The goal

Take as few points as you can. Every heart you win is 1 point. The Queen of Spades is 13 points. When someone reaches the match target (100, or 50 in a quick match), the player with the lowest score wins.

A hand

• Everyone gets 13 cards.
• Pass: pick 3 cards to give away. The direction turns each hand: left, right, across, then a keep hand with no pass.
• Whoever has the 2 of clubs plays it to start the first trick.
• Going around, everyone plays one card. You must follow suit (play the same suit that was led) if you can. If you can't, play anything.
• The highest card of the suit that was led wins the trick. Aces are high. There is no trump.
• The winner of a trick leads the next one.

Small rules that matter

• No points on the first trick: if you can't follow clubs, you can't throw a heart or the Queen (unless that's all you have).
• You can't lead a heart until a heart has been played on some earlier trick ("hearts are broken"), unless you only have hearts.

Shooting the moon

Win all 13 hearts and the Queen of Spades in one hand and you score 0 while every other player takes 26. Risky, but huge. Watch for the moon lantern: it lights up when one player has taken every point so far.

Tips

• Pass the Queen, Ace and King of Spades if you have few spades to hide them behind.
• Get rid of a whole suit early. Then you can throw your dangerous cards on other players.
• Play your highest card that still loses the trick.

Scores and daily deal

Match score: 100 for a win, plus 50, plus how far you finished under the other players' average (or minus how far over). Normal counts x1.5 and Hard x2. The Daily Deal is three hands everyone plays with the same cards: you start with 78 and lose a point for each point you take. Shooting the moon is worth a 20 point bonus.