Passing in Hearts

February 12th, 2012
cards, games
In the trick taking card game Hearts you begin each hand by selecting three cards to pass to another player, and then receiving three to replace those. Every four hands you play one without passing, and I find it almost always less fun than the others. I think what's going on is that the players have more ordinary hands. With passing I've had multiple voids, zero points, a ten card suit, and other hands that are really very unlikely to show up on their own.

Passing should improve related games as well: I've tried to convince Bridge players to play with Hearts-style passing, but they see it as silliness.

(I wonder what passing would do to 7 Wonders. You could pass three times, at the beginning of each age. You'd probably pass cards 'upstream' to your potential future hands.)

Comment via: google plus, facebook, substack

Recent posts on blogs I like:

Linkpost for April

You can hire me for life coaching! You can also hire me for more general writing, editing, and freelancing work— email me at ozybrennan@gmail.com. My fiction Substack is here. Recent releases:

via Thing of Things April 3, 2026

Microfictions

A few microfictions, very much inspired by Quiet Pine Trees. I hope to add more over time. No LLMs.

via Evan Fields March 27, 2026

Daycares and the Brown School

As someone in Somerville I notice that there are quite high prices regarding childcare. The average family in Somerville pays $1,100 to $3,500 for daycare per month, and I want to make the costs more affordable. I have also noticed that housing is quite …

via Lily Wise's Blog Posts March 22, 2026

more     (via openring)