SUPER HEARTS

OBJECTIVE OF SUPER HEARTS:  The objective of this game is to have the lowest score.  

NUMBER OF PLAYERS: 4 

MATERIALS: A standard 52-card deck, money or chips, and a flat surface. 

TYPE OF GAME: Trick-taking game 

AUDIENCE: 13+ 

OVERVIEW OF SUPER HEARTS 

Super Hearts is a trick-taking card game for 4 players. The goal of the game is to have the lowest score at the end of the round. The player with the lowest score receives a payout from each other player.   

The players should decide before the game begins how much a stake will be worth.  

SETUP 

Cards are dealt clockwise and face down. The first dealer is determined randomly then it passes to the left for each new round.  

The dealer shuffles the deck and deals each player a hand of 13 cards.  

After hands are dealt each round, players will pass 3 cards to the left.  

GAMEPLAY 

Once all cards are dealt and players have arranged their hand accordingly, the player with the two of clubs goes first.  

All players are required to follow suit if capable. In Super Hearts, there is no trump suit. The highest card played of the leading suit wins, and the winner gets to begin the next trick. If a player is unable to follow suit, they can play any other card in their hand. This is a great opportunity to get rid of any high cards, to prevent winning unwanted suits. The only exception is that neither Hearts nor the queen of spades can be thrown out in the very first trick, however, they can be thrown in any trick thereafter, as long as the player is void the suit currently being led. 

Players cannot lead with a heart until either a heart or the queen of spades has been played, however, the queen of spades can lead at any point in the game. 

Players will continue playing until the round ends, and all tricks have been played.  

SCORING 

This is a trick-taking game but the goal is to win a minimal number of tricks, or better yet, the goal is to NOT win tricks that contain Hearts or the queen of spades. At the end of each round players add up the number of Hearts they’ve won that round, as well as the queen of spades, and payout the winner. Remember, the objective is to have the lowest score. 

Each heart is worth 1 and the queen of spades is worth 7 points.  

At the end of the round the player who has the lowest score but at least 1 point (having 0 points does not win you the game), wins. Each other player will pay a number of stakes equal to the difference between their score and the winner’s score. If there is a tie for the winner the stakes are split equally.  

END OF GAME 

The game ends after each round is played and payouts are settled. Then a new round may be started.  

Amber Crook
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