Hearts

No penalty cards on the first trick — hearts and the queen of spades may not be discarded there.; Hearts cannot be led until they have been "broken" — that is, until a heart has been discarded on an earlier trick. The exception is a player holding nothing but hearts.

One standard 52-card deck, no jokers.; Cards rank ace (high) down to two within each suit.; There is no trump suit.

Four players, each dealt 13 cards.; Before play, each passes three cards face down to another player. The direction rotates each hand: left, right, across, then no pass (a "hold" hand), repeating.; The holder of the two of clubs leads it to the first trick.

Play proceeds clockwise. You must follow suit if you can.; If you cannot follow, you may play any card — this is how penalty cards get discarded onto other players.; The highest card of the suit led wins the trick, and that player leads the next.

After all 13 tricks, each player scores the penalty cards they took: Each heart: 1 point; Queen of spades: 13 points

Jack of diamonds: taking it scores −10, giving a reason to win a trick.; Three, five or six players: remove cards so the deck divides evenly — commonly the two of diamonds and/or two of clubs.; Black Maria: the British relative, using the ace and king of spades as extra penalties.

A player who takes all 13 hearts and the queen of spades scores 0, and every other player scores 26. Some groups let the shooter instead subtract 26 from their own score — agree which before dealing.