Hearts is the classic four-player card game: deal all 52 cards, pass three, and avoid every heart plus the queen of spades to finish with the lowest score.
Every card you win is a point you lose — that’s the tension of Hearts, a trick-avoidance game using one standard deck and rules you can memorize in one sitting. Below: setup, passing rules, scoring math, and the one play (“shooting the moon”) that turns a losing hand into a rout. Four-player card games split into three families: trick-avoidance (Hearts), point-grabbing (All Fours), and shedding (UNO). Hearts is where most groups start.
How Do You Set Up Hearts For Four Players?
Hearts uses one standard 52-card deck with no jokers, and all four players receive 13 cards each. There is no trump suit — only the penalty cards matter.
Before the first trick, every player selects three cards and passes them facedown. The first hand passes left, and the direction rotates each hand. Passing is strategic: dump the queen of spades on someone else if you can, and unload high spades that might force you to win an unwanted trick.
Whoever holds the 2 of clubs leads the first trick; play moves clockwise.
The play rules are simple but strict:
- Follow suit if you can — if clubs are led and you hold a club, you must play one.
- Hearts cannot be led until they are “broken,” meaning a heart has already been discarded on a previous trick.
- You may discard a heart on another suit’s trick, which is how hearts get broken.
- Otherwise, play any card when you cannot follow suit.
What Is The Hearts Scoring And “Shooting The Moon”?
Every heart is worth 1 point and the queen of spades is worth 13, giving each hand a 26-point pool players try not to collect. All other cards score nothing. The game typically ends when someone reaches 100 points; the lowest total wins.
One move flips a round: if a single player takes all 13 hearts and the queen of spades — all 26 penalty points — that player “shoots the moon.” Instead of 26 points, the shooter scores zero, and the other three players each receive 26 points. Some house rules subtract 26 from the shooter instead. Either way, it swings a game in one hand.
Timing matters. If you have collected 20 points and still hold a heart, you have already missed your shot — dump the queen of spades on whoever is closest to 100 and let the round end.
| Element | Value | What It Means |
|---|---|---|
| Deck | Standard 52 cards | No jokers, no added cards |
| Cards dealt | 13 per player | Whole deck is dealt out |
| Each heart | 1 point | 13 possible per hand |
| Queen of spades | 13 points | Single biggest penalty card |
| Hand total | 26 points | Split across all four players |
| Shooting the moon | You score 0 | Opponents take 26 each |
| Game ends | At 100 points | Lowest total wins |
Hearts is played individually — four players, no teams, no partners to cover mistakes. That independence makes it a reliable four-person game and rewards reading opponents as much as your hand. To see how it stacks up against other four-player decks, this roundup of tested card games for four people compares the options side by side.
Other Four-Player Card Games Worth Learning
All Fours also uses a standard 52-card pack, but each player is dealt only 6 cards rather than 13. Play runs clockwise, and players must follow suit or play trump depending on what is led. Trumps and specific trick cards carry point values, and in the common ruleset the highest total wins — the opposite goal from Hearts.
UNO, the familiar wild-card shedding game, focuses on the standard multiplayer format rather than a fixed four-player structure, but scales cleanly to four. For less counting and more chaos, it’s the easy swap.
Two cautions: Standard Hearts is strictly individual play — do not pair off into partnerships. And skip the jokers; the setup calls for the full 52-card deck only.
FAQs
Is Hearts always played with exactly four players?
Four players is the canonical format, with 13 cards dealt to each person and the entire deck in play. Variants for three or six players exist, but they change the deal and typically adjust scoring, so the standard game assumes a four-player table.
Can you lead with a heart on the very first trick?
No. Hearts cannot be led until they are broken, meaning a heart has already been played on an earlier trick. Until then, you must lead a non-heart card, and the player with the 2 of clubs opens the game.
What happens if two players both reach 100 points?
House rules differ, so agree before you deal. The most common resolution is to finish the hand in progress and compare totals, where the lower score wins regardless of who crossed the threshold first.
References & Sources
- Wikipedia. “Hearts (card game)” Supports the standard four-player setup, deck, dealing, and shooting-the-moon rule.
- UNO Rules. “UNO Rules” Covers the standard UNO format that scales to a four-player table.
- UNO (official support). “UNO Rules and Support” Official game rules reference for the shedding-game comparison.