♥
Hearts Reference
Scoring, the rules of play, and what to track to win at Hearts.
Scoring · points are bad
Each ♥Every heart you take is worth 1 point (13 hearts → 13 points).
Q♠The Queen of Spades is worth 13 points on its own — the single most dangerous card in the deck.
26 totalA round holds 26 penalty points in all. Lowest score wins; you want to take as few as possible.
MoonShooting the moon: take all 26 points (every heart and the Q♠) and you score 0 while everyone else takes +26.
Rules of play
2♣ leadsWhoever holds the 2♣ must lead it to the very first trick.
Follow suitYou must follow the led suit if you can. Only when you are void in it may you play another suit.
1st trickNo points on the first trick — you may not discard a heart or the Q♠ to it (unless points are all you hold).
Breaking ♥You cannot lead a heartuntil hearts are “broken” — i.e. a heart (or the Q♠) has been discarded on an earlier trick.
WinnerThe highest card of the led suit wins the trick; off-suit cards can never win. The winner leads the next trick.
Cards to track
Q♠Track the Queen of Spadesabove all. Until it appears, the 13-point bomb is still live in someone's hand.
A♠ K♠The high spades — A♠ and K♠ — are what force the Q♠ out. If you hold them, leading spades pressures the queen into the open; watch whether they have been played.
Count ♥Count the hearts that have fallen. Knowing how many of the 13 remain tells you how many points are still in play.
Read voidsWhen a player discards off the led suit, they have revealed a void in it. A player void in ♠ can no longer be holding the Q♠ — voids let you place dangerous cards.