Hearts

Duck the Hearts, Dodge the Queen, or Shoot the Moon. Free Online

Play Hearts free online in your browser, against the computer or at a table with up to four people, with no download or account needed.

Hearts is the trick-taking game turned inside out. You still follow suit and the highest card still wins the trick, but winning is the last thing you want, because every heart in the trick costs you a point and the queen of spades costs you thirteen. The whole hand becomes a quiet game of getting out of the way, and then, once in a while, of grabbing every single point on the table to shoot the moon and hand 26 to everyone else.

Like a lot of people, I first met Hearts on a Windows desktop, playing against three cheerful strangers. This version keeps everything that made that game work: four players, passing three cards each hand, the two of clubs leading, the queen lurking somewhere. The three computer players at the table are named regulars with their own temperaments rather than a difficulty slider, a six-step coach walks you through your first hand, and you can start a table and deal in friends instead. It is free here at CardAndPuzzle.com, plays in your browser with no download or sign-up, and saves your match on your device.

How Do You Play Hearts?

Hearts is easy to learn and takes a lifetime to play well. Here is a hand from start to finish:

• The Deal: All 52 cards are dealt, 13 to each of the four players. Everyone plays for themselves.
• Pass Three Cards: Pick three cards to give away and pass them face down. The direction rotates every hand: left, right, across, then a hold hand with no pass. Everyone passes at once, so you do not know what you are getting until you have let go of what you gave.
• Two of Clubs Leads: Whoever holds the two of clubs leads it to start the first trick. No hearts or queen of spades may be played on this trick.
• Follow Suit: You must play a card of the suit led if you have one. If you cannot, you may play anything, and this is usually when the queen or a fistful of hearts gets dumped on someone.
• Highest Card Wins: There is no trump. The highest card of the suit that was led takes the trick, along with any points in it, and leads the next one.
• Breaking Hearts: Hearts cannot be led until one has been played on an earlier trick. Once that happens, hearts are broken and anyone can lead them. The queen may be led at any time.
• Count the Points: Each heart taken is 1 point and the queen of spades is 13. When any player reaches the target, the lowest score wins.

New to Hearts or want to learn when to shoot the moon? Read the complete Hearts Guide →

How Is Hearts Scored?

Hearts is scored in penalty points, so low is good. Here is everything that can happen to your score in a hand:

Before the first deal you choose a target: 50 for a quick match or 100 for the classic game. The match ends at the end of the hand in which any player reaches the target, and the lowest score wins. If two players are tied for lowest, one more hand is played.

Can You Play Hearts with Friends?

Yes. Hearts is at its best with people you know, and this version lets you start a table of your own:

• Start a Table: Choose Play with friends, pick the target, 50 or 100, and the game gives you a six-character code and a link. Share it however you like.
• Computer Players Fill the Gaps: A table holds four people, but it never has to wait for four. Any seat that is still empty when the host deals is played by one of the regulars.
• Turns Stay Moving: Each turn has a 30-second timer. If time runs out, your seat plays a legal card for you, or passes for you, so nobody is left waiting.
• Reconnect: Lose your connection and your seat is held for a minute. Come back and you pick up exactly where you left off.
• Joining Is Easy: Tap the link, or open the game and type the code under Join with a code. Either one takes you straight to the table.

Who Are You Playing Against?

The three computer players at the table are not an easy, medium and hard setting. They are named regulars, each with a way of playing:

• Sixteen Regulars: Nova, Sam, Atlas, Ruby, Sage, Max, Luna, Felix, Echo, Juno, Remy, Iris, Bo, Mia, Cleo and Leo. Three sit down at every match, each with a face, a short bio and a personality.
• Different Temperaments: Some are gamblers who go hunting for the queen with a low spade lead and keep a dangerous spade with fewer guards behind it. Some are careful and pass anything that could hurt them. Some play quickly, and one or two are a little unpredictable on purpose.
• They Play Real Hearts: The regulars pass an unguarded queen, ditch high hearts and short-suit high cards, duck under your cards with their highest losing card, and dump the queen on whoever is winning a spade trick. They cannot see your hand or each other's.
• Table Talk: The regulars react to the game with short remarks when the queen lands, a hand ends, or someone shoots the moon. If you prefer a quiet table, it switches off in the settings.

What Are the Best Hearts Strategies?

• Pass the Queen Problem Away: If you hold the queen of spades with fewer than three low spades to protect her, pass her. The ace and king of spades are just as dangerous when unguarded, because whoever leads a spade can force you to take the queen.
• Keep Your Low Cards: Twos, threes and fours are the cards that let you duck a trick. Passing them away to make room for something pretty is how you end up winning tricks you did not want.
• Create a Void: Passing away a whole short suit means the first time that suit is led you can throw the queen or a high heart on it. A void is the best weapon in the game.
• Hunt the Queen with Low Spades: If you are safe in spades, lead low spades and make whoever holds the queen sweat. Every spade lead brings her closer to the table.
• Duck with Your Highest Loser: When you cannot win the trick, play the highest card that still loses. It gets rid of a dangerous card while someone else takes the points.
• Count the Hearts: Thirteen hearts and one queen. Keep a rough count of what has been played so you know when a late heart lead is safe and when it hands someone the moon.
• Only Shoot with a Real Hand: Shooting the moon needs high cards in every suit, or a long, strong suit and a void to trump nothing into. If you are missing one high card, someone will take one heart and your 26 points stay with you.
• Watch for the Moon: When one player is winning every point trick, take a heart yourself. One point now saves you 26 later.

Why Play Hearts Here?

• Classic Four-Player Hearts: Rotating passes, the two of clubs lead, no points on the first trick, hearts broken before they can be led, and shooting the moon, exactly as the game is played at a real table.
• Tables for Friends: Start a table, share a code, and play with the people you actually want to play with, with computer players filling any empty seat.
• Regulars with Personality: Sixteen named computer players with different temperaments instead of a difficulty slider, so no two tables play the same way.
• Learn at the Table: A six-step interactive coach plays your first hand with you on a real deal, covering the goal, passing, following suit, points, breaking hearts and the scores. You can replay it any time from the game menu.
• Unlimited Hints: Stuck on a pass or a play? The hint shows the cards the game's own strategy would choose, and playable cards can be highlighted while you learn.
• Pick Your Match Length: Play to 50 or 100. The longer match earns more XP toward your level on the site.
• Free in Your Browser: No download, no app store, no account needed. It works the moment the page loads, on any device.
• Picks Up Where You Left Off: Your match in progress, your lifetime stats including clean hands, and your settings all save automatically on your device, and on every device once you sign in.

From the Two of Clubs to the Last Heart

Every hand of Hearts begins the same way, with the two of clubs on the table and thirteen cards in your hand that you are trying not to win with. Somewhere in the other three hands is the queen. The first spade lead makes the whole table go quiet. Then someone runs out of a suit, a heart hits the table, and the hand opens up into the scramble it was always going to be. Getting through it with a clean hand is the everyday satisfaction of Hearts. Shooting the moon when nobody saw it coming is the once-a-week kind. Deal a hand, let the coach show you the first one, and see which you get.

More Free Card Games

If you enjoy trick-taking, Spades is the partnership game where you bid your tricks, and Euchre is the fast five-card game with the bowers. For something lighter between hands, Trash is a quick race to fill your row of cards, and there is always Klondike Solitaire when you want the table to yourself.