Black Lady, or Hearts a card game for 4 people. It is played with all 52 cards of a normal deck. But there are variants.
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Black Lady rules
The cards are divided among the 4 participants. So each player gets 13 cards. Each player must pass 3 cards of a opponent. In the first round to the left, in the second round to the right and in the third round to the opposite player and the rounds after that again the same.
It is played clockwise. The player with the two of clubs starts by placing a card in the middle. The other players must add a card of the same suit. Only if they no longer have it can they play another card. When all players have laid down a card, the trick goes to the player with the highest card of the suit requested, 2 is the lowests, Ace the highest card. That player starts the next trick and so on until all cards have been played.
The penalties
Then the penalty points are counted. You get 1 penalty point for every heart in your hand. For the queen of spades you get 13 penalty points.
If one player has all 26 penalty points, he will receive no penalty points, but the other players will receive 26 penalty points.
With more or less players
Hearts can also be played with more or fewer players. With 3 players, you remove the 2 of spades from the game and each player receives 17 cards. With 5 players you remove the 2 of spades and the 2 of diamonds and each player receives 10 cards.
Dutch version
In the Dutch version only 32 cards are used, from 7-Ace. Again, each heart card is worth 1 penalty point. The jack of clubs has 2 penalt points and the queen of spades is 5 penalty points. There are therefore 15 penalty points in total and if one player has all 15 penalty points, the other players will also receive them.
No cards are passed as the start of the game.
Additional appointments
Additional arrangements may be made:
- No penalty cards may be played in the first rounds, unless no other option is possible
- A player may not lead a heart until at least 1 heart heart has been added
- A player who has the queen of spades calls it as soon as possible so that he can roll up
- The queen of spades and the two of clubs may not be passed
Track Points
You can keep track of the number of penalty points of your played games on speluitslagen.nl. You can decide when a series ends. Then you can see the statistics of your played games and share the results with others.