Hearts and Spades are the two most popular trick-taking card games, and they share a lot of DNA: four players, a standard 52-card deck, 13 tricks per hand, and the rule that you must follow the led suit. But the goals are opposites. In Hearts you're trying to avoid winning the wrong cards; in Spades you commit to a number of tricks and have to deliver. Here's how they compare.
| At a glance | Hearts | Spades |
|---|---|---|
| Players | 4, every player for themselves | 4, in two partnerships |
| Trump | None | Spades, always |
| Bidding | None | Bid your tricks each hand |
| Goal | Avoid points — lowest wins | Make your bid — highest wins |
| Signature move | Shoot the moon | Bid nil |
| Game to | 100 (low wins) | 500 |
What they share
- Four players and a full 52-card deck, aces high.
- Thirteen tricks per hand; you must follow the led suit if you can.
- The game runs over several hands to a target score.
The core difference: avoid vs deliver
Hearts is a game of avoidance. Every heart costs a point and the Queen of Spades costs thirteen, so you spend the hand ducking tricks and sloughing dangerous cards onto opponents. The lowest score wins. Spades is a game of contracts. Before play, your team bids how many tricks it will take, and you're scored on hitting that number — the highest score wins.
Partnerships and bidding
Hearts has no partners and no bidding — it's every player for themselves, and the only pre-play decision is the three-card pass. Spades is a partnership game with bidding: you and the player across the table combine your bids into one contract, and coordinating with your partner (especially covering a nil bid) is half the game.
Trump
Spades always has trump — the spade suit. A spade beats any other suit, which creates the whole strategy of ruffing and drawing trumps. Hearts has no trump at all; the highest card of the led suit wins, full stop. If you can't follow suit in Hearts, your off-suit card can never win — which is exactly how you dump points.
Scoring and length
Hearts has 26 points on the table each hand (one per heart, 13 for the Queen of Spades) and runs until someone hits 100 — then the lowest score wins. Spades scores 10 points per bid trick, with bags and nil bids swinging things, and runs to 500. Spades games tend to run a little longer and swingier thanks to nil bids and the bag penalty.
The signature move
Each game has one spectacular play. In Hearts it's shooting the moon — take all 26 points yourself and everyone else eats 26 instead. In Spades it's the nil bid — promise zero tricks for a 100-point swing. Both reward nerve and reading the table.
Which should you play?
- Play Hearts if you want a solo, every-player-for-themselves game with tense card-counting and no partner to depend on.
- Play Spades if you enjoy bidding, planning, and teamwork — predicting your tricks and pulling them off with a partner.
Both are free, with no sign-up — so the honest answer is to try both and see which grabs you.
Frequently asked questions
Is Hearts or Spades harder?
They are hard in different ways. Spades adds bidding and partnership coordination, so there is more to plan and a partner to read. Hearts has no bidding or partners but demands careful card-counting to dodge points and judge the moon. Most players find Spades has the steeper learning curve because of bidding.
Do Hearts and Spades use trump?
Spades does — the spade suit is always trump. Hearts has no trump suit at all; the highest card of the led suit simply wins each trick. That single difference changes how both games are played.
Which is better for playing solo against the computer?
Hearts is every-player-for-themselves, so playing solo against three AI opponents feels completely natural. Spades is a partnership game, so solo play means trusting a computer partner — fun, but a different experience. Both are free to play on CardHearth.
Keep going
Try them both: play Hearts or play Spades. Learn the details in the Hearts rules and Spades rules, see all four card games in our best free card games roundup, or browse the guides hub.