staying away with a heart (Hearts (PC))

Member Name: abbadabbado

Product:	Hearts (PC)
Date:	01/01/08 (56 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: free game

Disadvantages: tacticle, requires thinking

Hearts is a game you can find almost anywhere. It's more than likely on your PC as one of the pre installed games you find in applications. It's available on all the free gaming sites online, to be played against other people or computer generated opponents.

-Idea of game-

The idea of the game is to get rid of your stockpile of cards without gaining any of the heart cards as they mean big points, and this is a game where you try to collect the least amount of points possible.

-How to play-

The game is played with four players, and the deck of 52 cards is dealt equally between the four. Spend some time quickly sorting your cards into suits at this point. One thing to remember is that each heart card has a point value of one and if you are unlucky enough to have the Queen of spades at the end of the game, this is worth thirteen points. All other cards have no points value whatsoever so it doesn't matter if you receive these during the game.

Your cards are sorted (Ace is high). The first round you will choose three cards to pass to the player on the left, second round three cards go to the opposite player, and third round they go to the player on your right. On the fourth round you keep the cards you were dealt.
The main idea is to get rid of any high cards, hearts if you have them and obviously the Queen of spades if you have that in your hand to begin with.

The player who holds the two of clubs always goes first. This makes clubs the suit of the first round. You HAVE to follow suit if you have any of the same as the first player. Remember now if you place the highest card down in the round you will gain those four cards (known as a trick). It doesn't matter if you gain those cards each round unless there is a heart card or the Queen of spades amongst them. The only trouble is, you have to start the next round and as the game progresses, the higher your card is at the start of the round, the less likely another player is going to put down a higher card and therefore you will end up with all the tricks, and invariably will end up with all the hearts and gain the most points.

Hearts is a very tactical game and you have to remember what you passed to who, especially if you passed the Queen of spades on at the beginning of the game. Some players choose to get rid of this card early on and sometimes it can get left to the end of the game, which may mean bad luck for the player who holds it, or it could work out better this way for them.

-Example of hand-

Player one puts down two of clubs, player two puts down six of clubs, player three puts down Queen of spades and player four puts down Ace of diamonds.

Who gets the trick? Player three gets it as the Ace of diamonds is a throwaway card meaning obviously that player four has no clubs. (Queen of clubs is the highest card in the trick of the starting suit).
This would be worth remembering at this point that player three has no clubs as this may become relevant in future turns during the game.



-Things to remember at the start of the game-

Get rid of any high hearts to pass on, or the Queen, King, Ace of spades.
Keep your low cards and only play them if you need to be lower than other players, or if you have to start a round.
Hearts can only be played in the hand when the suit has been broken (i.e. someone has played one as a throwaway card).

-Point scoring-

As I mentioned each heart is worth a point and the queen of spades is worth thirteen. Most games are played up to one hundred points, with the person getting to a hundred first is the loser, and the person with least the winner.

If you are unlucky enough to end up with the queen of spades early on in the hand, you can if you are very lucky make a special move called "shoot the moon". This is where the player holds all heart cards as well as the queen of spades at the end of the hand.
This is a very difficult thing to do, but instead of you gaining twenty six points ( thirteen heart cards and thirteen points for queen of spades), you will have twenty six points taken off your total points so far, and all other players gain twenty six points.

-My view-

I started playing this a while ago, and I'm not very tactical, and don't win very often. However it does only take about ten minutes to play a full game of hearts for someone to get to a hundred points, and it's a good way of whiling away time in the early hours when I'm trying to settle Abby when she decides it's time to be awake Mummy, and I'm trying to explain to her the difference between night and day!
It also does a good job of keeping me awake and focusing on something rather than struggling to stay awake.

This is a general gist of how to pay the game and the more you play it, you will get to understand the tactics and when to play what cards.

Please note this review is also posted on Ciao where I am a member.

Summary: a free game to pass the time