Hearts is a card game that requires each player to attempt to achieve the lowest possible score every round and throughout the whole game via evasion tactics. Players only earn points from any Heart card (1 point per card) or the Queen of Spades (13 points). As a result, the game requires the player to attempt to evade receiving these cards during each round.
The rules describe discarded cards, and sometimes rotational or turn-based play, as a "trick." The term also refers to the game's four players attempting to trick each other into taking the points-based cards. The game ends when a player reaches 100 total points across all rounds.
Each of the players receives 13 cards. They begin by passing three of their cards to another player. The game indicates the direction of the pass with a yellow arrow. A 2 of Clubs always starts the first round.
The players place a card in the center of the green table between them based on the suit. If they don't have a suit-matched card, they can place any card. The player who places a card with the highest value for the represented suit must then take the entire trick. If the trick has one or more Heart cards or the Queen of Spades, they're penalized with points and lead the next round.
Hearts does feature a risky exception to the evasion rule. If the player can somehow acquire all the Heart cards and the Queen, or "shooting the moon," the game assigns 26 points to all the players except the one holding the cards.
