Hearts
Exactly 4 players
One deck excluding the Jokers
Pen and paper to keep score
Set up
Deal all the card out equally between the four players. Then give the players a chance to sort out their cards ( generally in this game sorting cards of the same suit together is a good idea.)
How to play
The aim of the game is to score the least number of points. Before you start each player selects three cards from their hand to get rid of, for the first round everyone passes their three cards face down to the player on their left. The cards that have been handed to you are now part of your hand. In this game you score points if you win tricks with hearts or the queen of spades in so when you are passing on your three cards you want to select cards that will reduce you chances of winning tricks ( high cards- Queens Kings and Aces and Hearts)
Starting with the player to the left of the dealer each player places a card from their had down face up in the centre. All players must follow suit so if the first player lays a club and you have a club in your hand you must lay it. Now when each player has placed a card down the player who played the highest of the four cards which follows suit, wins the trick. Now a trick is only worth points if it contains any hearts or the queen of spades. Whoever wins the first trick has the lead and they lay the first card in the centre for the next trick. This continues on until all thirteen tricks have been won.
If you cannot follow suit this give you the chance to dump any of your high cards or hearts so you are not stuck with them. Now you do not want to win any tricks with hearts in as these give you points per heart in the trick. Also the queen of spades on its own is worth thirteen points so try to avoid winning a trick with it in. However if one player manages to win every heart (all thirteen) and the queen of spades then this play is called 'shooting for the moon' and rather then them scoring lots of points every other player scores twenty six points. If they do not manage to get all thirteen hearts then they get a point for every heart they did get and the queen of spades is worth thirteen points. You then set up again dealing out all the card however, this time you pass three cards to the right, and for the third round you pass the three cards at the start to the player opposite you. You can play as many rounds as you like you could can set it so the first person to reach one hundred points for example loses.