Oh Hell!

Full rules

1. Overview
2. The cards
3. Tricks and trumps
4. Setup
5. Bidding
6. Playing the hand
7. Scoring
8. Winning the game
9. Tips for beginners
10. Variants

Overview

Oh Hell! is a trick-taking game with a twist: before each hand, every player bids – predicts – exactly how many tricks they will win. You score well only if you hit your bid exactly. Taking one trick too many hurts just as much as taking one too few. The game is played over many hands, and the number of cards dealt changes from hand to hand.

• Players: 3 to 7 (best with 4 to 6).
• You need: one standard 52-card deck without jokers, plus paper and pencil for the score sheet.

The cards

In each suit the cards rank from high to low: A K Q J 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2. The Ace is the highest card.

Tricks and trumps

A trick is one round of play in which every player puts down one card. The first player leads (plays any card), and the others follow one after another, clockwise.

• Follow suit: you must play a card of the suit that was led if you have one.
• If you have none, you may play any card – including a trump.

In every hand one suit is trump. Trump cards beat all cards of the other suits. The trick is won by the highest trump in it – or, if no trump was played, by the highest card of the suit led. The winner takes the cards, places them face down in front of them as one bundle (so tricks are easy to count), and leads to the next trick.

Setup

The number of cards per player changes from hand to hand. The first hand uses the most cards:

Each following hand has one card fewer, down to one card each, then one card more each time, back up to the starting number. With 7 players you play 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7 cards.

1. First dealer: everyone draws a card; the highest card deals first. After each hand the deal passes one player to the left (clockwise).
2. Hand size: check the table and the sequence above.
3. Deal: the dealer shuffles and deals the cards one at a time, face down, clockwise, starting with the player on their left.
4. Trump: the dealer turns the next card of the pack face up. Its suit is trump for this hand. The rest of the pack is not used in this hand.

Bidding

Look at your cards. Then, starting with the player to the dealer's left and going clockwise, each player announces a bid: the number of tricks they expect to win. The dealer bids last.

• Any number from 0 up to the number of cards in your hand is allowed. Nobody may pass – a bid of zero ("I'll take no tricks") is fine.
• The scorekeeper writes down every bid. Anyone may ask to hear the bids again during play.

The dealer's restriction (the "hook"): the dealer may not bid the number that would make the total of all bids equal the number of tricks in the hand. So the bids never add up exactly – at least one player is bound to miss.

Example: 4 players, 5 cards each, so there are 5 tricks. Anna bids 1, Ben 2, Carla 0 – that is 3 so far. Dan, the dealer, may bid anything except 2, because 3 + 2 = 5. He bids 3 (total 6: over-bid – someone will take fewer tricks than they want) or 1 (total 4: under-bid – someone will be forced to take an extra trick).

Playing the hand

The player to the dealer's left leads to the first trick with any card, including a trump. Play the tricks as explained above until everyone's cards are used up. The winner of each trick leads to the next.

Scoring

After the last trick everyone counts their tricks:

• Exactly your bid: 10 points bonus plus 1 point per trick. A bid of 0 made exactly scores 10; a bid of 3 made exactly scores 13.
• More or fewer than your bid: only 1 point per trick you took – no bonus.

Example (continued): Dan bid 3. The tricks are won: Anna 1, Ben 1, Carla 0, Dan 3. Anna scores 11 (bid 1, made it), Ben 1 (bid 2, took only 1), Carla 10 (bid 0, took none), Dan 13 (bid 3, made it).

Keep a running total for each player on the score sheet.

Winning the game

After the last hand, the player with the highest total wins. If there is a tie, you may play extra hands with the largest number of cards until someone is ahead.

Tips for beginners

• Count your sure winners. Aces and high trumps usually win a trick; Kings are often only half a trick. Low cards in a long side suit almost never win when there is a trump suit.
• Zero is a good bid with a hand full of low cards – but beware of being forced to win a trick with your last card.
• Listen to the bids. If the total is over the number of tricks, everyone will fight for tricks; if it is under, someone will be stuck with an extra one – make sure it isn't you.
• Get rid of danger early. Once you have made your bid, throw away high cards when you can't follow suit.
• As dealer, use your knowledge. You bid last and know all the other bids – but the hook may force you into an uncomfortable number.

Variants

All of these are optional – agree on them before the game.

• No hook: the dealer may bid any number, so everyone could make their bid.
• Blackout (strict scoring): exact bid scores 10 + the bid; a missed bid scores nothing.
• Penalty scoring: exact bid scores 10 + 1 per trick; a missed bid loses 1 point for every trick you are over or under.
• Other sequences: play only upwards (1 card, then 2, 3 …), only downwards, or a fixed number of cards every hand. If a hand uses all 52 cards, there is no card left to turn: play that hand without trumps.
• Blind hand: in one agreed hand (often the one-card hand), players bid before looking at their cards. Exact blind bids score double.
• Simultaneous bidding: everyone hides a fist and on "three" shows their bid with their fingers. There is no hook then.

Wizard-style variant

The commercial game Wizard (Ken Fisher) is based on Oh Hell. It uses a 60-card deck: the 52 normal cards plus 4 Wizards and 4 Jesters. You can get close with standard decks:

• Cards: add 4 jokers from two decks. The two coloured (or large) jokers are Wizards, the two black (or small) jokers are Jesters. That is 56 cards.
• Hands: deal 1 card in the first hand, 2 in the second, and so on, until all 56 cards would be dealt (3 players: 18 hands, 4: 14, 5: 11, 6: 9). There is no way back down.
• Trump: turn the next card. A number card sets trump. A Jester, or no card left, means no trump. A Wizard lets the dealer choose trump.
• Wizards and Jesters may be played at any time, even if you could follow suit.
• A Wizard always wins the trick; if there are several, the first Wizard wins. If a Wizard is led, everyone may play any card.
• A Jester always loses; only if every card in the trick is a Jester does the first one win. If a Jester is led, the first number card played sets the suit to follow.
• Scoring (as in Wizard): exact bid: 20 + 10 per trick. Missed bid: −10 per trick you are over or under. The hook is optional.

Original Wizard has 4 Wizards and 4 Jesters and plays up to 20 hands (3 players). This version with 2 of each is a little less wild but plays the same way.