Hearts Scoring
Hearts scoring is simple: each heart you take is 1 penalty point, the Queen of Spades is 13, and every other card is worth nothing. That puts exactly 26 points into every hand. Points are bad, the game ends when someone reaches 100, and the lowest total wins.
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One hand, from the pass to the score
The pass. It is the first hand, so cards go left. South holds the Q♠ with only the 8♠ beside her and passes her to West, along with two high hearts.
The play. West has the Queen and a short club suit. Once West runs out of clubs, the next club lead is the moment: East wins it with the K♣ and West drops the Q♠ on top. Later, East also wins a trick with two hearts in it. The other hearts get spread around: North takes four over the hand, South seven, West none.
The score. North 4 · East 15 (13 + 2) · South 7 · West 0. Total: 26.
South's pass got rid of the Queen but not the hearts, and seven points is still a heavy hand. East took 15 from two tricks. That is how most hands go: one player catches the Queen, and that one card decides who had the bad hand.
What each card is worth
| Card | Penalty |
|---|---|
| Each heart (13 of them) | 1 point each |
| Queen of Spades | 13 points |
| Every other card | 0 |
| Total in play each hand | 26 points |
The Queen of Spades is worth as much as all thirteen hearts together. One card carries half the hand's points, which is why the game is also called Black Lady and why so much of the play is about dodging her or delivering her to someone else.
The Queen alone. You take one trick all hand, and it holds the Queen of Spades and nothing else of value. You score 13 from a single trick. This is why a player will happily take three hearts to stay clear of her.
Shooting the moon
Take all thirteen hearts and the Queen of Spades in one hand and the scoring turns around: your three opponents take 26 points each and you take none. Lose a single heart to another player and you have taken 25 points with nothing to show for it.
Our tables add one rule. If adding +26 to the other three would end the game with someone else winning, the moon counts as −26 off the shooter's own score instead, so a successful moon can never cost the shooter the game. More on attempting and stopping it in Shoot the Moon in Hearts.
For defenders the rule is short: if one player has taken every heart so far, somebody has to take a heart. It costs that player one point and saves each defender 26.
How the game ends
Scores carry over from hand to hand. The game ends at the end of any hand in which a player has reached 100 points, and the player with the lowest total wins. If the lowest scores are tied, more hands are played until the tie breaks.
Nobody can take more than 26 points in a hand, so no game ends before the fourth hand. A bad hand, the Queen plus a few hearts, is 15 to 20 points: about a fifth of the way to 100.
Scoring rules that change from table to table
Is the jack of diamonds worth minus 10?
In Omnibus Hearts it is: whoever takes the J♦ (at some tables the 10♦) gets 10 points off. That brings the net points in a hand down to 16 and gives everyone a card worth chasing. Our tables don't play it; the J♦ scores nothing here.
What happens if you land on exactly 100?
Some players use a rule that a score of exactly 100 at the end of a hand drops back to 50 (or to zero). Our tables don't: 100 ends the game like any other score of 100 or more.
What is Spot Hearts?
Each heart costs its pip value, with the jack 11, queen 12, king 13 and ace 14, and the Q♠ costs 25. That is 129 points a hand, so games run to around 500 instead of 100. Our tables use the standard 1 point a heart.
The game on this site is classic Hearts: 1 a heart, 13 for the Queen, the moon with the rule above, and a game to 100. The full list of variants is on Hearts variants.
What the scoring tells you to do
- Fear the Queen more than the hearts. Taking three hearts to avoid her saves you ten points every time.
- Hold a low spade. If you hold the A♠ or K♠ with no small spades behind them, you will be forced to win the trick the Queen arrives on. Two or three low spades are the cheapest insurance in the game.
- A few hearts is fine. Two or three hearts in a hand is an ordinary result. Players who bend their whole hand to take zero often end up with the Queen.
- Count the hearts played. When all thirteen have gone, your remaining high cards are free to win tricks.
- Watch whoever is closest to 100. Late in a game, dumping points on that player ends the game while you are still ahead.
Keep reading
- How to Play Hearts: the full rules, starting with the pass.
- Hearts Strategy: passing, ducking and staying clear of the Queen.
- Hearts Variants: Omnibus, Black Maria, Spot Hearts and more.
- Shoot the Moon in Hearts: how to do it and how to stop it.
- Hearts for 2, 3, 5 and 6 Players: how the rules change when there are not four.