Hearts!
Hearts is a fun trick-taking card game played by millions of
people for far too many hours in any given day. There exist many
variations of the game. The basic object is to take as few points
as possible, vwhere Hearts and the Queen of Spades add points to
your score.
This page serves multiple purposes. It lists the rules to my
favorite version of the game, it lists many variations on the rules
of hearts, it provides links to other hearts sites, it links to
various places to play on-line, it gives cursory reviews of several
downloadable hearts computer games, and mentions any other
resources on- or off-line I have found. If you know of a resource I
have missed, please email me at
<hearts@alanhoyle.com>.
Rather than thinking of this page as being prescriptive
of how hearts should be played, think of this as
descriptive of many different ways that it can be
played. I've made an attempt to document and/or link to as many
different hearts variations as I can find. A lot of people email me
asking for advice on rules, etc. I can't answer this sort of
question "officially" or definitively. I can only offer suggestions
as to what I prefer. Unless you're playing in tournaments, I
recommend that you find a variation you like and use that in your
play group.
Use these links to jump directly to: rules,
rule variations, strategy hints, hearts-specific links, general card game links, playing on the internet, software for home computers, and books and other off-line resources.
Special info for WebTV users
Rules for my favorite version of Hearts
(an Omnibus Hearts variant.)
the Players:
Four is optimal, but three and five are
acceptable.
the Deck:
A standard 52 card deck of cards without
jokers. Aces are high, twos are low with the standard order (i.e.
A, K, Q, J, 10, 9, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2).
the Goal:
To have the lowest point total when someone
else exceeds the predefined point total. Most games are played to
100 points.
the Deal:
A player is selected to deal. This person deals
out all the cards in the deck evenly to all the players. In
subsequent hands, the deal rotates to the left.In a four player
game, each player should have 13 cards. In three and 5 player
games, you may use the "Kitty" rules listed in the Variations or
remove a card or two (typically low clubs or diamonds) to make the
deal come out evenly.
the Pass:
After every hand is dealt, the players must
pass three cards from their hand to another player. In 4 player
Hearts, after the first deal, the players pass to the left. After
the second deal, they pass to the right. On the third deal, they
pass to the player across. After the fourth deal, the players do
not pass any cards from their hands (the "Hold" hand). On
subsequent deals, the deal continues in this pattern (e.g. left,
right, across, hold, left, right, ...). In more mathematical
terminology:
Pass (n = current deal) := |
{ left if (n mod 4) = 1,
right if (n mod 4) = 2,
across if (n mod 4) = 3,
no pass if (n mod 4) = 0 }
|
Passing algorithms for three and five player
games are left as an exercise for the reader.
the Play:
The first card played in the first trick is the
two of clubs. Play continues clockwise until everyone has played a
card. The highest ranked card in the initially lead suit wins the
trick. Unlike Spades, there is no trump suit in Hearts. Everyone
must follow suit if possible. If a player is out of cards in that
suit when her turn comes, she may play any card out of her hand.
Hearts may not be lead until a heart was played in a previous
trick. This is called "Breaking Hearts." However, if a player has
the lead and nothing but Hearts in hand, she may lead and break
Hearts. The player who won the last trick, leads the first card in
the next one. Once a trick has been played, anyone may look at the
cards until cards are played for the next trick, so pay attention.
Play continues until all players are out of cards.
the Score:
Under most circumstances, each heart taken adds
1 point to a player's score. Also the Queen of Spades (often called
the "Black Lady") adds 13 points to a player's score. The Jack of
Diamonds gives the person who takes it -10 points. However, if a
player takes all 13 Hearts and the Queen of Spades, that player has
"Shot the Moon," and may either subtract 26 points from her score
or add 26 to all opposing players' scores.
