Microsoft Hearts
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Microsoft Hearts is a computer game from Microsoft which allows the user to play the popular card game, Hearts. Microsoft Hearts has come bundled in as the 16-bit MSHearts.exe with every copy of Microsoft Windows from Windows for Workgroups 3.1 to Windows Me and as the 32-bit MSHearts.exe with Windows XP.
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[edit] Gameplay
Gameplay follows the standard rules of hearts. When the game is first loaded, the user is prompted for their name, and then the game begins. The game ends when at least one player has 100+ points at the end of a hand.
[edit] Before the hand
The user is given thirteen random playing cards, and selects any three of them to pass. For the first hand, cards are passed to the left; for the second, to the right; for the third, across; and for the fourth, the passing stage is skipped entirely, and the players keep (or "eat") their cards. On the fifth hand, the cycle starts again, passing to the left. In any case, after passing three cards, the players receive three cards, and then the player with the two of clubs leads.
[edit] Tricks
As hearts is a trick-taking game, the game progresses by tricks. Any card may be led, and any card in the same suit may be chosen follow what is lead. If a player does not have any cards in the suit that was led, that player can play whatever card he or she chooses. The only limitations are that hearts cannot be led until they have been "broken" (that is, played in a previous trick that same hand), and that neither hearts nor the queen of spades may be played on the first trick.
[edit] After the hand
After each hand, a scoreboard shows the current and previous scores of all four players, with the current leader's (or leaders') score written in blue. Due to a bug, the current leader is shown as the leader for each hand played so far. Each of the players has in front of them all of the point cards accumulated during the preceding trick, for easy identification of who got how many points (and a quick check to see if a player shot the moon). When the game ends, the score of the winning player(s) is shown in red. A new game then begins.
[edit] Features
Microsoft Hearts features a fairly brief Help file, controls to toggle the sound, options to change the names of the computer opponents or to change the speed at which cards are played and cleared, as well as an on-demand scoreboard. By contrast, the game does not include a Maximize function (as visible in the screenshot above), an option to play a "New Game" (one must exit and restart the program to play a new game without finishing the old one), or a "save game" function. However, it does offer a quote from Shakespeare's famous play, Julius Caesar (act III, scene ii): "I come not, friends, to steal away your hearts..."
The 16-bit versions of Microsoft Hearts support multiplayer play over a LAN using NetDDE.
