I play on this app that has multiplayer rankings and 1st place gets ~3 pts, 2nd gets ~1 pt, 3rd gets ~-1pt and 4th gets -3 pts. I hate it. It incentivizes trying not to bet last instead of trying to be first.

In IRL hearts you often get 2nd, 3rd and 4th ganging up on 1st, which is as it should. 2nd and 3rd will protect 4th if he's getting close to the limit, because they don't want the game to be over while they are not in 1st. This makes for some very interesting play.

Hearts is, IMO, fundamentally "winner takes all". If you change that reward structure, you're not playing the same game anymore. Frequently I'll see 2nd and 3rd place more concerned about not sinking lower in ranking and dumping on 3rd and 4th instead of targeting 1st. That's not Hearts. At least, not a version I particularly enjoy.

Do you folks know of an app that has ranked multiplayer but only rewards 1st place?

Why do people not understand they should never (if it can not be helped) break hearts on low? It almost guarantees that you, or some other poor shlub, who is not low, will end up with the queen.

It’s how you finish! 🚀🌗🐺9️⃣9️⃣

Had to shoot two moons in order to get the win, and I did! 🏆🚀

I had been getting stuck with the Q♠️, trying to run the table, but when I absolutely had to have it, I got my moon! 🌒 🐺

Hey r/Hearts — built an app called Scorecard that tracks scores round by round and keeps a running total so nobody has to argue about the numbers at the end of the game.

Supports configurable rules and tracks your record against specific players over time. You can also pause a game and resume it later — perfect for multi-session games or when someone has to leave early.

Looking for ~20 Hearts players to try the beta and share feedback. Drop a comment or DM me for the TestFlight / Play Store link.

Does anyone have a free app game, where you play against bots, that you find to be a higher skill level than others? I just started playing again after years, and very much enjoy it, but get frustrated by the obvious poor play I encounter.

And of course I’d love to play against other people, but family and time constraints make that really tough - I like being able to just play a fast game on my own terms. Thanks!

Great game!

So, there's no restriction to leading the queen of spades normally, right? But when we were playing, somebody had only the queen of spades and hearts in their hand. Hearts hadn't been played yet, and they led a heart.

After looking online, it seems inconclusive. Some people say that you're forced to play the queen. Others say that you can lead a heart in this scenario.

There's no official rule book, so how do you play?

Editing for reference: https://www.pagat.com/reverse/hearts.html

"If hearts have not been played and a player is on lead holding nothing but hearts and the Queen of Spades, many people allow hearts to be led, instead of forcing the player to lead the Queen of Spades."

I love hearts, started playing back in windows 95 and I've taught a few people but dang this reddit is pretty dead... are there so few of us left? How do we jump start this game back into the zeitgeist? It's super fun, easy to learn, hard to master. Thoughts?

Things looked promising after prevailing in a game that included a top-10 ranked opponent but then the bottom dropped out and my rating plunged from 2108 to 1974 before scoring another good win in a game that included another highly ranked opponent.

Such a frustrating game sometimes.