History TabletopGame / Hearts

Originally popular only amongst persons of a military persuasion and [[CultClassic a few fanatical civilians]], the game quickly became first more and then less popular. In recent times it has experienced something of a revival, largely because UsefulNotes/{{Microsoft|Windows}} now installs an electronic version as standard on all of its operating systems. Hearts has a reputation for being very cutthroat, as you might expect for a game whose aim is basically trying to shovel off a bag of flaming crap on your opponents. The most basic variant of the game has players passing a certain number of cards (three in most four-player games) either left, right, or across before each hand, giving another chance to sink the knife in.

* AceOfSpades: By itself its not a penalty card, but it is a liability, because whoever leads a trick with it, or the King of Spades, is almost certain to win the ''dreaded'' Queen of Spades card. This means the player has to avoid playing these two cards at all costs, until they can safely get rid of them.

* CantKillYouStillNeedYou / EnemyMine: If one player is very close to losing, the players in second and third place will often try to make sure they don't take any points in order to build up the winning player's score.

* NoUnifiedRuleset: It's a traditional game with no official ruleset, though Omnibus Hearts codified several house rules, including the Queen of Spades as the 13-point penalty, the Jack of Diamonds as -10 points, Shoot the Moon, card passing, and opening with the 2 of clubs. The Microsoft game is basically Omnibus on the computer.

* ComebackMechanic: Some players use a HouseRule that makes the Jack of Diamonds ''subtract'' ten points from your score, potentially getting -10 points if you get it and nothing else. On one hand, a player who is in the 90s and thus has no pretty much no chance of winning otherwise is still in the game; however, it can potentially cause a player's score to go into the ''negatives.''

* NotQuiteDead: Your opponent can be on 99 points and you can still lose if he Shoots the Moon successfully a couple of times.

* HouseRules: There are many variants.
** "Left Right Across Keep": Before each hand, three cards are swapped to another player in the mentioned order (withheld on the fourth hand).
** The jack of diamonds (or sometimes the ten) is worth minus 10 points; anyone managing to Shoot the Moon ''and'' get the jack of diamonds gets his choice of whether to take a minus 36 to his score, a minus 10 to his score and plus 26 to everyone else, or a plus 36 to everyone else. Another is Shooting the Sun, in which you take every trick, which is worth twice as much but otherwise identical to Shooting the Moon. Even the queen of spades as a penalty card wasn't part of the original rules (it used to be that the ''only'' penalty cards were the hearts).
** Omnibus Hearts codified several house rules, including the Queen of Spades as the 13-point penalty, the Jack of Diamonds as -10 points, Shoot the Moon, card passing, and opening with the 2 of clubs. The Microsoft game is basically Omnibus on the computer.
** One such house rule acts as an ObviousRulePatch: if you shoot the moon, you can choose to subtract 26 points from your own score instead of adding 26 points to everyone else's score. This is to prevent a case where shooting the moon puts someone over 100 points, [[KingmakerScenario but the lowest score does not belong to the one who shot the moon]].
** Parker Brothers released a deck of cards called "Royal Hearts" that marked the 2 of Clubs as "Must lead first", used "Shoot the Moon"[[note]]but note that the alternate Queens could change the value of doing such[[/note]] and had 4 alternate Queen Cards which could be substituted for the standard Queen cards[[note]]what's more, you didn't have to use all 4-- as seen, using Queen of Spades and Queen of Hearts only would tend to speed games ''way'' up![[/note]]:
*** Queen of Spades, "Most Evil": Worth ''26'' points instead of 13 if taken!
*** Queen of Clubs, "Most Kind": Taking the Queen of Clubs and the Queen of Spades in the same trick let them cancel each other out (0 points for taking Spades);
*** Queen of Diamonds, "Best Friend": -10 points, basically standing in for the Jack of Diamonds (which is not a special card in this deck);
*** Queen of Hearts, "Broken Hearted": The person who takes the Queen of Hearts doubles the point score of all hearts they have taken (but not the Queen of Spades in either form). Yes, that means Shooting the Moon with this Queen and the Most Evil Queen of Spades is 52 points if you don't play with (or don't take) the Kind Queen of Clubs and the Best Friend Queen of Diamonds.

Originally popular only amongst persons of a military persuasion and [[CultClassic a few fanatical civilians]], the game quickly became first more and then less popular. In recent times it has experienced something of a revival, largely because UsefulNotes/{{Microsoft|Windows}} now installs an electronic version as standard on all of its operating systems. Hearts has a reputation for being very cutthroat, as you might expect for a game whose aim is basically trying to shovel off a bag of flaming crap on your opponents.

* BoringButPractical: Whoever has the two of clubs must [[NoYouGoFirst make the opening lead]] into the first trick. If HouseRules permits passing three cards onto your opponent on the left at the round's beginning, you'll want get rid of this card, so you're free to get rid of your highest club card thereafter with no penalty.

* NoYouGoFirst: Whoever has the two of clubs must make the opening lead into the first trick. Depending on HouseRules that permits passing three cards onto your opponent on the left, it's usually advisable to get rid of this card as it's a wasted turn otherwise.

