Oh Hell Card Game

Oh Hell is a trick-taking game where winning too many tricks hurts as much as winning too few. Each round you bid exactly how many tricks you will take, and only an exact bid scores. The game is also known by friendlier names such as Oh Heck, Up and Down the River, Blackout and Nomination Whist.

How to play Oh Hell Card Game

• You play against two, three or four computer players with a standard 52-card deck. Aces are high.
• The hand size changes every round. The default game deals 10 cards each, then 9, and so on down to a single card: 10 rounds. You can also play down and back up (10 to 1 to 10), a shorter 7 to 1 to 7, or the whole deck (13 cards each with four players, 17 with three, 10 with five) down and back up.
• After the deal, the next card of the deck is turned face up and its suit is trump for the round. When a round uses every card in the deck (for example 13 cards each with four players), there is nothing to turn up and the round is played with no trump.
• Starting with the player on the dealer's left and ending with the dealer, everyone bids how many tricks they expect to win, from zero up to the number of cards in hand. Bids are public.
• Dealer hook: the dealer bids last and may not choose the number that would make the total of all bids equal the number of tricks, so at least one player must miss. You can switch this rule off in the toolbar.
• The player on the dealer's left leads to the first trick. You must follow suit if you can; otherwise you may play a trump or any other card. The highest trump wins the trick, or the highest card of the suit led if no trump was played. The winner leads next.
• Scoring: if you win exactly the number of tricks you bid, you score 10 points plus your bid (a bid of 0 made is worth 10, a bid of 3 made is worth 13). Win more or fewer and you score nothing for the round.
• The deal passes to the left after each round. The player with the highest total after the last round wins.

Controls

• Choose your bid from the number buttons. The highlighted button is a suggestion based on your cards; a crossed-out number is the dealer's forbidden bid. On a keyboard, press a digit key to bid.
• Tap or click a card to play it. Cards you cannot legally play are dimmed. With a keyboard, press Tab to move between cards and Enter to play the focused card.
• The bar above the table shows the round, the hand size, the trump card and the total of all bids. Each seat shows its bid, tricks won and score.
• Scores opens the round-by-round score sheet, Last trick shows the previous trick, and the toolbar sets the number of players, the round pattern and the dealer rule.

Tips

• Aces and the high trumps are your most reliable tricks. Side-suit kings are often trumped, especially with more players at the table.
• Watch the bar above the table: if the bids add up to fewer tricks than there are, someone will be forced to take extra tricks, so keep a low card ready. If they add up to more, expect a fight for every trick.
• Once you have made your bid, throw your high cards on tricks that someone else is already winning, so they cannot force a trick on you later.
• A bid of zero is often the safest bid with a weak hand in the short rounds, but a lone ace of trump makes zero very hard to keep.
• In the one-card round there is little to think about except your bid: an ace or a high trump says 1, almost anything else says 0.

Common Oh Hell variants

Oh Hell is a family game with many house rules. This version uses the most common ones, and here are the alternatives you may meet at other tables:

• Scoring: some players score 1 point for every trick taken plus a 10-point bonus for an exact bid. Others subtract points for a missed bid, often 10 or the size of the miss.
• Round pattern: going up first (1 to 10) or both up and down is common, and some groups play every hand size from the maximum down to one and back.
• Trump: instead of playing no trump when the whole deck is dealt, some players use the dealer's last card as trump, or rotate trump in a fixed order (hearts, diamonds, clubs, spades, no trump).
• Dealer rule: the "hook" or "screw the dealer" rule is standard but optional; turn it off in the toolbar if your family plays without it.
• Names: the same game is called Oh Heck, Up and Down the River, Blackout, Nomination Whist, or Contract Whist, depending on the region.

How Oh Hell compares with other trick-taking games

Like Spades, Oh Hell is about bidding your tricks, but there are no partners and an overtrick is just as bad as a missed trick. Whist uses the same turned-up trump card without any bidding, and Hearts rewards avoiding tricks altogether. If you enjoy the trump-making of Euchre, the short rounds of Oh Hell will feel familiar.

FAQ

How do you play Oh Hell?

Each round everyone is dealt the same number of cards and a card is turned up for trump. Players bid how many tricks they will win, then play the tricks following suit. Only players who win exactly their bid score points: 10 plus the bid.

What are the scoring rules for Oh Hell?

In this version an exact bid scores 10 points plus the number bid, and a missed bid scores 0. Common alternatives are 1 point per trick plus a 10-point bonus for an exact bid, or a penalty for missing such as minus 10 or minus the number of tricks you were off.

Why can't the dealer bid a certain number?

That is the dealer hook (also called "screw the dealer"). The dealer may not make the total bids equal the number of tricks, so the round can never work out for everyone. You can turn the rule off in the toolbar.

What is trump when all the cards are dealt?

With four players and 13 cards each, no card is left to turn up, so that round is played with no trump: the highest card of the suit led wins every trick.

Is Oh Hell the same as Oh Heck or Up and Down the River?

Yes. Oh Heck, Up and Down the River, Blackout and Nomination Whist are other names for the same game, with small differences in scoring and in the order of hand sizes from table to table.

Does my game save if I leave the page?

Yes. The current round, all bids and the full score sheet are saved in your browser and the game resumes where you left off.