Why a garden table?

Hearts is a game for four, and most people who play it online play alone against the computer. So the other three seats at this table belong to garden animals, from a slow Snail, Ladybug and Caterpillar up to a sharp Fox, Owl and Badger.

The animals play by the same rules you do and only see their own cards. The strongest ones count every card, and now and then one of them tries to shoot the moon. If one computer player is collecting every point, hearts and all, a small moon alert tells you to watch out. You can switch it off. A pass helper can also suggest which three cards to pass, with a reason.

A bit of real Hearts history

Most card games are about winning tricks. Hearts turns that round. You try not to win the tricks that hold scoring cards.

Card historians see an older game called Reversis as a likely ancestor. Reversis was first mentioned in France in 1601, under the name Reversin, and it stayed in fashion in Europe through the 1600s and 1700s. Players tried to avoid tricks and certain counting cards. A player could also try to win every trick, which was called making the reversis. That bold move turned the game round again, much like shooting the moon does in Hearts today.

Hearts itself turned up in the United States around 1880. An American rule book from 1887 said it had been played there for about five years. In that early game only the hearts counted. The queen of spades, worth 13, was added later in a version called Black Lady, and that is the game most people now simply call Hearts. In Britain a close relative is called Black Maria.

From the early 1990s a version of Hearts came free with Microsoft Windows, until Windows 8 left it out.

How to play Hearts

• Four players each get 13 cards. Every heart you take scores 1 point, and the queen of spades scores 13. Points are bad.
• Before each hand, everyone passes 3 cards: to the left, then to the right, then across the table. Every fourth hand there is no passing.
• Whoever holds the 2 of clubs leads it to the first trick. Everyone follows suit if they can. If you can’t follow, you may play any card.
• The highest card of the suit that was led wins the trick, and the winner leads next. There are no trumps.
• Hearts can’t be led until a heart has been played, unless you hold nothing else. Here, as in many versions of the game, nobody may play a heart or the queen of spades on the very first trick unless they have no other choice.
• Shooting the moon: take all 13 hearts and the queen of spades in one hand, and you score 0 while everyone else gets 26.
• The game ends when someone reaches 100 points. The lowest score wins. If two players tie for lowest, play one more hand.

Tips

Pass the trouble. The queen of spades is the first card to go, unless you hold four or more low spades to hide behind. The ace and king of spades come next, because they can catch the queen. High hearts are good to pass too.

Empty a short suit. If you have only two diamonds, passing them both means you can throw away a heart or the queen the first time diamonds are led.

Play just under. When a trick has points in it, play the highest card that still loses. Keep your very low cards for later, when you need a safe way out.

Go fishing for the queen. If you don’t hold the queen, ace or king of spades, lead low spades. Whoever has the queen may be forced to play it.

Stop a moon shot early. If one player has every point so far, take one heart yourself. A single point for you saves you 26.

Your turn

The cards are dealt at the top of this page. Sit down with the Snail, Ladybug and Caterpillar first, turn on the pass helper, and see how low you can keep your score.