HEARTS

Hearts is an engaging HTML5 card game featuring human players against computer opponents. Before gameplay begins, each player views their hand and selects three cards to pass—face down—to another player. All players must complete passing before observing the cards received. The passing cycle is: first to the left, then right, across, and finally no pass, repeating until play concludes. The player with the 2 of Clubs starts the first trick, playing that card face up. Players must follow the suit led if possible; otherwise, they may discard any other card, but cannot discard Hearts or the Queen of Spades if no Clubs are held when hearts are not broken. The highest card of the suit led wins the trick; the winner captures all cards and leads the next. Hearts cannot be played until hearts are broken—that is, after a heart or Queen of Spades has been played—except the Queen of Spades can be led anytime. Throughout the game, players aim to avoid accumulating points: hearts are worth 1 point each, and the Queen of Spades carries 13 points. If a player wins all 13 hearts and the Queen of Spades, they can choose to subtract 26 points or add 26 points to every other player’s score. The game proceeds until a player’s score reaches or exceeds 100 points; at that point, the player with the lowest score wins. The game can be integrated freely into websites, supported by advertisements, or licensed for proprietary use.