Hearts, Spades and Euchre online

Hearts: take as little as you can

In Hearts Hollow you play four-handed Hearts against a fox, an owl and a very nervous hedgehog. Every heart you take is a point and the Queen of Spades is 13, so the lowest score wins. Before each hand you pass three cards, left, then right, then across, then a hand with no pass. The 2 of clubs leads, you must follow suit, no points can fall on the first trick, and hearts can't be led until one has been played. Take all 13 hearts and the Queen in one hand and you shoot the moon: you score 0 and everyone else takes 26.

A classic match runs to 100 points and a quick match to 50. The Daily Deal is three hands with the same cards for everyone, starting from 78 points and losing one for every point you take.

Spades: bid it, then make it

Spades Club is partnership Spades on a rooftop. You and Juniper the cat play against Bix the raccoon and Otto the otter. Each team bids how many tricks it will take, spades are always trump, and you can't lead a spade until spades are broken. Make your bid and you score ten a trick plus one for each extra trick, but those extras are bags. Ten bags costs your team 100 points. Bidding nil is a promise to take no tricks yourself, worth 100 points if you pull it off and minus 100 if you don't. The bid box suggests a bid for you while you learn.

A full match goes to 500, a quick one to 300, and the Daily Deal is three hands with the same cards for everyone.

Euchre: five cards, two bowers

Euchre Lodge is partnership Euchre in a snowed-in cabin, with Hazel the moose as your partner. It uses 24 cards, five per player, and trump changes every hand. When a suit is trump, its jack (the right bower) is the top card and the other jack of the same color (the left bower) is next. The team that picks trump needs three tricks for a point and all five for a march worth two. Fall short and you're euchred, which gives the other team two. Go alone and march, and it's four. Games run to 10 points, or 5 in a quick match, and the Daily Deal is five hands.

Hints, difficulty and card backs

All three block illegal cards and tell you why, and a lightbulb button gives a hint when you're unsure. If you worry about misplays on a small screen, set Playing a card to Tap twice. Normal tables count 1.5 times on your match score and Hard tables double it. Ranks open new tables as you play, and the card backs you win are shared with every card game on the site, from our solitaire games to Cribbage Cabin and Gin Garden.

Questions