* TheStrategist: To outlast your opponents with the fewest penalty points, a player is expected to become this for almost every single trick. If HouseRules permits passing 3 cards off, they may have to resist the temptation to purge their hand of any given suit they have the least number of. Especially if that suit is spades, because they could end up getting stuck with [[GodSaveUsFromTheQueen the Queen of Spades]] as their [[OhCrap only card]] of that suit and be unable to avoid winning her in a spade-leading trick. Another common tactic is to constantly lead with low numbered spades, in an attempt to "flush out" and safely avoid whoever has the Queen.

*** Queen of Hearts, "Broken Hearted": The person who takes the Queen of Hearts doubles the point score of all hearts they have taken (but not the Queen of Spades in either form).

** Parker Brothers released a deck of cards called "Royal Hearts" that marked the 2 of Clubs as "Must lead first", used "Shoot the Moon"[[note]]but note that the alternate Queens could change the value of doing such[[/note]] and had 4 alternate Queen Cards which could be substituted for the standard Queen cards:

** The Microsoft version popularised several House Rules, to the extent that many players think these are the original or "official" rules. These include passing cards to a different player each round (instead of always to the right), the holder of the two of clubs leading to the first trick, no scoring cards played on the first trick (unless scoring cards are all a player has), and of course Shooting the Moon.

A TrickTakinghCardGame, [[GenreBusting with a major quirk]]. As with most such games, the winner of the last trick puts down a card, and everyone else must put down a card of the same suit (unless he has none, in which case he puts down any card he wants) and the player with the highest card of the original suit wins. However, the number of tricks won is irrelevant, what matters is the cards you win. Every heart you win counts for one point, and the queen of spades (a.k.a. "The Black Lady", "Black Maria", or "[[NamesToRunAwayFromReallyFast Calamity Jane]]")[[note]]More obscene names exist.[[/note]] counts for 13 points. The first player to go over 100 points loses, and the player with the fewest points at this point wins. An extra quirk happens if one player manages to capture all the hearts AND the queen of spades, called "Shooting the Moon" -- each ''other'' player gets 26 points if this happens.

A trick-taking {{card game|s}}, [[GenreBusting with a major quirk]]. As with most such games, the winner of the last trick puts down a card, and everyone else must put down a card of the same suit (unless he has none, in which case he puts down any card he wants) and the player with the highest card of the original suit wins. However, the number of tricks won is irrelevant, what matters is the cards you win. Every heart you win counts for one point, and the queen of spades (a.k.a. "The Black Lady", "Black Maria", or "[[NamesToRunAwayFromReallyFast Calamity Jane]]")[[note]]More obscene names exist.[[/note]] counts for 13 points. The first player to go over 100 points loses, and the player with the fewest points at this point wins. An extra quirk happens if one player manages to capture all the hearts AND the queen of spades, called "Shooting the Moon" -- each ''other'' player gets 26 points if this happens.

* SpringtimeForHitler: An unsuccessful attempt to shoot the moon "awards" a large number of points to the losing player.

* {{Whammy}}: While the hearts certainly sting when you have to collect them, the queen of spades is ''definitely'' this trope, since it's the point value of all the heart cards totalled.

* ControllableHelplessness: You may have the means to easily shoot the moon, but having nearly every card from a suit does nothing for you, if you can't lead an opening trick to attempt it before hearts are played.

* AwesomeButImpractical: Shooting the moon is an alternate way to win a round. Achieved by essentially doing everything you don't want to normally do - winning all the hearts card and Queen of Spades. All 26 accumulated points will be passed onto all your opponents instead, but it's ''[[DeathOrGloryAttack incredibly risky]]''. Any savvy player will see through the ruse the minute you lead tricks "recklessly", and can spite you by [[BackStab derailing the attempt]]. Not to mention, there will be instances where the hearts suit is prematurely broken, before you can prepare and sometimes you may not even get to lead that [[ControllableHelplessness opening trick]] you need.

* {{Whammy}}: While the hearts certainly sting when you have to collect them, the queen of spades is ''definitely'' this trope, since it's the point value of all the heart cards totaled.

* AwesomeButImpractical: Shooting the moon is an alternate way to win a round. Achieved by essentially doing everything you don't want to normally do - winning all the hearts card and Queen of Spades. All 26 accumulated points will be passed onto all your opponents instead, but it's ''[[DeathOrGloryAttack incredibly risky]]''. Any savvy player will see through the rouse the minute you lead tricks "recklessly", and can spite you by [[BackStab derailing the attempt]]. Not to mention, there will be instances where the hearts suit is prematurely broken, before you can prepare and sometimes you may not even get to lead that [[ControllableHelplessness opening trick]] you need.

* TakingTheBullet: Sometimes, you may have to take a heart or even the queen to prevent another player from taking it and losing the game. [[SecondPlaceIsForLosers Just because you didn't hit 100 yourself doesn't mean you won.]]

* ShowDontTell: Players must play clubs on the first trick, and if they don't have any, are forbidden to play any card with penalty points. Any opponent that puts a diamond or spade down on the first trick deserves extra wariness, because leading a trick with a club again leaves them free to dispose of the [[PoisonMushroom Queen of Spades]] (if they have her).