How to Play Hearts Online

Anna | February 12, 2026

Queen of Hearts mascot next to Hearts gameplay scene

Hearts is one of those games that sounds simple at first but ends up being all about timing, reading your opponents and choosing exactly the right moment to take a risk. It’s a classic trick-taking card game for four players and unlike most games, the goal is not to win the most points but to end the game with the fewest. If you are curious where the game comes from, you can read more on our History of Hearts page.

Each round is fast, competitive and slightly sneaky. You’ll be dodging hearts, watching out for the Queen of Spades and keeping track of what everyone else might be holding. Or you can flip the strategy completely and try to collect every penalty card using a move called Shoot the Moon. If you’ve never played before or just want a solid refresher, this guide walks you through everything you need to know.

The Basics: What You Need to Know

Hearts is played with a standard 52-card French deck, no jokers. Every card has its usual rank (Ace is high, 2 is low) and all four suits are used. There are no teams and no trumps (all suits are equal). Just you against three other players all trying to avoid picking up penalty points.

The round structure is simple: everyone is dealt 13 cards. You’ll play one card per trick and whoever plays the highest card in the same suit as the first card wins the trick and leads the next one. But winning tricks isn’t always good. Some cards give you points and points are bad in Hearts. The game keeps going round by round until someone reaches 100 points or more. As soon as that happens, the player with the lowest score overall wins. When you win a round, a gold medal shows up behind your name. Win the whole game and you’ll earn a green one.

How to Start the Round

Passing three cards to opponent at start of Hearts round

Before each round begins, there’s a card-passing phase. Everyone chooses three cards from their hand and passes them to another player. Once you have selected your three cards, a round button with an arrow appears. Click it to pass the cards to your opponent. The direction changes depending on the round:

Round 1: pass to the left
Round 2: pass to the right
Round 3: pass across
Round 4: no passing

Then it repeats again in the same order. Smart players use this moment to get rid of dangerous high cards or awkward combinations. So, what kind of cards should you pass? That depends on your hand but most players go for anything that might win tricks, like the Queen of Spades, high Hearts or lone Aces and Kings. Passing well can set you up for a safer round or help a sneaky strategy come to life. You’ll get a feel for it once you’ve played a few rounds.

How Each Trick Works

Following suit in first trick of Hearts by playing a Spade

The player with the Two of Clubs always starts the first trick. You have to follow the suit if you can. As you can see in Figure 3 above, Julia opened the trick with a Spade. Since you have the 4 of Spades in your hand, you have to play it. You can’t just throw in any card. If you don’t have the suit that was led, you’re allowed to play something else, but not a Heart or the Queen of Spades in this very first trick.

Once everyone has played a card, the highest one in the suit that was led wins the trick. The winner takes the cards and any points, then leads the next one.

There’s one other important rule. You can’t lead a Heart until Hearts have been broken. Hearts are broken when someone plays a Heart during a trick where they couldn’t follow suit. After that, Hearts can be played like any other suit.

When all 13 tricks have been played and no more points can be scored, a round button with a checkmark appears in the bottom right. Clicking it is optional. It just lets you finish the round faster and move straight to the score screen.

Which Cards You Want to Avoid

This is where the real twist of Hearts comes in. Only two types of cards count for penalty points:

Every Heart is worth 1 point (there are 13 of them, so that’s 13 points total)
The Queen of Spades is worth a brutal 13 points

That means there are 26 penalty points in total floating around each round. You can pick up 14 of them in a single trick if you’re not careful. Avoiding those cards and sometimes sneaking them to your opponents is the core of the game.

The Special Rule: Shooting the Moon

Hearts Shooting the Moon score screen showing round results

Here’s where things get interesting. If a player manages to collect all 13 Hearts and the Queen of Spades during a single round, they don’t take any penalty points. Instead, every other player gets 26 points added to their score. That move is called Shooting the Moon and it can flip the game upside down in an instant. As you can see in Figure 4, this is exactly what happened. You shot the moon, scored zero and all other players got hit with 26 penalty points. A moon icon appears behind your name to mark the move.

Pulling it off is risky. You have to win exactly the right tricks without making it too obvious. If the other players catch on, they will do everything they can to stop you. The best way to block a moon shot is simple: win just one trick that contains a Heart or the Queen of Spades. That breaks the perfect set and ruins the plan.

Strategic Tips for Beginners

Hearts is not just about avoiding points. It is about knowing when to lay low and when to make a move. Here are a few things to keep in mind as you play:

Get rid of a suit early: If you can empty your hand of one full suit early on (for example, no more Diamonds), you’ll have a big advantage. Any time that suit is played, you’ll be able to play off-suit and potentially drop a Heart or the Queen. This is often called “voiding a suit.”
Pass danger cards: Use the pass to ditch high cards that might win unwanted tricks. The Queen of Spades, Aces, Kings and high Hearts are usually risky. Just don’t make it too obvious. A sharp opponent might pick up on your style and send you risky cards of their own when it’s their turn to pass.
Avoid leading with high cards: Leading a trick with a high card often guarantees you’ll win it, which is not what you want when penalty cards are floating around. Low cards are safer leads, especially once Hearts are live.
Track the queen: Keep a mental note of when the Queen of Spades gets played or whether she’s still out there. It helps you decide when it’s safe to play high Spades or whether you should hold back.
Spot a moon shot early: If one player starts collecting lots of Hearts and avoids passing them on, they might be trying to Shoot the Moon. Once you suspect it, your mission becomes simple: stop them by grabbing just one Heart or the Queen before they get them all.
Sometimes, take the hit: There will be moments where you can’t avoid taking points. When that happens, it’s sometimes better to take them all, especially if Shooting the Moon is suddenly possible for you. But even if it’s not, taking 1 or 2 points now might prevent you from eating 14 later.

Hearts is all about staying steady. Don’t tilt when a round goes badly and don’t get cocky when things go well. Read the table, remember the passes and stay cool when it gets messy. That’s how you win.