Hearts Glossary

Jump to a term

Tap a term to jump to its definition:

Trick

A trick is one round of play where each player plays one card. The highest card of the led suit wins the trick, and the winner leads the next one.

In standard Hearts, you play 13 tricks per hand because everyone starts with 13 cards.

Learn more: How many cards are in Hearts? • Who leads the first trick?

Lead (leading a trick)

To lead is to play the first card in a trick. The suit of that card is the suit everyone must follow (if they can).

Learn more: Who leads the first trick in Hearts? • How do you break Hearts?

Follow suit

To follow suit means you must play a card of the suit that was led - if you have one. If you don’t have that suit, you’re “void” in it and may discard another suit.

Learn more: First trick rules and following suit

Void (voiding a suit)

A void means you have no cards in a particular suit. Being void is powerful because when that suit is led, you can discard a penalty card (like a heart or the Queen of Spades) instead.

Learn more: Strategy section (voiding suits) • Passing directions (setting up voids)

Passing (the pass)

At the start of most hands, you pass three cards to another player. The pass direction usually rotates: left, right, across, then no pass.

Learn more: Hearts passing directions

Breaking hearts

Hearts are considered broken once a heart has been played on a trick. Many rulesets restrict leading hearts until hearts are broken.

Learn more: How do you break Hearts?

Penalty points

In Hearts, you generally want to avoid taking tricks with penalty cards. In the common scoring system, each heart is 1 point and the Queen of Spades is 13 points.

Learn more: Hearts scoring rules • How many points is the Queen of Spades?

Queen of Spades (the “Black Lady”)

The Queen of Spades is the most dangerous single card in standard Hearts because it carries a large penalty (commonly 13 points).

Learn more: Queen of Spades value and avoidance

Shooting the moon

Shooting the moon is a high-risk play where one player tries to take all penalty cards in a single hand. Depending on rules, that player scores 0 and everyone else scores 26.

Learn more: What is shooting the moon in Hearts?

2 of Clubs (2♣)

Many rulesets start the first trick with the player who holds the 2 of Clubs. It’s a simple way to make the opening lead deterministic.

Learn more: Who leads the first trick (2♣ rule)?

Hand

A hand is the set of cards you’re dealt for one round of play. In standard four-player Hearts, every player is dealt 13 cards.

Learn more: Deck size, hand size, and 13 tricks

Game length

“Hearts game length” can mean one hand (13 tricks) or a full game to a target score (often 100 points). Duration varies based on player speed and rules.

Learn more: How long does a Hearts game take?

Skill vs luck

Hearts has luck (the deal), but strong play shows up over time through safer passing, better endgame decisions, and consistent risk control.

Learn more: Is Hearts skill or luck?

Win rate (percentage)

Your win rate is the percentage of games you win. In Hearts, short-term results can swing due to rare events like moon shots, so longer sample sizes are more meaningful.

Learn more: Hearts online win rate/percentage explained

No download (play in browser)

“No download” usually means you don’t need to install an app. You can play directly in your browser, though your browser still loads the site’s assets.

Learn more: Play Hearts online free without downloading

2 or 3 players (variants)

Standard Hearts is designed for four players. Two- and three-player variants exist, but they usually change the deal, add a dummy hand, or tweak passing.

Learn more: Can you play Hearts with 2 or 3 players?

Trump suit (not used in standard Hearts)

A trump suit is a suit that beats all other suits in many trick-taking games. In standard Hearts there is typically no trump suit - tricks are won by the highest card of the suit led.

See: Rules section (how tricks work)