The only card game where the whole object is to lose. Take as few points as you can — unless you decide to take all of them.
Take all twenty-six points — every heart and the queen — and the scoring flips over: you take zero, and everyone else takes 26. It is the most satisfying thing in the game and the most dangerous, because twenty-five points is not the moon. Twenty-five is just a very bad hand.
Which is why, when an opponent starts winning tricks they could easily have ducked, you should get nervous — and take a point on purpose, immediately, to break the run. A single heart, deliberately eaten, is cheap insurance against 26.
They aren't dealing randomly. When passing, each one counts its spade guards — the spades below the queen that it could duck under her with. Three or more, and it will happily keep the queen as a weapon. Fewer, and she goes straight into your hand.
In play they duck: given a choice, they'll throw the highest card that still loses the trick, shedding danger without taking points. And the moment one of them is void in the suit you led, they will find the queen of spades and give it to whoever is winning. That's you.
The rules and strategy shelf — how to count a cribbage hand, why more discs in Reversi means you're losing, and the FreeCell formula everybody gets wrong.
Four players, thirteen cards each. You pass three cards to an opponent, then play tricks — you must follow the suit that was led if you can. There are no trumps. Every heart you take costs one point and the queen of spades costs thirteen. The aim is to take as FEW points as possible, and the game ends when someone reaches 100 — at which point the player with the LOWEST score wins.
Taking every single point in the hand — all thirteen hearts and the queen of spades, twenty-six points in total. Instead of a catastrophe it becomes a triumph: you score zero and every other player takes 26 instead. It's the whole drama of hearts, and it's why you should be nervous when an opponent starts winning tricks they could have ducked. Twenty-five points, by the way, is not the moon. It's a disaster.
Hearts must be 'broken' before anyone can lead one — meaning a heart has to be discarded on some earlier trick first. Until that happens you must lead something else. The one exception: if hearts are literally all you have left, you may lead one.
Because nothing that scores may be played on the opening trick — no hearts, no queen. It stops the game being decided in ten seconds by whoever happens to be void in clubs. If your hand contains nothing but scoring cards, then you may play one, but that's rare.
Whoever holds the two of clubs, and they must lead exactly that card. It's the same every hand, so the opening is never a guess.
Usually — unless you're guarded. If you hold three or more spades BELOW the queen, you can safely duck under her when spades are led, and she's actually a weapon rather than a liability. With only one or two low spades, get rid of her; she'll be forced out and you'll eat thirteen points. The computer opponent here makes exactly that calculation.