Welcome to Ricketts House Hearts

Discovering the Thrills of Ricketts House Hearts

Have you ever heard of Ricketts House Hearts? It’s a fun card game that can be played with four people. The objective of the game is to keep your score as low as possible until one player reaches 100 points.

Preparing for the Adventure

Before starting the game, there are a few things you need to do. First, gather your friends because you’ll need four players. Next, shuffle the deck of cards and have them ready.

Now, let’s determine who the first dealer will be. You can either choose someone randomly or come up with a creative way to decide. Once the first dealer is chosen, the dealer role will pass to the left after each round.

Once everything is set, the dealer will start by shuffling the deck. Then, each player will receive a hand of 13 cards. Now you’re ready to begin!

Every time we start a round of cards, we first have to pass some of our cards to other players. It’s like a little trade between us. Let me explain how it works.

In the first round, I will pass three of my cards to the player sitting on my left. At the same time, I will receive three cards from the player on my right. These cards go directly into my hand. It’s like getting some new cards to play with.

In the second round, things change a bit. Instead of passing to the left, I will pass my three cards to the player on my right. And I will receive the three cards from the player on my left. It’s like we’re passing our cards across the table.

In the third round, it’s time to pass the cards to the player sitting right in front of us. The one we often call “opposite”. So I will pass my three cards to the player opposite me, and the player on my right will pass their three cards to me. It’s kind of like a circle of cards going around.

The fourth round is a bit different. Instead of passing three cards, we only pass one card to each player. So I’ll give one card to the player on my left, one card to the player on my right, and one card to the player opposite me. It’s a way to make things even more interesting.

Then, the fifth round comes, and there’s no card passing. It’s like a break, a pause in the game. But don’t worry, it won’t last long.

After the fifth round, we go back to the first round pattern and repeat everything again. The passing, the receiving, the trading of cards. It’s a cycle that keeps the game going.

GAMEPLAY

Once all the cards are dealt and we have organized our hand, the player on the left of the dealer starts the game. They will be the first to play their cards and start the fun!

When playing Ricketts House Hearts, it’s important for all players to follow the same suit, if they have a card of that suit. There is no trump suit in this game. The player who plays the highest card of the leading suit wins the trick and gets to start the next one. But if a player doesn’t have a card of the leading suit, they can play any other card from their hand. This is a good chance to get rid of high cards so you don’t end up winning unwanted suits. There are only two exceptions: in the very first trick, you can’t get rid of Hearts or the queen of spades, but you can play them in any trick after that, as long as you don’t have any cards of the leading suit.

Until either a heart or the queen of spades has been played, you can’t start a trick with a heart. However, you can start a trick with the queen of spades at any time during the game.

The game continues until a player reaches a score of 100 points or more.

SCORING

This game is all about trying to win as few tricks as possible. You want to avoid getting any Hearts or the queen of spades. It’s important to keep your score as low as possible.

Each Heart you win is worth 1 point, and the queen of spades is worth a whopping 13 points!

But here’s a twist: if you manage to win all the scoring cards, you can choose to either reduce your score by 26 points or increase everyone else’s score by 26 points. This big move is called “shooting for the moon.”

There are two special scores to keep in mind. If a player reaches exactly 104 or 126 points at the end of a round, their score will be reset to 0 points.

So remember, the goal is to have the lowest score possible. Good luck!

Hey there! Did you know that once you score 100 points or more in the game, it’s game over? Yep, that’s right! But here’s the twist – the player with the lowest score actually wins. Pretty cool, huh? Now, if there happens to be a tie, don’t worry! We’ll just play another round to determine the ultimate champion.

Allow me to introduce myself. I’m Amber, and I go by They/Them pronouns. I’m not just any ordinary person; I’m an expert when it comes to gaming. Whether it’s slaying dragons in D&D or exploring the virtual realms, you can count on me to be the best. Oh, and did I mention I’m also a huge fan of dogs and plants? Nothing beats being surrounded by companions, both virtual and real!