all 13 hearts and the Q♠: you score 0 and everyone else takes 26. When someone reaches 50, the lowest score wins.

Scoring

Hands are scored the classic way, 1 per heart and 13 for the Q♠, with 26 to everyone else on a moon, until someone reaches 50.

Your table score is 500 minus 10 for every point you took, never below 0, plus 200 if you finish with the lowest total (a tie counts).

What it trains

Card counting

Tracking which spades and hearts have already gone.

Inference

Working out who is void in which suit from what they play.

Risk control

Choosing between ducking now and shedding a dangerous card.

Strategy and tips

Pass to get void

If you hold only two or three cards of a side suit, passing them all leaves you void. The first time that suit is led, you can drop the Q♠ or a heart.

Fear high spades only until the Queen falls

While the Q♠ is still out, an A♠ or K♠ can catch her. Once she has been played, your high spades are safe again.

Flush out the Queen

Holding several low spades but not the Queen? Lead them. Each round of spades thins the holder's cover until the Queen is forced out, often onto a trick you don't win.

Shed high cards early

The first tricks rarely carry points. Use them to get rid of Aces and Kings in clubs and diamonds while it's cheap.

Stop the moon

If one player has taken every point so far, make sure you win at least one heart. One heart in your pile costs you 1 instead of letting everyone take 26.

Shoot only with a plan

Go for the moon with long, strong hearts and winners in the other suits. A failed attempt leaves you with a big score, so decide early.

Mind the finish line

The game ends when someone reaches 50. If you're lowest, pushing an opponent over 50 ends it in your favour. If you're behind, avoid it.

Why play Hearts?

Hearts trains card counting and inference: tracking which spades and hearts are gone, and working out who is void in what. Every trick asks a small risk-and-reward question: duck now, or take a clean trick to get rid of a dangerous card?

With no partner to rely on, it also sharpens your reading of other players. You learn to spot a moon attempt early and to decide who should receive your points.

Frequently asked questions