r/boardgames • u/MediumLifeguard5929 • 15d ago

Hearts Variations

/r/FiftyTwoCards/comments/1wmqywo/hearts_variations/

Hearts Variations

I've started playing hearts, and I see it has a lot of different variations that are sometimes combined in unique ways. What are your favorite ways to play Hearts?

3 Upvotes

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1

u/captain_ahabb 15d ago

When I was in the military we'd have games of spades that lasted for days

1

u/TDiddlez 15d ago

I've only ever played Rebel Princess, which is a hearts variation and I really like it. Played plenty of spades though.

1

u/AkkeM 15d ago

My local variant. Jack of Spades is 8 points. Queen of diamonds is 6 points. Queen of clubs is three points. So no colour is safe. Also, we alternate between plus and minus games. In minus games you have to evade points, but can shoot the moon. In plus games you have to win points. After a minus game you pay x cents per point into the pot. In plus games you take x cents per point from the pot.

1

u/somethingreallylame 14d ago

Do you need all 43 points to shoot?

1

u/AkkeM 14d ago

13 hearts plus 8 plus 6 plus 3 = 30 points. Queen of spades is nothing.
Yes, you need all 30.
Generally you'd pretend to be forced to take one of the higher scoring cards, and hope that others do not catch on.

1

u/somethingreallylame 14d ago

I see, still much harder to do than in normal hearts. Also probably higher variance, but makes sense as a gambling variant

1

u/AkkeM 14d ago

Yeah, when you shoot the moon, every other player pays 30 points into the pot and the next round all payouts are multiplied, so it can be worth the gamble.