The Jack of diamonds is not required to Shoot
the Moon.
the Significant Cards:
|
First card lead on the first trick. |
|
Each adds one point to your score. |
|
Adds 13 points to your score. |
|
Subtracts 10 points from your score. |
That's it for the rules I prefer to use. Now let's move on
to:
some Variations:
- Individual card variants:
- The 10 of Clubs doubles the value of the current hand for
whoever takes it, e.g. if you took the 10 of clubs and 4 Hearts,
you'd get 8 added to your score.
- The Ace of Hearts counts 5 points, not 1.
- The Ten of Diamonds counts -10 instead of the Jack.
- The Jack (or Ten) of Diamonds is required to Shoot the
Moon.
- Neither the Jack nor the Ten of Diamonds have special
properties. Note: I personally prefer the Jack of diamonds
rule. It gives every suit should have a special property. Clubs are
always played first, Hearts give points, Spades have the Queen, so
Diamonds should have the Jack. Some disagree on this issue. Tournaments
tend to play without the Jack. Games that do use the Jack
(or 10) of Diamonds rule are called Omnibus
hearts.
- The Queen of Spades counts 5 points, not 13.
- The Queen of Spades has no special properties at all. Games
that do use the Queen are called Black Lady
hearts.
- Add a blank card to the deck and whomever is dealt it can play
it at any time. It counts no points, but the player who plays it
cannot win that trick. If it is the initial lead in the trick, the
next player's card would determine the suit for that trick. See
Pete's National Guard
variant for more information. If you don't have any blank
cards, a Joker would suffice.
- Spot hearts: the points given by each heart
are based on the value of the card. e.g. the 2 gives two points, 10
gives 10, etc. Ace, King, Queen, and Jack give 1, 13, 12, and 11
points respectively.
- Play variants:
- Players are not allow point cards to be played on the first
trick (i.e. no "bleeding" on the first trick).
- Playing the Queen of Spades also breaks Hearts.
- If hearts have not been broken and the player with the lead has
only the Queen of Spades and Hearts remaining in hand, that player
may announce this fact and play any card from their hand.
- On the first trick, the player to the left of the dealer may
lead any card. (Except any Hearts, unless they have all 13 of
them)
- "Kitty" variants:
- If the cards do not come out evenly (e.g. with three or five
players) the remaining cards are placed face down in the middle of
the table as a "kitty." Any points in the kitty count in the player
who takes final tally at the end of the hand. The kitty is taken by
the person who takes the first trick.
- There are several ways to handle who can look at the kitty. It
may be placed face up so everyone can see the contents before it
gets taken, the contents may be revealed to everyone after the
first trick, the contents may only be viewed by the person who
takes it (to give incentive for taking the first trick), or the
contents may be secret for the entire hand.
- If people want a kitty in a four player game, a four card kitty
and 12 card hands may be used instead of having 13 card hands.
- Alternatives to the "Kitty" in 3 or 5 player
games:
In 3 and 5 player games, the number of cards dealt won't deal
out evenly so you nead to deal with this..
- In a 3 player game remove the 3 of Clubs to give a 51 card
deck.
- In a 5 player game, remove the 3 of Clubs and the 2 of Diamonds
to give a 50 card deck.
- Deal out the extra cards to players and allow the player with
them to play an additional card on the first trick. Most often,
this will be an additional Club.
- Hand scoring variants:
- If a player ends a hand at exactly 100 (or whatever the preset
limit for losing is) they divide their score in half.
- Players who take no tricks in a round get -5 points (for doing
so well).
- Players who take no tricks in a round get +10 points (for being
such a wimp).
- "Shooting the Sun" is taking all the tricks. The scoring is
treated the same as "Shooting the Moon" except 52 points are
distributed.
- Passing variants:
- The "scatter" pass where you pass 1 card to each other player.
This is typically played after the "across" pass.
- The "smoosh" or "shuffle" pass where each player puts 3 cards
into the middle of the table, these cards are shuffled, and redealt
to the players.
