Oh Hell Rules

For an overview the game Oh Hell, see Oh Hell Basics.

Available Options

When:

“Now” creates a new game that starts immediately. Other options schedule a game for a time in the next 24 hours. Compete and Join games only.

Winnings:

Four levels of winnings based on the buy-in level—30, 110, 275 or 550 Trickster Chips. Compete games only.

Players:

Sets the number of seats for players to “2”, “3”, “4”, “5”, or “6”.

Deal pattern:

Sets the number of cards and the deal pattern. This affects game length. Choices are organized by the most cards dealt in a single hand. Four patterns are offered for each number of cards.

For example, in the 10 Cards section, “10..1..10” starts with 10 cards dealt, ramps down to a 1-card hand, then ramps back to 10. “1..10..1” starts with 1, ramps to 10, then back down to 1. “10..1” ramps from 10 to 1. “1..10” ramps from 1 to 10.

“Custom Deal Pattern” allows you to define patterns not included here. See below.

Custom Deal Pattern

Start # cards:

Sets the number of cards dealt on the first hand.

Switch # cards:

Sets the number of cards dealt on the hand with the most or least number of cards.

End # cards:

Sets the number of cards dealt on the last hand. To create a one-way ramp, set “Switch # cards” and “End # cards” to the same value.

Play

Bid:

“In Order” means players bid around the table starting to the left of the dealer. “At Same Time” means players bid simultaneously. Players who have bid are indicated by the word “Bid” to the right of their player name. Card play begins when all players have bid.

Play with hook:

“Yes” requires the sum of the bids to not equal the number of cards dealt. The dealer is restricted from making a bid that would violate this. “No” allows the dealer to bid normally.

Lead trump:

Controls when trump may be first led. “After broken” means trump may not be led until trump is dumped on a trick or you have no cards except trump. “After first trick” means trump may be led anytime except the first trick. “Anytime” means trump may be led anytime.

Scoring

Made bids score:

When making your bid, “Bid + 10” adds the bid value plus 10. “Bid × 2 + 10” adds 2 times the bid plus 10. Similarly, “Bid × 3 + 10” and “Bid × 10 + 10” adds 3 or 10 times the bid plus 10. “Bid² + 10” squares the bid value, adds 10, and adds that to your score.

Failed bids score:

When failing to make your bid on-the-nose, “Zero” scores no points for the tricks you took. “Tricks Taken” scores 1 point for each trick taken. “Minus Tricks Off Bid” subtracts one for each trick you are over or under your bid. “Minus 5 × Tricks Off Bid” subtracts five for each trick you are over or under your bid.

Limits

Random seats:

“Yes” randomly reassigns seats at the start of each game to mix up player positions (sometimes keeping the seats the same). “No” allows players to keep the seats they choose. Compete games only.

Must be invited:

“Yes” hides this game from other players until they’ve been explicitly invited using the “Invite Friends” form. “No” allows all friends of players in this game to see it. Join and Compete games only.

Allow suggestions:

“Yes” to allow players to see bid and card play suggestions, depending on their personal setting. “No” prevents all players from seeing suggestions. Always “Yes” in Play games; “No” in Compete games.

Show all hands:

“Yes” shows all players’ hands face up during the game. “No” keeps other players’ hands face down. Join and Practice games only.

Hide player points:

“Yes” hides the points taken during the hand displayed next to each player’s name.

Allow deck upload

“Yes” allows decks to be uploaded using the Upload Decks button in the Current Game item in the main menu. Uploaded decks are used starting on the next deal following upload. Join and Practice games only.

Allow watching:

“No” prevents anyone from watching the game. “Face Down” allows up to 10 additional players to watch the game with all players’ hands face down. “Face Up” allows watching with players’ hands face up. Join games only.

Chat during game:

“None” disables all chat during the game. “Preset” allows only the built-in chat messages to be used. “Text” allows full chat. Full chat is also always available before and after games.

Time to bid:

Specifies an optional time limit for a player to bid. “Off” means there are no time limits on bidding. “7s,” “15s,”, “30s” & “60s” sets a limit to bid of 7, 15, 30 or 60 seconds, respectively. Automatically set in Play games.

Time to play:

Specifies an optional time limit for a player to play a card. “Off” means there are no time limits on card play. “7s,” “15s,”, “30s” & “60s” sets a limit to play a card of 7, 15, 30 or 60 seconds, respectively. Automatically set in Play games.