Hearts
Gong ZhuRules summary
Goal
Avoid scoring points. The game ends after the round in which a player reaches 100 points or more, and the player with the lowest score wins.
Cards
Use a standard 52-card deck without Jokers. With 3 players, take out the 2♣, leaving 51 cards.
Ranking
In each suit the Ace is highest and the 2 is lowest. There’s no trump suit.
Starting hand
Deal out all the cards. With 4 players everyone gets 13, and with 3 players everyone gets 17.
Play
- Pass 3 cards. Every player chooses 3 cards to pass, and nobody looks at the cards they receive until everybody has chosen. In the first round everybody passes to the left, in the second to the right, and in the third across the table. The fourth round is a hold round with no pass, and then the cycle starts again. With 3 players there’s no pass across, so the third round is the hold round.
- The 2♣ leads. Whoever holds the 2♣ after the pass must lead it to the first trick. With 3 players the 2♣ is out, so the 3♣ leads instead.
- Follow suit if you can. Play goes to the left. If you have no card of the suit led, play any card. That includes a heart or the Q♠, even on the first trick.
- The highest card of the suit led takes the trick. Whoever takes it leads the next trick and can lead any card, a heart included.
- Play until every card has been played. Then score the round and deal the next one.
Scoring
At the end of each round, count the points in the tricks you took and add them to your score.
| Card | Points |
|---|---|
| Each ♥ | 1 |
| The Q♠ | 13 |
| Every other card | 0 |
| All 13 ♥ and the Q♠ | −26 |
Taking all 13 hearts and the Q♠ in one round is shooting the moon. Instead of scoring 26, you take 26 off your own score, and every other player scores 0 for the round. A score can go below 0. When the game ends, players tied for the lowest score share the win.
Playing with your own deck
You need paper and a pencil to keep score. Write one numbered line for each round, with every player’s points for that round and their new total.
How this version differs
- Hearts can be led at any time after the first trick. The published rules forbid leading a heart until a heart has been played to an earlier trick, unless your hand holds nothing but hearts.
- Shooting the moon always takes 26 off your own score. The published rules let the shooter choose instead to add 26 to every other player’s score.
Strategy tips
- The Q♠ is 13 of the 26 points in the round. If you don’t hold her, force spade leads until she falls. If you do, keep low spades to duck with.
- Play against 100, not for rounds. Reaching 100 ends the match and the lowest score wins, so a 5-point round when the leader takes 8 is a good round. Late on, feed the player closest to 100.
- The A♠ and K♠ are liabilities, not winners. They win every spade lead they meet, and one of those tricks has the Queen in it. They’re safe only behind small spades to duck with.
- Pass what makes you dangerous. High spades with no low ones go first, then the top of a short suit to make a void you can throw the Queen or a heart through. Keep your low clubs and diamonds to duck with.
- A heart can be led from the second trick. There’s no waiting for hearts to be broken, so the round is dangerous immediately and a void is worth more than usual.
- Leading is what costs you. Winning a trick means leading the next one into unknown hands, so keep the lowest card of two or three suits for the end of the round, when everybody’s remaining cards are high.
- Watch for a moon before it happens. A player who has taken every heart so far is going for all 26, and the whole 26 comes off their score instead of going on to it. Taking one cheap heart yourself breaks it.