

If a player has won all 13 hearts and the Queen of Spades, that player can choose to subtract 26 points from his score, or to add 26 points to every other player's score. Scoring: At the end of each hand, the number of hearts a player has taken, is counted they count for 1 point each. The Queen of Spades can be led at any time. Four players play tricks trying to load the queen of spades and hearts cards to their opponents. Hearts may not be led until a heart or the Queen of Spades has been played (this is called "breaking" hearts). Hearts is one of the most popular card games in the world.

Having a perfect memory of cards that have been played and in what order is insufficient. The winner of the trick gets all the cards and starts the next trick. Like most nontrivial games, Hearts has a HUMONGOUS game tree. The highest card of the suit led wins a trick (there is no trumps in this game). Exception: If a player has no clubs when the first trick is led, a heart or the Queen of Spades cannot be played. If a player has no cards in the suit led, a card of any other suit may be discarded. Each player must follow suit if possible. Playing tricks: The player holding the 2 of clubs (after the passing) plays that card to start the first trick. This rotation repeats until the game ends. to the player on your left, 2 to the player on your right, 3 to the player across the table, 4. All players must pass their own cards before looking at the cards received from an opponent. But if he does shoot the moon successfully the player may either A) subtract 26 points from his point total or B) add 26 points to all the other players’ point totals, whichever suits his strategic needs.Passing: After looking at his or her hand, each player chooses three cards and passes them face down to another player. Play 'tricks' by attempting to 'follow the suit' of the card that led.

The object of the game is to be the player with the fewest points. Hearts ( ) are worth one point, the queen of spades (Q) is worth thirteen points, and points are bad, like golf. Hearts is a four-player point-based strategy card game. But this is a very dangerous move, because getting all but one point will leave a player with a huge point penalty of 25 points. Play the two of clubs to start the game, and play continues clockwise. If he can successfully capture all 13 hearts and the Queen of Spades, then he gets a huge point boost. Most versions of this game include the option to “shoot the moon.” This is when a player tries to get all the points in a hand, rather than avoiding them. The player with the fewest points when this happens is the winner. If, after a hand is completed and the points are tallied, a player has reached 100 points, then the game is over. This is by far the worst card to take in a trick, because it is worth 13 points by itself!ĭuring play, a heart can only be lead if the hearts have been “broken,” which occurs when a heart is played in a trick where another suit is lead.Īfter each hand, tally the number of points each player has accumulated and write it down Objective The only non-heart card that is worth points is the Queen of Spades. The goal is to end up with as few points as possible. Each heart taken in a trick is worth a point. Many thanks go to Nicu Buculei, who created the excellent playing card images that I use for the game. FreeCell is the second solitaire game I create, before that I created Klondike (or 'classic' solitaire) and I've also made a few card games like Hearts, Spades and Whist. The game is called Hearts because the cards of that suit play a critical role in determining the winner. My name is Einar Egilsson and I made this online verson of FreeCell.
