Rules || Troubleshooting || Credits

How To Play WildTangent Hearts


Starting the Game

To start a new game, press the "New Game" button or click on the stacked deck with the mouse. The computer will deal each player a hand of 13 cards.


Playing Your Turn

When the flashing arrow on the playing table is pointed at you, it's your turn to play. To play a card, click it once with your mouse.


Passing Cards


Each Hearts hand begins with each player passing three cards to another player. When prompted, select three cards by clicking them once with your mouse, then press the "Pass" button.



Managing Your Hand

You may rearrange the cards in your hand by clicking and dragging the card with the mouse. You may also sort your cards by suit or sequence using the "Sort" button.



Ending the Game

Each hand ends when all tricks have been won. When one player reaches 100 points, the game is over, and the computer will determine the winner. A new hand can be started by pressing the "Deal" button.



The Rules of WildTangent Hearts


The Game

WildTangent Hearts is played with four players - you, and three computer generated players. There are no partners. Hearts is a "reverse" card game in that the object is actually to maintain as low a score as possible. You keep your score low by avoiding 'winning' tricks that contain hearts or the Queen of Spades.

The Deal

The entire deck of 52 cards is dealt, resulting in each player having 13 cards.

Play

Play begins by each player selecting three cards to be passed to another player. Select three cards by clicking on them, and then click "Pass". The player that receives the cards varies by hand - For the first hand, pass to the left. The second hand, pass to the right. The player across from you gets your cards on the third hand. No cards are passed on the fourth hand. Then the sequence begins again. The player that received the two of clubs begins the first trick by playing that card. Play proceeds clockwise around the table. Each trick is composed of one card played by each player. The first card played determines the trick's suit. Each player must attempt to play a card of the same suit. If no card of the same suit is available, you may play any other card. Once all players have played a card, the "winner" of the trick is the player who was forced to play the highest card of the trick's suit. This player takes the trick and begins the next trick by playing the card of their choice.

Ending the Hand

The hand ends when all cards have been played. Press the "Deal" button to begin the next hand or click on the stacked deck with your mouse.

Scoring

When the hand is ended, penalty points are received based on the cards in the tricks won by each player. Every heart scores one point, with the Queen of Spades scoring a special penalty of 13 points. If one player wins all the scoring cards (the hearts and the Queen of Spades), then that player gets 26 points subtracted from, rather than added, to his score. (This is called Shooting the Moon.)

When one player reaches 100 points, the game is over. The player with the fewest points is the winner.


Features



Full Screen View

To make your game window as large as your monitor, click on the "Full Screen" button. This may reduce the speed of the game play. You can easily go back to the general view window by clicking on the "Itsy Bitsy" button in full screen mode. The options and help buttons will also size the game window to the original size. You can position your mouse at the corners of the window and stretch it to a larger size.

Separate Game Window

The game window is a separately generated window from the browser window. It is best to minimize the browser window into the task bar while playing in the game window. Upon exiting the game, close the window where the card game is played with the "Quit" button. This will allow you to open a 'fresh' game upon your next session.

Options

When the "Options" button is clicked on you can choose to play sounds(disable this if you do not have a sound card), Play animation(disable this if your performance is slow), to see your opponents cards, and to allow a delay on the computer player. Click "update" to set the new options.