Use a standard 52-card deck with 4 players.
Remove the 2♣, 3♣, 4♣, 5♣, and 6♣? (Hearts uses all cards; only point cards matter: hearts and the queen of spades.)
Deal all cards to players.
Determine the first lead (often the player with 2♣ leads, or as agreed).
Follow suit on each trick.
If you cannot follow suit, play any card.
Hearts are always allowed to be played (unless your house rules restrict “breaking hearts”).
Queen of spades (Q♠) is a point card.
Each heart (any suit hearts) is a point card worth 1 point each.
Q♠ is worth 13 points.
No other cards score points.
Track points by summing hearts captured plus 13 for any Q♠ captured.
Winning a trick is determined by the highest card of the lead suit (or highest trump if a variant uses trump; Hearts typically has no trump).
End of hand occurs when all cards are played.
Add each player’s trick points to their running total.
The game is typically played to a target score (commonly 100 or as agreed).
The player who first reaches or exceeds the target score loses (or as agreed).
If your rules include “shooting the moon,” allow a player to capture all point cards to subtract 26 or 0 for others and add 26 to themselves, depending on agreed rules.
If your rules include “passing” (common in standard Hearts):
Pass cards each round before play.
Use directions that rotate each round (e.g., left, right, across, no pass), as agreed.
Select 3 cards to pass each time (common rule).
If your rules include “breaking hearts”:
Hearts cannot be led until a heart has been played (or Q♠ is played), as agreed.
Repeatedly play hands until the game-ending condition is met.