Hearts Variations: Omnibus, Black Maria, Spot, Cancellation and More

Hearts has been played in many forms since it first appeared, at the end of the nineteenth century (Pagat). This page describes the variations the published rules give, and where each comes from. The standard game is on the rules page; house rules that change only one rule of it (the moon, the queen breaking hearts, the first trick) are on the house rules page.

Hearts for other numbers of players

Four is the usual number, and every online game, including the one on this site, is for four. With other numbers, a few cards come out of the deck so that everyone gets the same number:

Omnibus Hearts (the jack of diamonds)

In Omnibus Hearts one diamond is a bonus card: whoever wins it takes points off their score.

• The jack of diamonds, minus 10: Pagat (“many people play” it), Pogo’s old game and Trickster (which also offers minus 5). The 1943 Official Rules of Card Games gives the same credit of 10 in New York Hearts. PlayOK’s tables have a checkbox for it.
• The ten of diamonds, plus 10 to the winner’s credit: the US Playing Card Company’s rule book (1972 to 1995 editions), which calls the jack a local variant, for four to six players.

Points still add up: 26 for the hearts and the queen, less 10 for the jack. Shooting the moon usually still needs only the hearts and the queen, with the jack counted separately (Pagat, Pogo’s default); the rule book and a Pogo option require the bonus card too. See the moon and the jack.

The game on this site plays Omnibus with the jack of diamonds at minus 10: set it under ⚙ House rules, or open a table with the jack on.

Black Maria

Black Maria is the British version of hearts (Pagat), also called Dirty Lady. It isn’t the Finnish game of the same name.

• Players: usually three, with the two of clubs taken out of the deck and 17 cards each. Four can play with the whole deck.
• Passing: three cards, always in the same direction. Pagat says the books pass to the right, but some players pass to the left.
• Play: the player to the dealer’s left leads first and may lead anything. There’s no rule against leading hearts.
• Scoring, in one of three ways Pagat gives:
  1. 1 for each heart and 13 for the queen of spades, as in the American game;
  2. the same, plus 10 for the king of spades and 7 for the ace of spades, 43 points in all;
  3. Spot Hearts values (below), played to 500.

“Black Maria” is also an old name for the queen of spades itself, in the US Playing Card Company’s rule book and the Hoyle software.

Spot Hearts

In Spot Hearts each heart costs its face value instead of 1 point. Pagat gives two scales:

With so many more points in play, Pagat suggests a game to 500. Foster’s 1914 Complete Hoyle and the US Playing Card Company’s rule book describe the same face-value scoring for the hearts.

Cancellation Hearts

A game for a big table, with two decks shuffled together: Pagat gives it for 6 to 10 players, and the US Playing Card Company’s rule book for 7 to 10.

• Deal the cards out as far as they will go; any left over go face down to the side and are taken by the winner of the first trick.
• The player to the dealer’s left leads first and may lead anything. In the rule book’s version no cards are passed.
• Two identical cards played to the same trick cancel each other out: neither can win it, though they still count their points. The trick goes to the highest card of the suit led that isn’t cancelled.
• If every card of the suit led is cancelled, Pagat leaves the trick on the table for the winner of the next trick, and the same player leads again.

Dirty hearts (Da Nasty Fix)

Pagat reports this variation from Florida under the name Dirty Nasty Filthy Hearts, or Da Nasty Fix:

• The jack of diamonds counts minus 10.
• The queen of spades costs 26, and each of the other three queens 13.
• The game is to 300, lowest score wins.
• Shooting the moon wins the game outright, and you need every counting card to do it, the queens included.
• No points on the first trick; the two of clubs leads; and the dealer chooses how the cards are passed each hand, as long as everyone passes and receives three.

247 Hearts uses the name “Dirty Hearts” for a version with the queen of spades at 26.

Partnership hearts

Four players can play in two fixed partnerships, partners sitting opposite. Pagat gives two ways to score:

1. Partners keep their tricks together and score as a team. A moon is the team taking all the hearts and the queen, and the team chooses: 26 to the other team or 26 off its own score.
2. Each player keeps their own score, and only a single player can shoot the moon. When someone reaches 100, the partners’ scores are added together and the lower team wins, so you can win even if you’re the one who went over 100.

Some partnerships pass three cards to their partner on every hand instead of rotating. Trickster offers team games of two against two, three against three, and three teams of two.

The old games

The earliest American rule books describe a different game:

• Hearts without the queen. The US Playing Card Company’s 1898 Card Games and Foster’s 1914 Complete Hoyle count only the hearts, with no passing; the player to the dealer’s left leads.
• Black Jack: the jack of spades counts 10 (Foster, the 1926 Hoyle and the 1943 rule book).
• Black Lady: the queen of spades counts 13. The 1943 rule book still treats it as a variant; the 1972 to 1995 editions make “Hearts (Black Lady)” the main game, with three cards passed to the right.
• New York Hearts (1943 rule book): three cards passed to the left, the queen at 13, the jack of diamonds a credit of 10, and a credit of 26 for taking all the hearts and the queen.
• Domino Hearts, for two to seven players: six cards each, and a player who can’t follow suit draws from the stock until they can (the rule books from 1914 to 1995).
• Auction Hearts: players bid for the right to name the suit everyone must avoid (the same rule books).

The house rules page describes how the rule book’s Black Lady game plays.

More hearts games

Pagat also describes or links: Turbo Hearts and Booster Nines, both by Richard Garfield; Rickety Kate, the Australian version, which it calls practically identical to the American game; Dame de Pique, a French Canadian version with no passing; Gong Zhu (Catch the Pig) from China; and Hartenjagen, the Dutch game with 32 cards. Its readers’ page adds many invented games, including two-player and three-player versions with a dummy hand.