How to shoot the moon in Hearts

In Hearts you try to dodge every point, except when you take all of them. Shooting the moon is the biggest swing in the game. Here's how to spot a moon hand, play it, and stop one aimed at you.

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What shooting the moon means

Every heart you win in a trick is worth 1 point, and the Queen of Spades is worth 13, so there are 26 points in every hand. Normally you want as few as possible. But if one player takes all 13 hearts and the Queen of Spades in the same hand, the scoring flips: that player scores 0 and every other player takes 26.

Some tables play a variation where the shooter subtracts 26 from their own score instead. In Hearts Hollow the default is a common house rule we call Smart moon: the others take 26, unless that would end the match with someone else winning, in which case the shooter takes 26 off instead. You can switch to either plain version in Settings.

Which hands can shoot the moon

You need to win every trick that has a point in it. That's only realistic when you can take the lead and keep it. Look for:

Long, high suits. Something like A, K, Q, J and more in one suit. Once the others run out of that suit, every card you lead wins.
High hearts. The Ace, King and Queen of hearts, ideally with length behind them. Low hearts are a problem, because someone else can win a trick with a higher one.
The Queen of Spades, or the Ace and King of spades. You have to end up with the Queen somehow.
Few low cards you can't get rid of. Every low card is a trick you might lose.

A good rule of thumb: if you can't count at least eight or nine tricks you're sure to win, it isn't a moon hand. Most hands aren't, and that's fine.

Passing for a moon

When you pass three cards before the hand, a moon hand passes differently from a normal one. Instead of passing away your high cards, keep them and pass your low cards, especially low hearts and low cards in short suits. Each low card you pass is one less trick you might lose.

Be careful, though: on a keep hand, when nobody passes, you see your hand exactly as it will be played. On a passing hand you'll also receive three cards, and they may be the very low hearts you didn't want.

Playing the hand

Don't show it early. Win tricks with your long suits first. If you start grabbing hearts on trick two, everyone will see it coming.
Run your long suit. There's no trump in Hearts, so once the others are out of your strong suit, every card you lead in it wins.
Collect the Queen. Lead the Ace and King of spades if you hold them, or keep enough spades to win when she's played.
Run the hearts last. Once you hold the lead and the high hearts, lead them from the top.

The danger point is the first time someone else wins a trick with a heart in it. As soon as one point lands on another player, the moon is gone, and you're holding a lot of points. Know when to give up: if another player takes a heart, switch straight back to dumping and ducking.

How to stop a moon

Stopping a moon only takes one point. If one player is taking every trick with points in it, it's time to win a heart yourself, even though it costs you a point. One point is a lot better than 26.

Keep one high heart. Holding the Ace or King of hearts late in a hand is a cheap insurance policy against a moon.
Watch who has taken points. If all the points in a hand so far went to one player, assume they might be shooting.
Win a trick when it matters. It's tempting to duck everything, but one well timed winning heart breaks the run.

Hearts Hollow makes this easier with a moon lantern. It lights up when one player has taken every point so far in a hand. If it's lit for someone else, take a heart. On Normal and Hard, the critters you play against watch the lantern too, and they'll try to break your moon the same way.

Practise without the pressure

The best way to learn moon hands is to try a few and watch them fail. In Hearts Hollow, the Review button shows every trick so far, which cards are still out and which suits each player has run out of. After a hand it shows everyone's cards, so you can see exactly where a moon went wrong. Undo is there too, though a match where you used it isn't posted to the leaderboard.

The Daily Deal is three hands with the same cards for everyone, and a moon there is worth a 20 point bonus. For full rules and scoring, see our Hearts Hollow guide. If you like trick taking games, Spades Club and Euchre Lodge are close cousins.