- Richard Tinkelenberg's "House
Rules" allows the dealer to call the pass and has some pretty
fancy passing rules.
- More complete variants:
- Dirty Nasty Filthy Hearts
(pronounced: dut-ty nah-tay fil-thay) thanks to Shiva Ctylyctyc
<richardb@pcdocs.com>. This game has a complete
vocabulary associated with it, see the
original email that describes it.
- Black Maria is a
hearts variant contributed by Chris Simmons
<cps102@york.ac.uk>
- The Ricketts Hovse
variant. (Culled from the Google cache after it dissappeared from
the web.)
- Gongzhu is a Chinese
variant. The name means "Reveal the Pig" in english.
- Pete's National Guard
variant is straightforward, but also interesting.
-
White Boy Bob, a 3 player/4 hand variant.
- Hearts++
makes diamonds a point-suit, significantly modifies passing, and
adds several additional "shoot the moon" possibilities.
- There are many other variations of hearts, including two deck
versions like Cancelation Hearts and other scoring systems like
Spot Hearts. Check out some of the other hearts sites linked to
below for more information.
- Renegs and Misdeals
I asked people who read this page to contribute their rules for
how to handle misdeals and reneging. These rules seem to vary
wildly depending on the seriousness of the game. Here are some of
their suggestions:
- Misdeals in hearts aren't like those in Spades: where a player
can declare a misdeal because of an unplayable hand. They're
typically the result of sloppy dealing (cards flipping
accidently/etc.) or similar problems. In casual games reshuffling
and redeal the cards is the normal course of action. In more
serious games, the deal may rotate.
- The most common punishment for a renegs in more serious games
seems to be assigning all 26 points to the offending player. (I.e.
opposite of Shooting the Moon).
- In Scarne on Cards, he suggests the penalty of 10 points
per opponent in the game. In a standard 4 player game, this would
mean the offending player gets 30 points, while others take
zero.
- The most interesting suggested punishment for renegs I heard was:
"...Anything from a slammed drink to a naked run around
campus...."
some Strategy:
There is are not many sites which helpful
give strategic advice. Right now, the best advice I can give is to
play, play, play. If you're looking for "expert" advice, there is
little information on the web at present, but it is increasing.
This
page had the most I'm aware of, but is now defunct. I managed
to save a copy of it from
the WayBack machine. Also,
Comment
gagnerà la Dame de Pique has advice if you can read
French. Other than than, the best source for info is below. The
only other resources I'm aware of are the books
listed below, in particular the Andrews one.
I've also added this information to a page in my Wiki: HeartsStrategy. Feel
free to add advice if you'd like to.
- Try to remember all the cards that have been played. With
practice this becomes automatic and you won't have to think about
it.
- Think about what you pass people. Are you vulnerable to taking
the Queen? Do you have anything to stop someone from Shooting the
Moon? Can you void yourself in a suit and protect yourself from
taking too many point cards?
- Probably the thing most overlooked by beginners is to pay
attention to what your opponents pass you. You can infer much about
their hand and about what their strategy for this round is going to
be. Something else that many beginners overlook is trying to go
void in suits to enable playing point cards easier and sooner.
- Long suits make it much easier to Shoot the Moon.
- The following advice was contributed by jaysinaz@earthlink.net:
(paraphrased) Cover your pass.
"I've always been taught that covering your pass is the
FIRST rule of hearts. If you don't have a heart to pass then you're
responsible to "hit" another player (not the player you passed to)
with a heart. Once you do, the responsibility now changes hands to
the guy that passed to the man you just gave a heart to...get the
idea? Now if you didn't pass a heart and were not passed a heart
then there isn't much you can do. If I had the 2 5 9 and Jack of
hearts I would pass the 9. That way if hearts get broken on the guy
I passed to, I know he isn't going to run them (shoot the moon)
because I passed him the 9, and I can cover it with my Jack. Now if
Hearts aren't broken on my man, then I don't have to cover the
heart I just passed."
