You shoot the moon in hearts by taking all 13 hearts and the queen of spades in one hand. Instead of scoring 26 points, you score nothing, and then either every other player scores 26 or you take 26 off your own score. Tables differ on who decides: in the game on this site the shooter chooses, as in Pagat's main rules and Pogo's old game; the Windows game and Bicycle's rules always add 26 to the others.
Shooting the moon is the boldest play in hearts, and the reason this site is called HeartsMoon. Every other hand of hearts is about avoiding points. A moon is about taking all of them.
What shooting the moon is
You shoot the moon when you win all 13 hearts and the queen of spades in the same hand: every one of the 26 points. Every source agrees on that much: Pagat, Bicycle, the Windows game, Trickster, World of Card Games and the rest.
You don’t have to win every trick. Tricks with no hearts and no queen in them can go to anyone. But if any other player takes even one heart, there’s no moon, and you keep every point you took. That’s the risk: a failed attempt usually leaves you with a very bad hand.
The same feat has other names: a slam (Pagat, and the old US Playing Card Company rule books), a run (the Cavendish club’s house rules) or a take-all.
How a moon is scored
The shooter scores 0 for the hand instead of 26. What happens next depends on the table’s rules, and this is one of the things hearts players disagree about most. There are four common versions:
| Moon rule | What happens | Who plays it |
|---|---|---|
| The shooter chooses | The shooter picks: +26 to each other player, or −26 from their own score | Pagat’s main rules, Pogo’s old game, John Hay’s rules, the Cavendish club. The default in the game on this site. |
| Always +26 to the others | Each other player scores 26 | Bicycle, the Windows game, the Hoyle software, CardGames.io, Whisthub, CardGames.club, 247 Hearts |
| Always −26 from the shooter | The shooter’s score goes down by 26; nobody else scores | A Trickster option, a Pagat variant; the 1943 Official Rules of Card Games scored New York Hearts this way |
| Best for the shooter | +26 to the others, unless that would end the game with the shooter not winning: then −26 from the shooter | Trickster’s default (and John Hay’s variant). World of Card Games and a Pagat variant use slightly different tests. |
Either way, you gain 26 points on every other player. Adding 26 to three opponents and subtracting 26 from yourself leave the same gaps between the scores, as World of Card Games points out. The difference is where the scores end up: adding pushes the others toward 100 and brings the end of the game closer; subtracting keeps the game going. That only matters near the end of a game, and there it can decide who wins.
The same moon, scored each way
Late in the game. Ann shoots the moon. Before the hand the scores were Ann 80, Ben 85, Cal 50, Dee 60, in a game to 100.
| Ann | Ben | Cal | Dee | Result | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Before the hand | 80 | 85 | 50 | 60 | |
| +26 to the others | 80 | 111 | 76 | 86 | Ben has passed 100, so the game ends. Cal wins with 76. |
| −26 from Ann | 54 | 85 | 50 | 60 | Nobody has 100, so the game goes on. Ann is 4 behind Cal. |
Adding 26 here would hand the game to Cal, so Ann should subtract. Under “the shooter chooses” she picks −26; under “always +26” she has to add and lose; under “best for the shooter” the rule subtracts for her.
Ahead at the end. Now the scores before the moon are Ann 40, Ben 80, Cal 75, Dee 90.
| Ann | Ben | Cal | Dee | Result | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| +26 to the others | 40 | 106 | 101 | 116 | The game ends. Ann wins. |
| −26 from Ann | 14 | 80 | 75 | 90 | The game goes on, with Ann well ahead. |
Here adding wins the game on the spot, and subtracting only puts it off.
Early in the game, with scores of 20, 30, 35 and 40, it makes little difference: after the moon Ann is 36 points ahead of the next player either way.
A score can go below zero after subtracting 26. No source sets a floor, and the game on this site doesn’t either.
Shooting the moon in this site’s game
The game on this site uses the shooter chooses unless your table changes it.
- When a hand ends with a moon, everyone sees the announcement. The shooter gets a choice: add 26 to each other player or take 26 off your own score, with each player’s new score shown for both options before you pick.
- Against computer players you are never timed, so take your time.
- In a game with other people, the shooter has 20 seconds. If they don’t choose, the game picks the option that’s better for them (the “best for the shooter” rule above), so a slow choice never costs the shooter the game.
- Computer players who shoot the moon choose the same way.
- The house rules button can set the moon to always +26 (the Windows game’s rule), always −26, or best for the shooter. A friends link carries the setting.
Shooting the sun
Some tables give an extra reward for shooting the sun: winning every one of the 13 tricks. Pagat lists it as a variation, scored as 52 points in the same way as a moon; John Hay’s rules and Pogo’s old game do the same, and World of Card Games makes it 39. Bicycle, the Windows game, CardGames.io and Trickster don’t score it at all, and neither does the game here: taking every trick is scored as an ordinary moon.
The moon and the jack of diamonds
In Omnibus Hearts the jack of diamonds is worth minus 10 to whoever wins it. In Pagat’s description and Pogo’s default, a moon is still just all the hearts and the queen of spades: the jack’s 10 points come off separately, for whoever took it, who may be the shooter. That’s how the game here plays when the jack-of-diamonds switch is on.
Some tables require the shooter to take the jack too. The US Playing Card Company’s rule book, which uses the ten of diamonds as the bonus card, counts a take-all only when the player wins every counting card, and Pogo offered that as an option. The variations are on the house rules page.
When to try for the moon
There’s no formula, but the hands that make it have things in common (the strategy page covers the rest of the game):
- High hearts, and plenty of them. You will have to win every heart trick. Low hearts you can’t get rid of are what usually let another player take one.
- Control of the spades. You need the queen of spades, or a way to win the trick she falls on.
- Long suits with the top cards. Once you have the lead, long runs of winners let you keep it while the other players throw their hearts onto your tricks.
- Look at the pass. Cards passed to you can help a moon or kill it, and the hold hand, with no pass at all, lets you plan from the cards you were dealt.
Watch for the moment it fails. As soon as someone else takes a heart, stop: go back to avoiding points, and get rid of the queen if you’re still holding her.
How to stop a moon
If one player is taking every point, someone has to take a heart from them. World of Card Games’ advice is to take a heart early when one player is sweeping every point. In practice:
- Keep a heart that can win a trick. One high heart held back can break a moon late in the hand.
- Don’t throw points onto the tricks of a player who has taken all of them so far. Each heart you give them helps the moon.
- Be willing to take a few points yourself. A heart costs you 1 point; a moon costs you 26.
You can practise both against the computer players in the game, which try for the moon when their cards allow and try to stop yours.
Frequently Asked Questions
What does shooting the moon mean in hearts?
Winning every heart and the queen of spades in a single hand: all 26 points. It turns the worst possible hand into the best one, because the shooter scores nothing and the 26 points go against everyone else.
How many points do you get for shooting the moon?
Zero for the hand, instead of 26. Then either each other player scores 26, or the shooter's own score goes down by 26. Either way the shooter gains 26 points on every other player.
Can you subtract 26 when you shoot the moon?
In Pagat's main rules, Pogo's old game and the game on this site, yes: the shooter chooses between taking 26 off their own score and adding 26 to everyone else's. In Bicycle's rules and the Windows game, no: 26 is always added to the others.
Do you need the jack of diamonds to shoot the moon?
Not in most rules. When a table plays the jack of diamonds as minus 10 (Omnibus Hearts), a moon is still all 13 hearts and the queen of spades, and the jack counts separately for whoever took it. A few rule sets require the jack as well.