Hearts: A Fun Yet Brutal Family Card Game

Hearts can be a fun card game to play with the whole family, but it can be on the ruthless side. Since the player with the least points wins the game, the idea is to get your opponents to pick up all the cards in each round-- notably the Queen of Spades (13 points) and any heart cards (1 point apiece).

The game is divided into several rounds (called tricks) where each player plays one card. The first round must be led with the two of spades; everyone else plays a card of the same suit. The player who plays the highest card picks up the cards and leads the next round with any card from his hand.

What if a player doesn't have a card of the same suit that's being played? He's free to play a card from any other suit, and he's in no danger of being forced to pick up the cards played. By the way, this is how many people discard the deadly hearts and Queen of Spades cards from their hand.

Some people play to "shoot the moon." A player who manages to get every single point card gets no points, while 26 points are awarded to his opponents. However, this is tricky to do. When your opponents catch on to your plan, they will do anything to prevent you from shooting the moon.

Hearts is a fun game, but it definitely encourages a cutthroat playing style. Players eventually go out of their way to trip up their opponents. Hand 'n Foot is competitive too, but it's also about partnership and hurrying to get the most card groups. If your players are highly competitive or on the sensitive side, you might want to play Hearts another time and get out the Hand 'n Foot game.