Hearts

Classic Hearts: pass three, dodge the queen of spades, shoot the moon.

Live

Sewn, not flashing.

Maker's note

One of the games that followed close behind Spades. With the engine, the bots, the deck and the table already in a shared package, nearly all the work on Hearts was rules and looks — days rather than weeks. It was also the first real measure of whether that shared layer was worth anything.

I try to give every game its own table. Hearts is cross-stitch on linen: each heart you take is stitched onto your tag, the queen of spades as a dark spade, and a small crescent appears on the tag of anyone going for the moon. I could have printed a number instead, but something stitched looks like something accumulating, and Hearts is a game of accumulation.

The bots' hard problem was shooting the moon. A bot that only minimises its own score looks competent and then loses to you shooting; so at the middle and hard levels they will take a heart on purpose to break your moon.

What it does

Drawn as a cross-stitch sampler

The game is drawn as a cross-stitch sampler on linen. Every heart a player takes is stitched on their tag, the queen of spades as a dark spade, and a player going for the moon gets a small crescent. After each hand the score sheet sews itself. The court cards are stitched in the sampler's threads. A dark mode turns the work over: indigo linen, cream thread.

Four ways to play

Classic: pass three cards left, right, across, then keep; a point for each heart, thirteen for the queen of spades. Jack of Diamonds: the jack takes ten points off whoever wins it. No Passing: keep the hand you are dealt. Spot Hearts: each heart counts its number and the queen 25, played to 500.

The rules you know

The two of clubs opens, no points in the first trick, hearts can't be led until one has been played. Shoot the moon and everyone else takes 26 — unless that would lose you the game; then 26 comes off your own score instead. You choose how your table plays, and the rules page always says what your table plays.

Opponents that play Hearts

Three levels. The bots pass the queen away, duck with the highest card that loses, throw the queen when they can and take a heart to stop your moon. Normal and Hard play out possible deals before every card.

Play it your way

Three game speeds, small/normal/large cards, a four-colour deck, calm music with separate sound and music levels. The last trick is one tap away, and your record keeps games, wins, points a hand, moons shot and your lowest final score.

Honest money

An advert appears only between hands. An optional one-time purchase removes the adverts and adds two decks and three more card backs: it changes how the cards look, not how the game plays.

Details

Platform: Android phone
Variants: 4 ways to play
Opponents: 3 levels, two of them play out deals
Languages: English, Spanish, Portuguese, French, German, Turkish
Internet: Not required
Price: Free, one purchase removes adverts
Version: 1.0.1 · 25 Sep 2026