rules.txt

mostly taken from here: http://www.pagat.com/reverse/hearts.html

hearts is a four-player card game. there are no partners. play is trick-
based.

a standard deck of cards is used. ace is high and two is low. there is no 
trump suit.

the goal of the game is to avoid taking points. each heart is worth one 
point. the queen of spades is worth 13 points.

the game ends when a player has 100 or more points. the winner is the player 
with the fewest points. as many deals/hands will be played as necessary.

cards are dealt evenly between players, 13 apiece. after cards are dealt, 
each player selects three cards to pass. on the first deal, players pass 
cards to the left. on the second, to the right. on the third, across the 
table. on the fourth deal, no cards are passed. this cycle rotates until 
the game is complete. once cards are passed, setup for the deal is complete.

the player holding the two of clubs leads the first trick. he must lead the 
two of clubs. the remaining players follow in clockwise order. each player 
must follow suit if possible. if a player has no cards in the suit led, he 
may play any card. (an exception to this is the first trick, when no point 
cards may be played.) the player who plays the highest card in the suit led 
wins the trick and leads the next trick.

hearts may no be led until a heart has been played to a previous trick. (an 
exception to this is if a player's hand contains nothing but hearts.) 
playing the first heart of the deal is called "breaking hearts." to 
reiterate, hearts may not be led until hearts are broken. (n.b. spades may 
be led at any time.)

at the end of the deal, each player receives one point for each heart in 
tricks he has won. the player who has won the queen of spades in a trick 
receives 13 points.

an exception to this occurs when one player takes every point card. this is 
called "shooting the moon." when a player shoots the moon, he is 
(traditionally) allowed one of two options: he may increment each opposing 
player's score by 26 or decrement his own score by the same amount. note 
that this choice has been factored out of this implementation for 
simplicity. in this implementation, the opposing players' scores will always 
be increased unless doing so will cause one of them to win the game. (i.e. 
by causing one player's score to exceed 100 while another's is still lower 
than that of the player shooting the moon.)

if you notice any inconsistencies or underspecified points in these rules, 
please contact me for clarification.