Play Hearts Card Game Online
Hearts is one of the most famous trick-taking card games for 4 players. The goal of the game is to avoid penalty points at all costs.
Hearts is played with a 52 standard card deck. In each suit the cards ranking is the same – Aces are with the highest value, 2s are with the lowest.
All cards of the “Hearts” suit count for 1 penalty point each. Queen of Spades is a special card, and adds 13 penalty points to the score of the player who has it at end of the round. All other cards have no value when calculating the final score. There is no trump suit in the game.
For more information on how to play, please visit our rules page.
You can play Hearts online for free with thousands of other players. Choose a preferred game mode, and improve your skills.
Leaderboards by players and countries
Top countries
- 🇺🇸 United States
- 🇨🇦 Canada
- 🇬🇧 United Kingdom
- 🇩🇪 Germany
- 🇫🇷 France
- 🇹🇷 Turkey
- 🇮🇳 India
- 🇦🇺 Australia
- 🇵🇰 Pakistan
- 🇮🇹 Italy
Terms and slang in Hearts
Like any game that stood the test of time, Hearts has it’s own slang and terms, seasoned players are familiar with. For your convenience, we have compiled a list of the most common terminologies. We hope that this information will help you to train and play Hearts online.
💔 Breaking hearts
This term refers to discarding the first heart in the game, thus allowing Hearts to be led after that.
👑 Smoking out the queen
This particular situation is when a player begins with lower Spades trying to lure out the player holding the Queen of Spades.
🌑 Shooting the moon
Winning every penalty card, scoring 0 points and adding 26 to every opponent.
The term Slam the moon is also used for this.
Stopper
Blocking someone to Shoot the Moon. A high card taking the trick and preventing a given player to obtain all necessary cards for shooting the moon.
Slough
When it is not possible to follow the suit, and the player throws any other card. The players use undesirable cards to slough.
♦️ Painting the trick
Discarding a penalty card on a trick doesn’t start with a heart or a Queen of Spades.
Alternative Names of the game
Hearts card game is played worldwide and as such a famous game, it has different variations and names. Here are the most common alternative names of the game, as how some countries know and play it:
- In Australia it is called Rickety Kate.
- In Great Britain, they call it Black Maria. Dirty lady or Slippery Bitch are also popular.
- Dame de Pique is the name they use in French Canada.
- Played by slightly different rules, in China this game is known as Gong Zhu (Catch the pig).
Key options of the platform
- VIP Hearts is a cross-device platform. You can enjoy it with the same account on your phone, your desktop computer, or even your Smart TV.
- It is possible to download Hearts from the Appstore or Google Play or play directly in the browser without downloads or plugins. The gameplay runs smoothly on any resolution and device.
- The Hearts game works on a random card dealing principle with a real shuffling.
- Players can participate in weekly tournaments and rankings.
- The registered users receive daily rewards.
- All users can resume their games after connectivity issues.
- It is possible to play with the computer and practice for free.
- The players can use additional features to play with friends.
- For the VIP players, there are social options as presents, gifts, and emojis.
Interesting posts from our Official Blog
Topics include tips, strategies, patch notes, and facts from the world of trick-taking card games.
How to Win at Hearts
Hearts is a card game that requires strategy and skill. Whether you are playing online or with friends, you can learn how to win at hearts more often here.
Advanced Strategies in Hearts
Learn advanced strategies when it comes to passing cards, counting hands, and generally beating your opponents with style. Read a list of several strategies that will improve your game at Hearts card game.
Hearts Tips
In this article though, we will take a look at certain tips from players for specific situations. As it goes with every set of rules, every tip you read here has an exception and shouldn’t be trusted upon in 100% of the situations. So whenever you read “Always” or “Never” below, take it with a grain of salt.
OTHER POPULAR CARD GAMES
See also where to play card games online for free.