Hearts Score Keeper
Deal in your table
Name your players once. Scores and standings update live as you enter each hand.
Deal in your table
Name your players once. Scores and standings update live as you enter each hand.
Deal every card out, 13 each with four players. Each hand starts with everyone passing three cards: to the left, to the right, across the table, then no pass on the fourth hand. The player holding the 2 of clubs leads it, and everyone must follow suit if they can.
Hearts can’t be led until a heart has been played, which is called “breaking” hearts. The winner of each trick collects any point cards in it and leads the next one. When all the tricks are played, count up the points each player took and enter them in Tallyhoo.
Hearts is designed for four players and a full 52-card deck. For other player counts, remove a few low cards so every player gets the same number of cards. Never remove a heart or the Q♠, so a hand still hands out 26 points.
3 players: remove the 2♦, leaving 51 cards and 17 each.
4 players: use the full deck, 13 cards each.
5 players: remove the 2♦ and 2♣, leaving 50 cards and 10 each.
6 players: remove the 2♦, 2♣, 3♦ and 3♣, leaving 48 cards and 8 each.
When the 2♣ is out of the deck, the player holding the lowest remaining club leads the first trick instead.
Hearts is a trick-taking game where you want to take as few points as possible. Every heart you capture is worth 1 point and the Queen of Spades is worth 13, so each hand hands out exactly 26 points. After every hand, add each player’s points to their running total. When someone reaches the target score, usually 100, the player with the lowest total wins.
If one player takes every heart and the Queen of Spades in a single hand, they shoot the moon. That player scores 0 and every other player takes 26 points. When it happens, tap the ☾ button next to the shooter’s name and Tallyhoo fills in the scores for you.
House rules differ from table to table. Some players count the Jack of Diamonds as −10 points, and some subtract 26 from the shooter’s score instead of adding 26 to everyone else when someone shoots the moon.