How to play
- The deal. Four players, one deck of 52 cards, aces high. Everyone gets 13 cards. Each deal is a hand, and a game has as many hands as it needs.
- The pass. Before the play, everyone picks 3 cards and passes them at the same time: to the left in the first hand, to the right in the second, across in the third. The fourth hand has no pass, and then it starts again. You see the 3 cards you get only after all four have chosen.
- The tricks. Whoever holds the 2 of clubs leads it. Everyone then plays one card, going to the left. Follow the suit that was led if you can; if you cannot, play any card. The highest card of the led suit takes the trick, and its taker leads the next one. On the first trick nobody may throw away a heart or the Queen of spades, unless they hold nothing else.
- Leading hearts. You may not lead a heart until a heart has fallen on an earlier trick: then hearts are broken. A hand of nothing but hearts may lead one at any time. The Queen of spades does not break hearts.
- Points. After 13 tricks, every heart you took costs you 1 point and the Queen of spades costs 13. Points are bad.
- Shooting the moon. Take all 13 hearts and the Queen of spades in one hand and you score nothing, while every other player scores 26.
- The end. When a hand ends with someone at 100 points or more, the game is over. The lowest total wins; equal totals share the place.
What the cards cost
| You take | Points |
|---|---|
| Each heart | 1 point |
| The Queen of spades | 13 points |
| All 13 hearts and the Queen in one hand | 0 for you, 26 for every other player |
| Any other card | nothing |
At the online table
- Tap a card to lift it, then tap it again (or “Play”) to play it. Only the cards you may play look bright on your turn.
- To pass, tap 3 cards (they lift), then tap “Pass left”, “Pass right” or “Pass across”. The 3 cards you get keep a small brass tab for the rest of the hand.
- On a keyboard: Tab to your hand, the arrow keys move along it, Enter lifts and plays a card, P passes the 3 chosen cards, M turns the sound off.
- Each card has a 25-second timer and the pass has 30 seconds. If time runs out, the table plays a safe card (or a safe pass) for you.
- An empty seat is taken by a bot, always marked as a bot.
- Point at a card of your hand, the tricks a player took or the pass arrow, or hold a finger on it, to read what it is and why a card cannot be played now.
Why it is fair
A secret seed shuffles every deal of the game. You see its fingerprint when the game starts and the seed itself when it ends, so you can deal every hand again and check it. Verify a game.