Hearts Clash

The basics

Hearts is a four-player trick-taking game: you sit South against three computer opponents. Each hand lasts one deal of 13 cards. First pick three cards to pass: hand 1 passes to the left, hand 2 to the right, hand 3 across and hand 4 has no pass, then the cycle repeats. The holder of the two of clubs leads the first trick; after that the winner of a trick leads the next one. You must follow suit if you can. The highest card of the suit led wins the trick, and every heart in that trick scores 1 point for the winner while the queen of spades scores 13. Two restrictions matter: the first trick of a hand cannot contain a heart or the queen of spades unless that is all you hold, and you cannot lead a heart until a heart has been played on an earlier trick. Taking every heart and the queen of spades in one hand shoots the moon and gives the other three players 26 points each. The game ends when someone reaches 100 and the lowest score wins, so between the hands the table shows what each seat took. Hint suggests the card the computer would play, and a hand-by-hand scoreboard keeps the running totals.

Objective:

Finish with the fewest points. Every heart you take in a trick is 1 point and the queen of spades is 13. The first player to reach 100 points ends the game, and the lowest total wins.

Controls:

Tap or click a card to play it; during the pass, tap three cards and then Pass 3. Buttons: Hint, Rules and New game. Keyboard: 1-9 play that card from your hand, H shows a hint, R starts a new game. Every control is a 34px or larger tap target on touch screens.