About Free Printable Hearts Rules
Free printable Hearts rules — pass rotation, the 2♣ lead, follow suit, hearts broken, the Queen of Spades scoring 13, and shooting the moon strategy.
How to use
- Choose your print style. Full color uses crimson accents and red-and-black suit symbols — great as a reference card to keep on the table. Ink-saver (black & white) switches to a grayscale layout for a cheap classroom or family-night handout.
- Choose whether to show diagrams. Diagrams on (the default) includes the penalty card chart, the passing rotation, a worked trick-taking example, and a shoot-the-moon before-and-after scoreboard. Switch to text only for the most compact, fewest-pages version.
- Read the preview to confirm the layout — rules flow from the objective and setup through the pass phase, the 2♣ opening lead, following suit, the first-trick restriction, hearts broken, the Queen of Spades, scoring, shooting the moon, and common variants.
- Click Print Rules to send it to your printer or save it as a PDF. The illustrated guide prints cleanly across one or two letter / A4 pages; choose text only for a one-page summary.
Frequently asked questions
How many players can play Hearts?
Hearts works for 3 to 6 players but is best with exactly 4 — the 52-card deck divides evenly into 13 cards each. For 3 players remove the 2♦; for 5 remove the 2♣ and 2♦; for 6 remove the 2♣, 3♣, 2♦, and 2♠. Everyone should always receive the same number of cards.
Why is the Queen of Spades worth 13 points?
The Queen of Spades — the 'Black Lady' — is worth 13 penalty points, the same as all 13 hearts combined. She is the single most dangerous card in the deck and can be played as a discard on any non-spade trick (except the first), making her a weapon to dump on an opponent. She can be led at any time without needing hearts to be broken.
What does 'shoot the moon' mean?
If one player captures ALL 13 hearts AND the Queen of Spades in a single hand (26 points), they have shot the moon. They then choose either to subtract 26 from their own score, or add 26 to every other player's score. It is high-risk: miss one penalty card and you take the full 26 yourself.
When can you lead a heart?
You may not lead a heart until hearts have been broken — meaning someone has played a heart (or, in some house rules, the Q♠) as a discard on an earlier trick. The only exception is when a player has nothing but hearts left in hand; then they may lead one.
How do you win Hearts?
Hearts is an evasion game: you want the lowest score. Keep playing hands until at least one player reaches or passes 100 points (the standard target). At that moment the game ends and the player with the lowest total wins.
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