What is Spot Hearts?

Spot Hearts keeps the rules you know and supercharges the scoring: suddenly it matters enormously <em>which</em> hearts you take, not just how many.

Quick answer: Spot Hearts is a variant where every heart costs its pip value: number cards at face value, Jack 11, Queen 12, King 13 and Ace 14, so the hearts alone total 104 points. The Queen of Spades jumps to 25, making 129 points per hand, and the game plays to 500 instead of 100.

The scoring

Every heart is charged by its 'spots': the 2 of hearts costs 2 points, the 10 costs 10, and the face cards climb through Jack 11, Queen 12 and King 13 to the Ace at 14. Add them up and the heart suit alone carries 104 points. The Queen of Spades grows to 25, bringing each hand to 129 points - so the game plays to 500 rather than 100, with the lowest total winning as always.

Why big numbers change the play

In classic Hearts, all hearts hurt equally, so a heart is a heart. In Spot Hearts, ducking a trick carrying the Ace and King of hearts saves 27 points - more than a classic Queen of Spades - while eating a trick of low hearts might cost 7. Passing decisions shift too: high hearts become the most urgent cards to ship out, and low hearts turn almost harmless.

A classic from the family tree

Charging hearts by pip value is one of the oldest scoring styles in the Hearts family, and it survives because it adds depth without adding rules - if you can play the classic game, you already know how to play Spot. It pairs naturally with Omnibus for players who want richer scoring, and the truly brave can graduate to Black Maria. See how Hearts is scored for all the systems side by side.

Play Spot Hearts

Related questions

How is Hearts scored?

Each heart you capture costs 1 point and the Queen of Spades costs 13, so every hand distributes exactly 26 points. Scores accumulate hand after hand, and when a player reaches 100 the game ends with the lowest total winning. Shooting the moon - capturing all 26 - gives you zero and your opponents 26 each.

What is the hardest Hearts variant?

Black Maria, the British variant, is widely considered the hardest: the Ace, King and Queen of Spades are all penalty cards, so each hand carries 43 points, and you must pass three cards right every hand. Spot Hearts is the heaviest on arithmetic, and Omnibus adds a tricky bonus card to fight over.

How many types of Hearts are there?

Dozens of Hearts variants have been documented, all built on the same idea: avoid penalty cards, lowest score wins. The best known are classic American Hearts, Omnibus (with the Jack of Diamonds bonus), Spot Hearts (pip-value scoring) and Britain's Black Maria - all four of which you can play here.