Microsoft Hearts

It's actually just Hearts, but Black Bitch sounds cooler!  Play with 4 players so you can use the passing cards rule.

Players

• 4
  
  

Equipment

• Standard 52-card deck
  
  

Objective

• Avoid taking tricks that contain penalty cards, especially the Queen of Spades (the “Black Bitch”). Lowest score at the end wins.
  
  

Card Values

• Queen of Spades = 13 penalty points

• Each Heart = 1 penalty point

• All other cards = 0
  
  

Setup

• Deal out all the cards as evenly as possible.

• Play proceeds clockwise.
  
  

Gameplay

1. Leading

   • Player with the 2♣ leads the first trick.

   • Players must follow suit if possible.

   • Highest card of the suit led wins the trick and leads the next.

2. Hearts & Queen of Spades

   • Hearts cannot be led until a Heart (or the Queen of Spades) has been discarded on another trick (“breaking hearts”).

   • Queen of Spades can be played at any time you cannot follow suit.

3. Scoring

   • At the end of each hand, players count penalty points:

     • 1 point per Heart

     • 13 points for the Queen of Spades

   • Other cards have no value.

4. Winning the Game

   • Play continues until a player reaches the agreed limit (e.g. 50 or 100 points).

   • The player with the lowest score wins.
     
     

Passing

• Before starting the first game, pass 3 cards to your left.

• The next game pass 3 cards to your right.

• The third game, pass 3 cards to the player opposite you, and

• on the last game just keep the cards you are dealt.
  
  

Bonus Score

• Shooting the Moon – If one player captures all Hearts and the Queen of Spades, they score 0, and all opponents take 26 points.