"As far as strategy goes, my theory is pray for good cards, know
how to count (all the suits) and take a point or two early to avoid
taking a [explitive deleted] load later!"
Mike Bolan had this comment
about jaysinaz's hint.
my Favorite Hand Ever:
After the pass, my hand consisted of: King and Queen of Hearts with
Ace, King, Queen, Jack, 10, 9, 8, 7, 5, 3, and 2 of Spades. I
sloughed low spades until the person across from me led the 4 of
spades. The person to my right played the Ace of Hearts, I took
every remaining trick, and shot the moon.
Other sites of interest to Hearts players.
All of these worked at some point in the past, but may be out
of date at present.
-
Other Hearts specific sites:
- Dave
Barker's Hearts Page is another good rules and
variants page.
- Hearts -
Strategy Guide by Bavo Bruylandt was the first page
I've seen with strategic advice. It was a pretty good resource if
you could stand all the banner ads. Unfortunately, it appears not
to exist anymore. I saved a copy of it from the WayBack machine.
- Comment
gagnerà la Dame de Pique (Trans: How to win in
Hearts) is a site in French with what seems to be good advice on
hearts strategy. (As much as I can gather with my limited ability
in French.)
-
Mindzine - Hearts gives the most common
tournament rules for Hearts. This page was written by Joe Andrews
of Win At Hearts fame (see the non-web
resources for more details on that book).
- Hearts -
Tips and Strategies by Joe Andrews is on the MSN
gaming zone. It's a good resource, but it has a serious shortcoming
in that (as of 12 July 2002) you can only access it by using one of
an extremely short list of Microsoft-approved browsers. Since I
don't use any of them by habit, I can't make it to this site on a
regular basis.
- This Caltech Hearts
variant adds a couple rules to the game and expands on
a few themes in Hearts. The original url: http://www.gg.caltech.edu/~presto/hearts.html
appears to be broken.
- mgoodnight's
hearts page is another page with basic rules and
variations.
-
White Boy Bob, a 3 player/4 hand variant.
- Half Hour
Hearts describes a variation for a "half-hour
lunchtime Hearts game."
-
Valentine Hearts is another interesting
variation.
- Dirty Nasty Filthy
Hearts as described above.
- Black
Maria is a hearts variant contributed by Chris Simmons
<cps102@york.ac.uk>
- Hearts++
makes diamonds a point-suit, significantly modifies passing, and
adds several additional "shoot the moon" possibilities.
- IncreduHearts
is a hearts variation documented by Charlie Register
<charlie@duke.edu>. It's a Omnibus Hearts
variant which uses two decks and is designed for larger groups of
people. Another noteworthy aspect is that only a fraction of the
total number of hearts is required to shoot the moon instead of all
of them. (18 of 26).
- Gongzhu
is a Chinese variation on Hearts. The page is in Chinese and I've
had little success with running it through Babelfish. Here is a link to the main home page of Zhang
Zhengzheng <zzz_cfcc@sina.com>. Another
version of the rules can be found at John Pagat's Card Games
site. Someone else sent me an english version of the rules.
- !BlackjackGambling.com
has a section about hearts strategy.
- Hearts
Variations Checklist by Steffan O'Sullivan is a good
resource and has something that I've tried to do: A checklist of
what you need to know before you play hearts with a new gaming
group.
-
Uno Hearts® by Mattel is a hearts-derivitive game by
the people who brought you Uno® and Barbie®. The Rules of Uno
Hearts were available at the link in this sentence, but Mattel
forced them offline. Rumor has it that the game is currently out of
print.
-
General Card info sites which mention
Hearts
- Card Games
by John Pagat has information and rules for many card games from
around the world. It is a tremendous resource for any card
player.
- The United
States Playing Card Company, a playing card
manufacturer, lists rules to many card games. Here is a direct link
to their Hearts and
Other Trick-Taking Games rules page.
