How to win at Hearts: avoiding points, and sometimes taking them all

The rules on Puzzimo

• You play against three computer players. Each hand, first pass 3 cards: left, right, across, then no pass, and repeat.
• The 2♣ leads the first trick. Follow suit if you can; otherwise play any card. The highest card of the suit led wins the trick.
• No hearts or Q♠ on the first trick unless you have nothing else, and hearts can't be led until one has been played.
• Each heart is 1 point, the Q♠ is 13. Take all of them and you shoot the moon: everyone else gets 26 instead.
• When someone reaches 50, the lowest score wins.

What to pass

• Pass the Q♠, A♠ and K♠ unless you hold several low spades to protect them.
• Pass high hearts (A, K, Q) that would win heart tricks.
• Try to empty a short suit: passing your only two diamonds means you can discard on every diamond trick.

Playing the hand

• Duck. When you must follow suit, play the highest card that still loses the trick, so you keep low cards for later.
• Get rid of high cards early, while the tricks they win carry no points. A high club on the first tricks is often free.
• Discard dangerous cards as soon as you're out of a suit: the Q♠ first, then high hearts.
• Track the Q♠. Until it's played, avoid winning spade tricks with the A♠ or K♠.

Shooting the moon

If you take every heart and the Q♠, you score 0 and everyone else gets 26. It needs a strong hand: long suits with top cards and control of spades. Decide early, because one heart lost to another player ruins the attempt, and a failed moon shot usually costs a lot of points.

Watch for the computer trying it too. If one player is taking every heart, make sure you win one heart trick yourself to stop them; it costs you 1 point and saves 26.

Practise

Only wins are ranked, scored 100 minus your points: a 50-point game won with 4 points scores 96. The three difficulty levels change how well the computers play.

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