How to Play Oh Hell Card Game, Rules & Strategies

You must have heard or played many card games with distinct variations and rules that spice up the gameplay and make the variant more exciting and fun. Oh Hell! This card game is a popular round game with simple rules, making it appealing and suitable for expert players and beginners. With the right strategies and hand, you can emerge as the winner.

The Oh Hell card game is a trick-taking game for three to seven players. Players must predict the exact number of tricks they will win. This game has been popular in America since the 1930s. Although its original name is Oh Hell!, it is popular under many similar names, such as Up and Down the River, Nomination Whist, Blob, Blackout, Get Fred, etc.

The game is popularly known as Up and Down the River because the player’s hand changes in each deal. It is also known as Blob because the player’s bids are recorded on the score sheet, which is marked by the name Black Bob when players fail to reach the promised bid. In this blog, we will learn more about how to play Oh Hell and related rules.

Oh Hell Card Gameplay & Setup

The Oh Hell card game is played with a standard deck of 52 cards. Oh Hell is popular by many names, and it also has many variants based on different numbers of cards. For 3 to 5 players, 10 cards are dealt to each player. For 6 players, each player gets 8 cards in their hands, and so on.

The ranking of cards goes in the following order (from high to low): Ace, King, Queen, Jack, 10, 9,8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2. Ace is the highest-ranking card in the game. Oh Hell can be played with 3 to 7 players. However, it is best when played with 4 to 6 players.

The dealer can be chosen by more than one method, such as a rock scissor or randomly choosing anyone as the dealer. You can also choose to rotate to change dealers in every game, giving everyone the chance to deal cards and shuffle. It mainly depends upon the collective decision of all players.

Sequence of Hands

The Oh Hell game consists of a series of hands in which each player gets cards based on the number of players in the game. There are a limited number of cards available, i.e., 52 cards.

10 Cards each (3 to 5 players)
8 Cards each (6 players)
7 Cards each (7 players)

The number of rounds depends on the number of cards in your hand. Each successive hand is played with one card or less until the hand reaches just one card each.

Objective

Each player bid the number of tricks they think they can take after analyzing their hands properly. Predict the strength of your hand and bid accordingly. If players match the exact number of tricks they made for the game, they are awarded one point and an extra 10 points.

If they miss the bid by one or more, they will not get any points and face a penalty. The highest-ranking card wins a hand and collects the trick points. Ultimately, the player with the highest total registers the win, and the game ends.

Trump Suits

The trump suit is a set of cards chosen from the top cards after the deal. In some game variants, the trump suit is selected in an alternate manner that rotates through Spades, Hearts, Diamonds, Clubs, and no trumps.

When all 13 cards are dealt to each player in a game when there are 4 players, there is no card left to determine the trump suit. These hands are played with “no trumps”.

Dealing

Oh Hell is played with a standard deck of 52 cards. The dealer shuffles the card and distributes 10 cards to each player when there are 3 to 5 players. To determine the first dealer, draw cards, and the player with the highest ranking card goes first. The turn to deal then advances in the clockwise direction.

Each card is dealt face down until every player has the same number of cards. Put the remaining cards and turn the top card face up. The face-up card determines the trump suit for the hand. You can keep the remaining cards face down beneath the trump card. The player with the highest total wins the game.

Bidding

Players have to make the best guess as to how many hands they can win this round. The number of rounds is equivalent to the number of cards you get after dealing. You will get extra points if you win exactly the number of tricks you bid.

The highest-ranking cards win the hand. It is important to analyze how many tricks you can win with your hand if you have a strong hand. If you have face cards, then you can set your bids high, as the chances of winning tricks are higher.

Tricks

The game continues in a clockwise direction. In each round, players put one card from their hand face up on the table. The player who makes the first move must choose a card to lose or win the trick, which depends on their strategy.

The opponents must respond with a high-ranking card that might help them win the hand. The trick’s winner will get one point and act first in the next trick. The cards used in this round are discarded and kept aside. The game continues until all the cards in the hand are played.

Oh Hell Card Game Rules

Being well familiar with the Oh Hell card game rules is essential before competing with real players. Rules help you familiarize yourself with the gameplay and help you make more innovative moves while avoiding unwanted penalties. Let us discover some of the significant Oh Hell card game rules below.