- rec.games.playing-cards
is a good place to find out info about card games in general. I
read often and occasionally post.
- Hay's Rule
Book John Hay's "general rules" of some card
games.
- Classic
Tourneys is "dedicated to hosting live events based on
the classic games we all love." They claim to serve as a
replacement for the now defunct International Hearts &
Spades Players' Association.
- Classic
Hearts had the "First Annual Classic Hearts
International Convention" in New Orleans, Louisiana, USA on the
first through fourth of March 2001.
- The
House of Cards - Hearts Info is another good site to
find hearts links.
- cardgames.start4all.com
is a page with links to many card game sites. It does not add
content of its own, but might provide utility as a starting point
for other research.
-
WannaLearn.com is
a portal which purports to link to "The best free, family-safe,
online tutorials, guides and instructionally oriented Websites on
the Net!" I include them because they include me. They don't link
to any hearts site that I don't already link to, but if you're
looking for other resources....
- Playing Hearts on the Internet
Note for WebTV
TM users: At present, most of
the hearts sites where people play online require Java or a
platform specific software download. Until WebTV supports Java or
another site uses a "server-side" implementation of Hearts, it is
not possible to play hearts with your internet
connection. The only exception I've ever been aware of was
Epsylon
Games which does not exist anymore (the old URI now links to an adult site).
(listed in alphabetical order)
- Alley Katz
Den provides a "backdoor" into the Yahoo and Pogo game
sites.
- EA.com
has an online hearts site. I have not tried it as
they limit their service to certain operating systems.
[Microsoft Windows
required]
- E-HeartsMaster.com
is an online hearts site. It appears to be an extension of a bridge
site. I have not tried it as they limit their service to certain
operating systems.
[Microsoft
Windows required]
- Excite Classic
Games, formerly WebDeck, formerly WebHearts.
[Browser with Java
required]
- Funcom is
another place to play Hearts. They have features like player
ratings and a good Java interface, etc.
[Browser with Java required]
- GameDesire is
another place to play Hearts. I haven't tested it out as it requires creating a login.
[Login required, other requirements unknown]
- Microsoft's Internet
Gaming Zone has software to play Hearts online. I
haven't tried it yet. Their lack of support for other operating
systems is quite disappointing.
[Microsoft Windows
required]
- IPLAY.NET
has several card games on its site, Hearts being one of
them. It looks OK, but I haven't tried it yet.
[Software download required]
[Windows 95 or NT required]
- Mystic Island
Gaming park is a "friendly family" site with regularly
scheduled tournaments.
[Software download required]
[Windows 95 or NT required]
- Nova
Hearts is a basic java implementation of hearts.
Coincidently, it uses the same card images I use. as far as I can
tell, this is a purely non-commercial site.
[Browser with Java
required]
- Pogo is
another internet games site.
[Browser with Java
required]
- 4v4.se/spel is a
hearts site in Swedish. Hearts is "Hjärter" and you start
playing at "nybörjare" (beginner) level. You have to register
for a free account to keep track of your score. Every player has a
ranking number.
- Uproar.com has
"Hearts by Hoyle" on their site. I am not related except by name
with their site.
[Browser with Java
required]
- Yahoo
Games is a popular site which has player rankings and
fairly competitive play.
[Browser with Java
required]
PaidToPlayHearts
has a links to a couple of hearts sites but primarily seems to be a
reference for putting advertising on your screen while you surf
and/or play hearts online. It doesn't really fit into my list of
informational sites, but you also can't play hearts on the
site.
-
Freeware, Shareware, and Commercial Hearts
programs
(listed in alphabetical order)
- 100% Free
Hearts by DreamQuest
Software is a freeware program. I found it on CNet's Downloads.com
[Win95/NT/ME/XP
required]
- Championship
Hearts by DreamQuest
Software is the most cross platform game I've found, with versions
available for most PCs and PDAs. I've tried the Palm OS version of it.
