The Basics

Hearts is a four player singles game using a standard 52 card deck where each player receives
13 cards. The object of the game is to avoid taking points. The game is ended by someone reaching
or exceeding 100 points. Each heart is worth one penalty point and the queen of spades is worth 13 penalty points. The other cards have no value.

Passing Cards

On the first hand, after the deal, each player selects any three cards to pass to the player on their left. On the second hand each player passes three cards to the player to their right. On the third hand each player passes three cards to the player sitting opposite. On the fourth hand no cards are passed at all. The cycle then repeats until the end of the game.

Playing the Hand

The person who holds the 2 of clubs must lead it to the first trick. The other players, in clockwise order, must play a card of the suit which was led if possible. If they do not have a card of that suit, they may play any card unless it is the 1st trick of the hand. It is illegal to play points on the very 1st trick, unless of course you have you have nothing but penalty cards in your hand. The person who played the highest
card of the suit led wins the trick and leads to the next trick.

Scoring

Normally, each player scores penalty points for cards in the tricks which they won. Each heart scores one point, and the queen of spades scores 13 points. However, if you manage to win all the scoring cards (which is known as shooting the moon), your score is reduced by 26 points, or you may choose instead to have all other players' scores increased by 26 points. If you shoot the moon and your score is less than 26 points, you will not be given the option to reduce your score. In this situation, all other players' scores increase by 26 points. The game continues until one player has reached or exceeded 100 points at the conclusion of a hand.

The person with the lowest score is then the winner.