- Number of players: 3-7
- Objective: Win "tricks" by playing the highest card of a certain suit.
- Setup: Shuffle a 52-card deck and deal 10 cards to each player for a 4-player game.
Dealing
Shuffle the deck and deal 10 cards to each player. Play rock, paper, scissors to choose a starting dealer. Remove the jokers from the deck and shuffle it, then deal the cards. For a 3-5 player game, the dealer distributes 10 cards to each player, starting with the player on their left. For 6 players, deal 8 cards to each player, and for a game of 7 players, deal 7 cards. Oh Hell is known by many names, and each variation of the game tends to use a different number of cards, but the important part is that everyone receives the same number of cards.
Place the remaining cards in a pile and reveal the top card. Set all the cards that weren’t dealt (the deck) in a face-down pile in the center of the table, where everyone can reach them. Then, reveal the top card and place it face-up next to the deck. This first card establishes the first suit that will be played this round.
Bidding
Examine your hand and make your starting bid. Each player, starting with the left of the dealer, looks at their hand and makes their best guess as to how many hands they can win this round. The number of rounds is equal to the number of cards in your hand. If you win as many hands as you bid, you receive extra points, so do your best to gauge how well you’ll play based on your hand. In Oh Hell, the highest card played wins the hand, so if you have many face or high cards, set your bid high. For example, if you have 3 face cards, you might bid at least 3, since you’re likely to win 3 rounds with those cards. Cards in Oh Hell are ranked, from low to high: 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, J, Q, K, A In some versions of the game, the sum of everyone’s bids can’t be equal to the number of rounds in the game—this makes it so that it’s impossible for everyone to win their bid, making for some sneakier and more competitive games.
Playing and Scoring the Game
Play a card of the same suit as the face-up card. To start the round (or “trick”), the player to the left of the dealer goes first. Look at the face-up card on the table, then play a card of the same suit. Once the first player lays down a card, the next player (moving counterclockwise around the table), also plays a card of the same suit, until each player has played 1 card. If you don’t have a card of the same suit as the face-up card, play any other card. However, you can’t win a trick with a card that isn’t of the starting suit. You only play 1 card per round, so choose your card carefully! Low cards are less likely to win rounds, while high cards (10, J, K, Q, A) are much more likely.
Win the round by playing the highest card of the starting suit. Once all the players have laid 1 card on the table, look at the face-up cards. The player who played the highest card of the starting suit wins the trick. If you win, take all the face-up cards and set them aside in a neat pile to keep track of how many tricks you’ve won. Players choose cards to play based on their starting bid. For example, if they placed a high bid, they’ll want to play many high cards to win many rounds and reach that bid. If their bid was low, they’ll play low cards to avoid winning games.
Flip the top card of the deck and play another round. Flip the card on the top of the deck to reveal the suit of the next round. The player who won the previous trick goes first, then the other players each play 1 card of the same suit, and whoever plays the highest card of that suit takes the trick. Keep playing tricks until nobody has any cards remaining in their hands. It helps to try to keep track of the cards that have been played. For example, if someone played a King of Heart last round, you know that your Queen of Hearts has a much better chance of winning the next round.
Count each player’s tricks to determine the winner. The game ends once everyone has played all their cards. Count the number of tricks each person has taken; this is their score. Then, compare their score to the bid they made at the start of the game. If their score is the same as their bid, they receive an additional 10 points. The person with the most points is the winner! For example, Player A took 3 tricks, but bid 4, so their final score is just 3. Player B took 2 tricks and bid only 2, so receives an additional 10 points, for a final score of 12. Player B is the winner!
Strategies
Bid low when everyone else bids high. When other players are bidding high, it usually means that they think they can win many tricks, in which case winning tricks will be more difficult for you. Conversely, if everyone else bids low, you might have an easier time taking tricks, so bid a little higher. When in doubt, bid low. It’s often easier to achieve a low bid and then intentionally lose tricks than it is to win more tricks than everyone else.
Try to win as many tricks as you bid for the most points. In Oh Hell, you get an additional 10 points if you win exactly as many tricks as you bid at the start of the game. Once you’ve won as many tricks as your bid, try to avoid winning with your higher cards, since winning any more tricks will make you miss out on that 10-point bonus. Also, try to force other players to exceed their bid if they’ve already achieved it. For example, if Player A bid 3 tricks and has won 3 tricks, play a lower card than them on the next trick to force them to win it, making them miss out on the 10-point bonus.
Play your low cards when you’re breaking from the suit. The highest card of the starting suit wins each trick. That means that you want to hold on to those high cards in order to win tricks. If you can’t play a card of the starting suit, discard a low card of another suit to get it out of the way, which gives you better chances of winning a later trick.
Bid 0 to intentionally try to lose. In Oh Hell, it’s possible to still get 10 points by bidding 0 tricks and taking 0 tricks. If you have a hand of only low cards, you might choose to bid 0, expecting to take 0 tricks. If you’re successful, you still earn 10 points.
Variations
Play with trump suits for a more complex game. When playing with trump suits, the card that’s flipped from the top of the deck each round is that round’s “trump” suit. The first player plays any card from their hand to determine the “following” suit, and each player must try to play cards of this following suit. If they can’t, they may play any other suit. The highest card of the following suit takes the trick. That is, unless a player plays a card from the trump suit—then, the highest card from the trump suit wins the trick. Alternatively, use predetermined trump suits for each round. For example, the first round might have hearts as a trump suit, then the next round would be spades, then clubs, then diamonds, repeating through the rounds.
Deal new cards each round for a longer game. Start by dealing each player 10 cards, and play as usual, with players bidding and taking tricks. Then, the game continues, but this time each player is dealt 9 cards. The next round, deal 8, then 7, and so on, until each player is dealt only a single card, at which point you may deal another card each round back up to 10 cards. After this final round of 10, the game ends.
Score only successful bids for a more competitive game. For a more intense game, play so that players only earn points by achieving exactly their bid. For example, if Player A bids 3 tricks but takes 4 instead, they get no points. But if Player B bids 5 tricks and takes exactly 5, they get 15 points (5 for each trick plus 10 for a successful bid).
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