Each trick earns you one point, and if you correctly predict how many tricks you can win at the bidding stage, you can score 10 points per round.
You can win the trick if you have a higher card of the same suit or trump card. Remember a card is beaten only when it outranks other opponent’s card.
Ace is the highest-ranking card, and 2s are the lowest.
This game is suitable for ages 10 and up.
The winner is the player with the highest points after a fixed number of rounds. There can be one or more than one winner in the game.
The Oh Hell card can be played with 3 to 7 players.
If all cards are dealt to each player (i,e 13 cards each to 4 players), then no cards are left to determine trump suits. This hand is played with no trump cards.

Also Read: Play Spades Online For Real Money

Gameplay

Now, let’s carefully analyze how to play Oh Hell.

The game starts with the player to the dealer’s left and continues clockwise.
The ranking of the cards goes from high to lower rank i,e, Ace, King, Queen, Jack, 10, 9, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2
Each player gets 10 cards each (3-5 players). The number of cards differs based on the number of players in the game. However, each player receives an equal number of cards in each round.
A player with the suit’s highest trump or highest-ranking card wins.
Players must flip the card on the top of the deck to choose the suit for the following round. Players who won the previous trick make the first move.
Players must follow the suit if they have a card from the same suit. They can use other cards if they do not have a card from the same suit.
The player who wins the trick starts the next round in the game.
You only play with one card in one round, so choose your card properly. High-ranking cards, such as face cards (J, Q, K, and A), have a higher probability of winning.
The game advances likewise, and at the end, the total number of tricks each player makes is counted to determine the winner. The number of tricks must be compared to the bid they made initially.
If the player’s score matches the bid made at the beginning of the game, they will get an extra 10 points.

Scoring

Scoring is simple in the Oh hell game. Let us know how to collect the points below.

You will get one point if you win a trick. Together, these tricks will help you score in the game.
If the bid you announced matches the number of tricks you win, you will then get an extra 10 points plus the number of tricks bid. When you place a successful zero bid, you get 5 points.
If you fail to match the bids,, you will get no extra points.
This scoring method is also known as Blackout or Blob because the player blacks out unsuccessful bids, hence they become black blobs on the scoresheet.
In case of a tie, dealing continues with the maximum number of cards until a winner is selected.
There are many variations with slight differences in the scoring method. For example, in some variations, you win 5 points if you make a successful bid and 10 points for each trick. However, you lose 5 points if you are wrong, plus an extra 5 points for each trick difference from your bid.

For example, suppose a player who bid 3 would score 13 points for precisely matching the bids, but only 1 point is given if they win 1 trick. If they win 4 tricks, they are also awarded 4 points ( 1 point for each trick).

Oh Hell Game Strategies

When players bid high in the game, it means they have good ranking cards and can, hence, win many tricks. In this situation, you can bid low.
Bid high when everyone else bids low the game, as it might be easier to score high tricks.
Set your objective to win as many tricks as possible to get the most points. If you have won as many tricks as you bid, try avoiding any more wins, as you will miss the 10-point bonus.
You can try to make your opponent lose their bid to maximize your chance of winning.
You can also bid Zero in the game to lose intentionally and earn a bonus.
Holding on to the highest-ranking cards or trump suits would be best, as they can help you win more tricks. You can discard a low card to throw it out of the way, as it will not help you win any more tricks.

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FAQs

Is there another name for the card game Oh Hell?

The Oh Hell Card game has many names, such as Up and Down the River, Nomination Whist, Blob, Blackout, and Get Fred.

What is the difference between Wizard and Oh Hell?

Oh hell, support the zero bidding option where the player is awarded 5 bonus points if they match the exact trick as they bid. However, in Wizard there is no zero bidding option in the game.

Can you play Oh Hell online?

Yes, most of the card games are available online, and you can play them for fun and earn rewards on your smartphone. All it takes is a stable internet connection. MPL offers real money-earning mobile games. Check them today.

Is Oh Hell the same as Spades?

In the Oh hell game, winning extra tricks will lead to penalties and a loss in points, unlike spades, where you get more points for winning tricks than you bid. Also, spades are always the trump suit in the Spades card game, unlike Oh Hell, where the trump suit is decided based on the top undealt card faced up after shuffling.

What is a trump card in Oh Hell?

A trump card is a super powerful card that is selected randomly by turning face up the top undealt card. Any of the four suits can be a trump in Oh hell game.

Can you play Oh Hell with two people?

A game of Oh hell requires at least 3 people to play. The maximum number of players in an Oh Hell match is 7.

What is the trick in Oh Hell?

Each player plays a card on the table on their turn, and the player with the highest ranking card, or Trump, wins the round. This is counted as one trick.