It supports many options and variations, has good graphics and decent
animation, and on-line play. Unfortunately, play is quite slow on my
Palm, and it has a relatively large memory footprint (366K for the
application, 60K for a shared library). I haven't had a chance to
play it on a PC yet.
[Palm OS, PocketPC, Macintosh,
or Win95/NT/ME/XP required]
- Hardwood
Hearts is a commercial hearts program from Silvercreek Interactive. You can
download a demo version from their site. I helped a little with
beta testing the product. It has the best interface I've seen in a
hearts program to date, and the graphics and animation are superb,
but might require a bit of extra processor speed to run well. It
also allows networked play via the internet. It seems to be an
excellent program.
[Win95 or WinNT
required]
- 3d Hearts
Deluxe by Freeverse Software is a Macintosh
and Windows version of Hearts. It is graphically and sonicly
impressive with animated and talking characters. The user interface
was is intuitive, if a bit cartoony, and the play was pretty good.
It also allows you to select many different rules variations and
the registered version has many different characters to play
against. The unregistered version opponents are pretty easy to
beat, but it gives you a good impression of the game.
[Win95, WinNT, or
Macintosh]
- Hearts for
PalmPilot by Dave Mayes is a freeware
version of Hearts for the Palm OS devices. It uses a fairly
standard version of the rules, with relatively few options for
variants. The opponents occasionally make strategic errors, and it
doesn't have many options for rules variations, but it is a good
program, if only for the fact that it allows you play hearts
anywhere and at any time. One nice feature is that it keeps track
of both the score for the current round and the number of games
each of your opponents have won. This program conflicts with both
the StandAlone and LeoSolutions hearts programs and cannot be
installed simultaneously with them.
[Palm OS compatible
device]
- Hearts
by Leo Singleton is a
freeware version of Hearts for the Palm OS devices. It uses a
fairly standard version of the rules, but has no options for rules
variations. It plays an OK game and has good animations, graphics,
and is the only freeware color hearts game I'm aware of. It doesn't
keep track of games won and cannot be installed simultaneously with
David Mayes' program.
[Palm OS compatible
device]
- Hearts for Palm
OS by Stand
Alone is a shareware hearts program for Palm OS devices. It
supports more variations than Dave Mayes's GPL/free program, and
has support for color devices. It has a serious problem in that it
conflicts with Dave Mayes program at installation (i.e. it replaces
it by default). It also has an annoyingly short 30 day evaluation
period which cannot be restarted by reinstalling the software. I
can't comment on its playing ability, as I am no longer able to
play it on my Palm. Also, it's rather expensive at $15 for a single
game, but it might be worth it to some.
[Palm OS compatible
device]
- Magic Dogs
Hearts by Handmark is a version of Hearts for
the Palm OS devices. A version of it comes on the Palm Essentials
CD packed with the Palm Tungsten T. It supports 8 different
versions of the rules, plays an OK game and has excellent animation
and supports hires graphics. It also supports multiplayer games
either through the network or via Bluetooth. It's got a pretty big
memory footprint: ~200Kb for the MagicDogs launcher and another
130K for the Hearts application itself.
[Palm OS compatible
device]
- Hearts
for Windows by Paul Pedriana. This is the
version of Hearts I had on my Win 3.1 machine, but I haven't used
it in a long while. It has many options, quite a few rules
variations, and plays well. It is pretty old nowadays, but if
you're using an older PC, I'd still recommend it.
[Win 3.x]
- MVP Hearts for
Windows by MVP
Software is a shareware version of hearts.
