Oh Hell!

Objective

Score the most points for exact bids.

Deal and setup

Oh Hell! is played by 3 to 7 players, each for themselves. Use 52 French-suited cards without jokers. Ace is highest, followed by K, Q, J and 10 down to 2. Aim for the highest total over the series by predicting your tricks accurately.

How to play — step by step

1. With 3 to 5 players, start with 10 cards each; with 6, start with 8; with 7, start with 7. Deal one fewer card each round down to one, then one more back to the starting number. There is only one one-card round. The series has 19, 15 or 13 rounds.
2. The first dealer is random; the deal then rotates clockwise. Deal one card at a time starting left of the dealer. Turn up the next card to determine the trump suit. This card is not played, and no cards are drawn from the remaining deck.
3. Starting left of the dealer, everyone bids from zero to the number of cards dealt. Dealer bids last and may not make the total bids equal the number of tricks. At least one player must therefore miss their bid. Confirmed bids cannot be changed in this app; available Undo is a club aid.
4. The player left of the dealer leads the first trick and may lead any suit, including trump. Follow the suit led if you can. Otherwise play any card; neither trumping nor beating the previous cards is compulsory.
5. The highest trump wins, or the highest card of the suit led if no trump was played. The winner leads next. Aim to take exactly your bid, not as many tricks as possible. A zero bid means taking no tricks.
6. We award 1 point per trick taken plus a 10-point bonus for an exact bid. Bidding 2 and taking 2 scores 12; taking 1 scores 1, and taking 3 scores 3. Bidding zero and taking none scores 10. This is one common Oh Hell! scoring variant, not the only one.
7. After scoring, choose Next deal. Highest total after the final round wins. If tied, all players on the highest score share first place; no extra rounds are added. Every winner receives a club win.
8. XP, statistics and rewards are recorded only for the whole series, not individual rounds. Giving up through the menu is a loss without XP. No jokers, blind bids or compulsory trumping. Card backs unlock separately from faces and use the shared Collection.

Important rules to remember