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.
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.' It is a trick-avoidance game in which the aim is to avoid taking tricks containing hearts or the Black Lady. It is named after its highest penalty card, the Queen of Spades or 'Black Lady'. It emerged in the early 20th century as an elaboration of Hearts and was initially also called Discard Hearts.
American Hearts, Black Lady Hearts, Black Maria, Black Widow, Slippery Anne, Rickety Kateīlack Lady is an American card game of the Hearts group for three to six players and the most popular of the group.
