Learn The History of Hearts

Series Summary

Playing cards date back to ancient China, where they are believed to have originated, when paper currency was both the vehicle for the card games, and the bet. One popular card game that incorporates playing cards is Hearts. Also known as Black Lady, Chase the Lady, and Black Maria, Hearts is a card games based on trick-taking and trumps, where hearts are always trump. The distinguishing factor of hearts is that points are negative, which means that the lowest score win the game with each game ending after a player reaches one hundred points or a predetermined number of hands have been dealt.

In this free video series, our expert Joe Andrews will teach you how to play hearts. Joe will talk about why hearts is a unique card game, tell you about the history of hearts, and talk about hearts terminology. Joe will also teach you the rules of hearts, variations on the regular rules, and how to pass cards. Mr. Andrews will also talk about passing strategy and talk about the queen of spades and her importance. Finally, Joe will teach you about shooting the moon, how to lead, and ducking and dumping.

Video Transcript

"A brief history of Hearts. Hearts is a really unique card game. It is an individuals game and it really goes back to a game that was played in Spain about 1750 called Reverse' and Quinoles. The only reason I know about, I think Quinoles is a term used in horse racing. But actually, it was a game that was set up where the object was to avoid losing tricks. So you almost play in reverse. That's were the origin of the game, it was written about in the eighteen hundreds, came over to America about eighteen twenty, eighteen thirty. All though different forms it were played prior to that in the colonies. It's one of those great classic card games that is played by many people when they're children. They're games that are made for Hearts and they basically teach you the rudiments of the game. You can purchase these games, or you'll see them in kids games packs. I know Microsoft put them on their computers and so forth. The modern game of Hearts was established in the nineteen twenties and thirties where features such as the queen of spades, the evil lady. What have you, were added to the game and then shooting the moon became part of the game in the nineteen forties and fifties. So we have evolved to now is the game of Hearts, with the queen of spades as a bad card. Shooting the moon, the deuce of clubs opening lead and so forth. It's a great classic card game and it's about two hundred and fifty years old. "