How to Play Yahoo! Hearts

Hearts is a very popular, four-player card game that started in the mid-1700s in Spain. The object of the original game was to avoid taking any hearts during play. In the early 1900s, changes to Hearts made the game more challenging and popular. Players want to avoid taking hearts (one point per heart) and the queen of spades (13 points) to stay away from points.

Instructions

Difficulty: Moderately Easy

Things You’ll Need:

• Java-applet program
• Valid Yahoo! account

1. Find the Hearts game at Yahoo!! Games by going to the card game section and clicking the "view 20" words, expanding the number of games shown on the page (see Resources below). Scroll down and click the game name or the "Hearts" icon.
2. Create or enter your Yahoo! account id and password to go on to Yahoo! Hearts. Yahoo! keeps track of all of your Heart games and creates a rating for you.
3. Choose a game room to play Hearts in that closely matches your current level of play. Playing in intermediate and expert rooms, without a high rating, can make it difficult to find a table.
4. Pick the table you want to play at by clicking the "Join" button or create your own table by clicking the "Create Table" button on the left side of the window.
5. Start the game by clicking the "Start Game" button, and wait until all players have clicked into the game.
6. Look the cards over to find three cards to pass to your left (pass across, pass right and no pass on subsequent turns). The strategy of which cards to pass is up to each player, but keep in mind the object of the game is to avoid the hearts and the queen of spades during a hand (unless taking them all).
7. Play the two of clubs, if you have it, to start the hand.
8. Follow the suit of the cards being played on each turn. For example, the jack of spades is played first. If you have a spade in your hand, that must be played.
9. Dump hearts or the queen of spades when different players have won or will win the "trick" (four cards, one laid down by each player). You can play a heart or the queen of spades when you are out of the suit.
10. Continue playing hands until one of the four players gains 100 points.
11. Win Hearts at Yahoo! by having the lowest point total of the four players, when one player scores 100 or more points.

Tips & Warnings

• Watch for the passing characteristics of some player. If you know someone always passes high cards, play for it.
• Try to pass a high heart and a low heart on each pass.
• While you may be tempted to pass the queen of spades every time you have it, you can determine who will receive the 13 points by keeping it for the game if you have three or four other spades to provide cover.
• Go for the moon. The "shoot the moon" rule gives players the opportunity to take all of the hearts and the queen of spades during the game, removing 26 points from their scores.