How to play
Four players get thirteen cards each. Before each round you pass three cards: to the left in the first round, to the right in the second, across the table in the third, and nobody passes in the fourth. Then it starts again.
Whoever holds the 2 of clubs leads it to the first trick. Everyone plays one card in turn and must follow the suit that was led if they can. The highest card of that suit takes the trick (aces are high), and the winner leads the next one. If you can’t follow suit, you can play anything, which is your chance to get rid of trouble.
Scoring
Every heart you take costs 1 point and the queen of spades costs 13. Points are bad: when someone reaches the target (50 or 100), the game ends and the lowest score wins. Two more rules: you can’t lead a heart until a heart has been played (unless you hold nothing else), and nobody may throw a heart or the queen onto the first trick.
Shooting the moon: take all thirteen hearts and the queen, and you score nothing while everyone else takes 26. It’s a gamble: miss one heart and you’re stuck with the lot.
Playing together
Seat any mix of people and computer players. With more than one person on the same device, each hand stays hidden until its owner taps their name. To play friends who aren’t in the same room, use Play online (when it’s available): everyone opens the invite link on their own phone, and computer players fill the empty seats.
Tips
Pass the queen of spades, and the ace and king of spades if you don’t hold many low spades to protect them. Emptying a short suit early gives you somewhere to throw points later. When you must follow, play the highest card that still loses the trick. Watch for anyone taking every heart: one heart in the right place stops a moon shot.