Hearts is a classic four-player game using one standard deck of 52 cards.

The aim of the game is to score fewer points than your opponents. The winner of the game is the player whose score is lowest when any player exceeds 100 points.

At the end of each hand, points are scored by the number of Trick cards each player has collected. One point is awarded for every Heart collected, and 13 points are awarded for collecting the Queen of Spades.

If any player manages to collect all the Trick cards (13 Hearts and the Queen of Spades) they have ‘shot the moon’. They are awarded zero, while each of their opponents are awarded 26 points.

The dealer is initially chosen at random, and then moves clockwise round the table for subsequent rounds.

13 cards are dealt to each player.

Before each hand commences, every player must pass three cards to one of their opponents. In the first round, players pass left, then right, then across and in the fourth round no one passes. This repeats for the duration of the game.

Whoever is dealt the 2 of Clubs plays this card to start. Each player must play one card in a clockwise order, following suit where they can.

The winner of each trick is the player who plays the highest card matching the suit of the first player to play.

If you cannot follow suit you can play any card from your hand, except during the first round when you are not permitted to play a Trick card.

No player may lead with a Heart until the first Heart is played ('Hearts are broken').

At the end of each hand, the Trick cards each player has collected are presented and totalled.

The value of those Trick cards are added to each player's total score.

The aim is to be the player with the lowest score at the end of the game.

If a player wins all of the hearts and the queen of spades in one round, they have 'shot the moon' and their opponents receive 26 points each instead of them.

You may choose in the settings menu whether taking the Jack of Diamonds takes 10 points from the player's score.

You may choose in the settings menu whether Shooting the Moon adds 26 points to your opponents, removes 26 points from your score, or conditionally adds 26 to your opponents’ unless you would lose the game, in which case you would have 26 points removed from your score.

The game is over when the first player breaks 100 points. The winner is the player(s) with the lowest score at that point.

Classic Hearts:

Classic Hearts is the official 52 card version.

Small Hearts:

Small Hearts is a quicker 28 card version, where the 2 - 7 of each suit is removed from the deck before playing. It plays the same way as Classic Hearts, but the Queen of Spades is worth seven points, and bonus points for Shooting the Moon or collecting the Jack of Diamonds are halved.

Choose from the following settings (defaults shown in italics):

Sound: On, off.

Speed: Normal, fast.

Orientation: Portrait, landscape left, landscape right or landscape free.

Single click play: On, off.

AI level: Easy, hard.

Game type: Classic hearts, small hearts. Small hearts is played with a smaller deck of 28 cards, (2-7 removed from each suit).

Show round scores: Off, on. When you, it shows the total of the trick cards taken by each player during that hand.

Shooting the Moon: Conditionally add 26, always add 26 or always remove 26. This setting determines the bonus points applied or deducted if a player shoots the moon.

Jack of Diamonds rule: Off, or on. This setting determines whether winning the Jack of Diamonds deducts 10 points from your score.

Cards: Classic, coppercod or modern.

Deck: Choose from 18 different deck designs for coppercod, 16 for modern.

Mobile Cards: Off or on. Only available on phones.

Theme: Green, merlot, dark red, light blue, black, purple, teal, pink, orange or blue

Home screen:

From the home screen you can access the following options:

• Start new game
• Continue game: if there is a game in progress it can be continued
• Settings (cog icon, bottom left). Once open you can close it by tapping close or tapping > at the top right.
• Information (question mark icon, bottom right). Once open you can close it by tapping close or tapping > at the top right.
• Stats (trophy icon, top left)
• Sound: Tap the speaker icon at the top right of the home screen to toggle between sound on and off

Your cards are displayed face up at the bottom of the screen and your opponents’ cards are face down at the left, top and right. Your cards are ordered first by suit, then low to high from left to right. Your opponents’ cards are ordered at random.

During play, each player’s score for the game is shown in front of their hand. A green light is displayed next to the score of the player whose turn it is to act. The pass button is shown at appropriate points in the game when it is your turn to pass cards.

When it is your turn to act, tap on a card from your hand that you want to select, and then tap it again to play the card. You can change which cards are selected before playing or passing by tapping on other cards.

At the end of the hand each Trick card won by the players is displayed face up, as well as their total score for the game, after the first scoring is complete.

Thank you for playing Hearts!