Printable Hearts
Sometimes you want Hearts away from a screen. All it takes is a standard 52-card deck, four players, and a pen for scoring. This page gives you the setup, a plain-English rules card you can copy or print, and a simple score-sheet layout for game night. When you would rather play right now, you can always play free in your browser against three smart AI opponents instead.
Heads up: Hearts.now does not offer a downloadable PDF yet. This page shows you how to deal, play, and score Hearts with real cards, plus links to play every variant online.
What you need for a real-deck game
- One 52-card deck. No jokers. Hearts uses the full deck with no trump suit.
- Four players. Each player plays alone. (Three or five players can play with small dealing tweaks - see the variants below.)
- Pen and paper. Hearts is scored across many hands, so someone keeps a running total.
Who wants a printed rules card
- Teaching kids or new players. A one-page rules card settles "can I lead hearts yet?" arguments fast.
- Playing offline. On a trip, at a cabin, or anywhere without a device, the deck and the rules are all you need.
- Learning the flow. Dealing and scoring a few hands by hand is the fastest way to make the rules stick.
How to set up and play Hearts with a real deck
Here is the classic Hearts setup, the version most people mean when they say "Hearts".
- Shuffle well and deal all 52 cards clockwise, 13 to each player.
- Each player picks 3 cards to pass: left on the first hand, right on the second, across on the third, and no pass on the fourth. Then the cycle repeats.
- The player holding the 2 of clubs leads it to start the first trick. Play follows clockwise.
- You must follow suit if you can. The highest card of the led suit wins the trick, and the winner leads next. No penalty cards on the first trick, and no leading hearts until a heart has been discarded on another suit.
- When all 13 tricks are done, score the hand: each heart is 1 point and the queen of spades is 13. If one player took all 26, they score zero and everyone else gets 26.
- Deal again. When someone reaches 100 points, the game ends and the lowest total wins.
New to the rules? The full walkthrough for every variant lives on the Hearts rules hub.
Score sheet layout
Draw one column per player and one row per hand. After each hand, write each player's points in their column and keep a running total below. A hand's points always add up to 26 in classic Hearts, which makes it easy to catch scoring mistakes.
| Hand | You | West | North | East |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 (pass left) | 2 | 13 | 5 | 6 |
| 2 (pass right) | 0 | 4 | 17 | 5 |
| 3 (pass across) | 7 | 1 | 3 | 15 |
| Running total | 9 | 18 | 25 | 26 |
Scoring variants at a glance
Different tables score Hearts differently. Here are the versions you can also play online here.
| Variant | Penalty cards | Points per hand | Game ends at |
|---|---|---|---|
| Classic Hearts | Hearts 1 each, Q♠ 13 | 26 | 100 |
| Omnibus Hearts | Classic plus J♦ = minus 10 | 26 (minus 10) | 100 |
| Spot Hearts | Hearts count pip value, Q♠ 25 | 129 | 500 |
| Black Maria | Hearts 1 each, A♠ 7, K♠ 10, Q♠ 13 | 43 | 100 |
Or just play in your browser
No deck and no three friends handy? Every variant deals itself for you online, for free, with no download. Try classic Hearts, Omnibus, or Black Maria and the site handles the deal, the passing, the rules, and the scoring for you.
Printable Hearts FAQ
Do you have a printable Hearts PDF?
Not yet. For now, this page gives you the setup, rules, and score-sheet layout so you can run a real-deck game, or you can play every variant free online.
How do you score Hearts on paper?
One column per player, one row per hand. Each heart taken is 1 point and the queen of spades is 13. Check that every row adds to 26, keep a running total, and the lowest total wins when someone crosses 100.
Can I teach kids Hearts with a printed rules card?
Yes. Start with the four golden rules: follow suit, no points on the first trick, no leading hearts until they are broken, and lowest score wins. Kids pick up the rest by playing. The rules hub keeps every variant in plain English.