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Hub AI
Black Lady AI simulator
(@Black Lady_simulator)
Hub AI
Black Lady AI simulator
(@Black Lady_simulator)
Black Lady
Black lady is an American card game of the hearts group for three to six players and the most popular of the group. It emerged in the early 20th century as an elaboration of hearts and was initially also called discard hearts. It is named after its highest penalty card, the queen of spades or "black lady". It is a trick-avoidance game in which the aim is to avoid taking tricks containing hearts or the black lady. American author and leading bridge exponent Ely Culbertson describes it as "essentially hearts with the addition of the queen of spades as a minus card, counting thirteen" and goes on to say that "black lady and its elaborations have completely overshadowed the original hearts in popularity".
The game is often called hearts in America, although that is the proper name for the basic game in which only the cards of the heart suit incur penalty points. It is known by a variety of other names including American hearts, black lady hearts, black widow and slippery Anne. In Australia it is known as rickety Kate. It is sometimes misnamed black Maria which, however, is the British variant of hearts played with additional penalty cards.
Black lady was developed in America in the early 20th century from hearts. It is first mentioned by R. F. Foster in 1909 who describes a variant called "Discard hearts which is sometimes called black jack or black lady". In black jack, the jack of spades was worth "ten hearts"; in black lady the queen of spades was worth "thirteen hearts". Discarding three cards was already part of the game as the name discard hearts suggests. The discards were passed to the left. Scoring was simple: one penalty point for every heart captured and thirteen for the queen of spades.
The slam known as "shooting the moon" first appeared in Britain in 1939 in a variant of hearts called hitting the moon. This was essentially black lady with the addition of a slam. Today this feature is a common element in the game.
Black lady was incorporated into Microsoft Windows under the name "Microsoft Hearts", starting with Windows 3.1.
The aim of black lady is to avoid capturing heart cards or the queen of spades.
The following rules are based on the earliest known rules – those by R.F. Foster (1909) – in which black lady was an alternative name for discard hearts, itself a variation of classic hearts.
The game is designed for three to six players, although "four is the usual number." A standard 52-card deck of Anglo-American pattern cards is used in which cards rank in their normal order, aces high. If three play, the is removed, if five play, the two black deuces are removed and, if six play, all four deuces are discarded. It was usual practice to play with two decks, one being shuffled while the other was being dealt. Players cut for the choice of seats (aces low), lowest becoming the first dealer and choosing a seat first and then others choosing their seats in their order. Players tying must cut again.
Black Lady
Black lady is an American card game of the hearts group for three to six players and the most popular of the group. It emerged in the early 20th century as an elaboration of hearts and was initially also called discard hearts. It is named after its highest penalty card, the queen of spades or "black lady". It is a trick-avoidance game in which the aim is to avoid taking tricks containing hearts or the black lady. American author and leading bridge exponent Ely Culbertson describes it as "essentially hearts with the addition of the queen of spades as a minus card, counting thirteen" and goes on to say that "black lady and its elaborations have completely overshadowed the original hearts in popularity".
The game is often called hearts in America, although that is the proper name for the basic game in which only the cards of the heart suit incur penalty points. It is known by a variety of other names including American hearts, black lady hearts, black widow and slippery Anne. In Australia it is known as rickety Kate. It is sometimes misnamed black Maria which, however, is the British variant of hearts played with additional penalty cards.
Black lady was developed in America in the early 20th century from hearts. It is first mentioned by R. F. Foster in 1909 who describes a variant called "Discard hearts which is sometimes called black jack or black lady". In black jack, the jack of spades was worth "ten hearts"; in black lady the queen of spades was worth "thirteen hearts". Discarding three cards was already part of the game as the name discard hearts suggests. The discards were passed to the left. Scoring was simple: one penalty point for every heart captured and thirteen for the queen of spades.
The slam known as "shooting the moon" first appeared in Britain in 1939 in a variant of hearts called hitting the moon. This was essentially black lady with the addition of a slam. Today this feature is a common element in the game.
Black lady was incorporated into Microsoft Windows under the name "Microsoft Hearts", starting with Windows 3.1.
The aim of black lady is to avoid capturing heart cards or the queen of spades.
The following rules are based on the earliest known rules – those by R.F. Foster (1909) – in which black lady was an alternative name for discard hearts, itself a variation of classic hearts.
The game is designed for three to six players, although "four is the usual number." A standard 52-card deck of Anglo-American pattern cards is used in which cards rank in their normal order, aces high. If three play, the is removed, if five play, the two black deuces are removed and, if six play, all four deuces are discarded. It was usual practice to play with two decks, one being shuffled while the other was being dealt. Players cut for the choice of seats (aces low), lowest becoming the first dealer and choosing a seat first and then others choosing their seats in their order. Players tying must cut again.
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