Hearts – Omnibus

Player: 4 (variants 3–6) · Cards: French deck, 52 · Type: Trick-avoidance game

Objective

Collect as few penalty points as possible.

Equipment & setup

Everyone gets 13 cards. Before play, everyone passes 3 cards – cycle: left, right, across, no passing.

Card ranking & card values

A (high) > K > … > 2. No trump. Penalty values: each heart 1, Queen of Spades 13. Bonus: Jack of Diamonds −10 (deducts 10 points).

Gameplay

1) Whoever has the 2 of Clubs leads it to the first trick.

2) Follow suit; whoever cannot follow may discard anything.

3) The highest card of the suit led wins the trick; the winner leads next.

4) Hearts may only be led once hearts are broken (already discarded) or the player has only hearts left.

5) No penalty cards may be discarded in the first trick.

Special rules & special cards

Shoot the Moon: whoever takes all 13 hearts and the Queen of Spades scores 0 and every opponent 26. In many Omnibus groups the Jack of Diamonds is included – whoever takes all penalty cards and the Jack of Diamonds also gets −10.

Scoring & points

After each hand: penalty points for hearts and the Queen of Spades, minus 10 for the player with the Jack of Diamonds.

End of game & winning

As soon as someone reaches or exceeds 100 points; the player with the fewest points wins.

Origin & history

Goes back to the trick-avoidance game Reversis (Spain/France, 18th century). Described in the USA around 1880 as Hearts; the Queen of Spades penalty was added with 'Black Lady'. Known worldwide thanks to its inclusion in Windows (from 1992).