Also known as Oh Pshaw, Blackout, Bust, or Blob (among other names), Oh Hell is an individual trick-taking game where players bid the number of tricks they expect to take. A bonus is awarded for taking exactly that number of tricks. Trump is set randomly by turning up the first undealt card.
The most unique aspect of Oh Hell is the changing number of cards dealt per hand. Games are a set number of hands long. At the end of the hands, the player with the highest score wins.
Trickster Oh Hell offers four common hand patterns: 10..1..10, 1..10..1, 10..1, and 1..10. More on these patterns in The Deal, below.
Oh Hell is played with a standard 52-card deck. However, not all cards are dealt on any given hand. In fact, the most cards dealt per hand with our current options is 40 (10 cards to each of 4 players). That leaves 12 cards out of play. In the extreme case when the hand consists of only 1 trick, only 4 cards are dealt – 48 cards are out of play!
The number of cards dealt per player varies each hand going up one or down one from the previous hand. The starting and ending number of cards depend on the deal pattern selected (see Options, below). After dealing cards to all four players, the next card is turned face-up in front of the dealer. The suit of this card establishes trump.
Using the 10..1..10 deal pattern, 10 cards are dealt per player on the first hand for 10 total tricks. On the second hand, 9 cards are dealt per player, then 8, then 7, and so on down to 1 card per player. After the 1-card hand, the number of cards dealt increases to 2, then 3, then 4 up to 10 cards per player again. The game ends after that last 10-card hand.
Following the deal and starting with the player left of the dealer, each player bids the number of tricks he or she believes they will take that hand. Allowed bids range from zero to the number of cards dealt. You are awarded a 10-point bonus for exactly making your bid so accurate bidding is valuable.
If playing with “the hook,” the dealer is restricted from bidding a value that causes the sum of the bids around the table to equal the number of cards dealt. For example, with 10 cards dealt and previous bids of 2, 3 and 1, the dealer is prohibited from bidding 4 as that would mean the sum of the bids would equal 10 (2 + 3 + 1 + 4 = 10). The hook is most troublesome on hands with a small number of cards.
You may create a game without the hook (see Options, below).
The player left of the dealer leads the first trick.
Play continues clockwise following the led suit, if possible, or playing any other card if not. When all four players have played, the trick is taken by the player who played the highest trump, if any, or the player who played the highest card of the led suit.
The player who takes the trick leads the next trick.
Each player receives 1 point for each trick taken. If the number of tricks taken exactly matches the player’s bid, he or she is awarded a 10-point bonus. For example, if the player’s bid is 2 and he or she takes 2 tricks, 12 points are awarded. However, if he or she takes 3 tricks only 3 points are credited.
This scoring can be modified by the game rule options “Made bids score” and “Failed bids score” (see Oh Hell Rules).
The game ends after all the hands have been played according to the deal pattern. At that point, the player with the highest score wins.
If you don’t see your favorite rules listed, use the “More Games/Rules…” button at the bottom of the list of available rules and customize them the way you want. View the available house rule options in Oh Hell Rules.
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