[Win95 or WinNT
required]
- TurboHearts is a
commercial hearts program from Interactive Systems Inc. They were
kind enough to provide me with a copy to evaluate. You can see the
basic interface on their web site and it works well. While they
don't provide much in the way of rules variations, they provide
much help for players. You can get hints almost anytime, including
a "value" for passing or playing cards, sort of like "hints" that
chess programs often give. I presume the reason for lack of rules
variations is to make those hints more accurate. Two especially
interesting features are the "replay" feature which allows you to
redeal the same hand and the "setup" which allows you to deal
whatever hand you want. It plays a pretty good game and would
probably be very good for practicing for tournaments.
[Win95 or WinNT
required]
- Note: there is also a version of hearts that
ships with some versions of Microsoft Windows. In my opinion, any
of these other programs are superior to that one.
- Non-web resources
- Win At Hearts by Joseph Andrews is a recent book about
hearts. I own it and it seemed pretty good, but I haven't give it
more than a cursory read. It is still in print, so most bookstores
should be able to order it for you. I got my copy from Amazon.
ISBN 1566251109
- Out of print books:
Foster:
Foster on Hearts. New York:
F.A. Stokes, 1895.
Phillips, B.:
The Game of Hearts. New York Excelsior,
1886.
Cady, A.:
Hearts. New York: American Sports, 1896.
(Thanks to Kurt Klappenbach
<amibach@worldnet.att.net> for this info)
- Hearts hand-held game:
Several manufacturers have produced hand-held LCD hearts games in
the past. These days, however, they are nigh impossible to find and I
am unaware of any current sources for the devices. To reiterate:
I do not know where any are available for
purchase. I cannot help you find one for purchase.
As an alternative to a dedicated, hearts-only device, I highly
recommend purchasing an inexpensive Palm and downloading one of the Palm OS
programs. Palms are smaller, more functional, and useful than the
dedicated games. In addition, the user interface for the Palm hearts
programs are far superior and there are thousands of other programs
(games, utilities, etc.) available for the Palm, many of them free or
for a nominal fee.
For a specific example, according to the rec.games.video.classic
Handheld Games FAQ (© Clinton R. Dyer, version 12.5, 4 Jan
1998) Radica Games made
one at some point in the past.
Here is the relevant entry:
Hearts (19??, Radica) #3661; ??; lcd; 1P ;
CS
This means:
Game name: Hearts
First manufactured in 19?? by Radica
product #3661
batteries required: Unknown
Screen type: LCD
Number of players: 1
Availability: Currently Selling
It is not listed in Radica's on-line catalog, and until June 2001,
I had never seen one, and I have not been able to find one for sale
anywhere. I tried contacting Radica about it, but they never responded
to provide me with information. In 2001, someone sent me a link to a
company that still had them in stock and I now own one. I've checked
back and they are no longer in stock. I'll get some pictures of it and
provide a comparison between it and the other one I own
eventually.
Other companies also made hand-held hearts games. They are
apparently no longer being made. My parents bought me one at a
discount/remainder store. I'll post more details about it soon.
Credits
- To CTY where I first learned to play Hearts. (Lancaster '88,
2nd session)
- To Ms. Zinkam's Precalculus class where we played many days.
(Lafayette HS in Williamsburg, VA 1989-1990)
- To John Hay <jahay@hcc-uky.campus.mci.net>
who contributed some Hearts variations and is writing a book about
card games.
- To Oxymoron <oxymoron@waste.org> for the
card images.
Check out Oxy's Egyptian
RatScrew page, another of my favorite card games.
- To everyone else who has asked me a question or contributed to
this page.
Rules, rule
variations, limited strategy hints,
hearts-specific links, general card game links, playing on the internet, WebTV
specific info, software for home
computers, and books and other off-line
resources.
Alan Hoyle's Home
Page... Alan Hoyle's 6 7 8 9 10
Page...
© Alan Hoyle
<hearts@alanhoyle.com>
Problems? Omissions? Suggestions? Stupidly grammatical errors?
Tyops? ;-) Please let me know.
Last update: $Id: hearts.html,v 1.10 2005/05/09 16:28:41 alanh Exp $
Originally created: Fall 1994.
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons
License.