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Oh Hell is a trick-taking card game. Like all games of its popularity, it has many variants and different names (for a full list see below). It is played by three or more players with a conventional 52-card deck, though with more than six or seven players, a 73-card deck of the type used for 500 or more than one 52-card deck should be used.

The object of the game is to fulfill one's bid exactly; unlike contract bridge an overtrick downs the contract.

Contents 1 Variant names 2 Rules 3 Scoring 4 Variations 4.1 Order of Hands 4.2 Making bids 4.3 Trump suit 4.4 Double deck 4.5 Miscellaneous

Variant names

• Oh Hell - 500 Version
• Perpetual Aggravation
• Oh Jerusalem
• Oh Pshaw
• Oh Heck
• Oh Shit
• Oh Fuck
• Oh Cunt
• Blackout
• Screw Your Neighbor
• Fuck Your Neighbor
• Nomination Whist
• Romanian Whist
• German Bridge
• Up The River, Down The River
• Up and Down
• Elevator
• Animal
• 10, 9, 8
• Rage (commercial deck sold by Amigo Spiele and Mattel)
• Podrida (in Spanish)
• Pocha (in Spanish from Spain; using a spanish 40-card deck)

Rules

Note: There are many variations to this game; a common set of regulations for four players is given here. See below for the variants.

The game is played using a standard 52-card deck, with ace being the highest rank, two the lowest. The first hand is played with one card dealt to each player. On each succeeding deal one more card is dealt out, until all the cards are dealt on the thirteenth hand. After this, the number of cards per player decreases by one every round. The game is complete when the 25th round (with one card per player) has been played.

The dealer (this responsibility may be determined by cutting cards or any other suitable method) deals out the cards one by one, starting with the player on his left, in a clockwise direction, until the required number of cards has been dealt.

After the dealing is complete, the next card is turned face up, the suit of this card being the trump suit for the deal. (On the thirteenth hand the trump suit can be determined in a variety of ways, for instance, turning over the last card as in whist.)

Each player is now obliged to bid for the number of tricks he believes he can win. The player to the left of the dealer bids first. The bidding is basically unrestricted, except for one particular rule which may hinder the dealer: the number of tricks bid should never equal the number available; a hand must either be overbid or underbid. For example, if five cards are dealt, and the first three bids are two, one, and zero, then the dealer may not bid two. However, if five cards are dealt, and the first three bids are three, one, and two, then the dealer is free to make any bid.

When every player has made a bid, the player to the left of the dealer places the opening lead. Play then proceeds as usual in a trick-taking game: players must follow suit, unless they have no cards of the lead suit, when they may play any card. The highest card of the lead suit wins the trick unless ruffed, when the highest trump card wins.

Scoring

1. Basic scoring: Each player scores the number of tricks he takes, a player that wins the exact number of tricks bid receiving an additional 10 points for making a contract.
2. Progressive scoring: As in normal scoring, a player that fails to make the contract receives a number of points equal to the number of tricks he takes. However, a successful bid is worth the 10-point threshold plus the square of the bid, thereby rewarding a person bidding and making four tricks with 26 (10 plus 16) points. This has the advantage of rewarding riskier bids, and making it possible for someone to catch up from behind more easily.
3. Negative scoring: The scoring system is reversed, as in golf, lowest score winning. Satisfying the contract scores zero points. The first undertrick or overtrick costs one point, and each additional undertrick/overtrick costs a point more than the one before it. For instance, 3 overtricks would add 6 points (the sum of 1, 2, and 3) to a player's total. This rewards sacrifices, for it is now often beneficial to risk an overtrick (1 point) to cost a person that is already down to get an additional undertrick (which will cost many more points).
4. Adjusted basic scoring: Similar to basic scoring, with the change that a zero bid is worth five plus the number of cards dealt out to a player. For example, in the first round, a successful zero bid is worth 6 points, while a successful one bid is worth 11 points.
5. Spades double: In variations where the trump card is chosen randomly, some play that if a spade is turned up, the points for that round double.
6. Adjusted basic scoring II: Also similar to basic scoring, but bidding zero is worth 5 points, and failing to make a bid is 0 points.

Variations

There are literally dozens of ways to play Oh Hell, mixing and matching various rule changes. Here is a sample:

Order of Hands

1. The stated order: 1, 2, 3... maximum-1, maximum, maximum-1... 3, 2, 1. The maximum is the highest number of cards each person can receive from the total cards. For a 6-player one-deck game, 8. For a 7-player, two-deck game, 14.
2. For a shorter game: 1, 2, 3... maximum-1, maximum.
3. Alternatively: Maximum, maximum-1... 3, 2, 1. This may have the result of the winner being determined with one or two hands to spare. Alternatively, if it isn't, the game may come down to complete luck.
4. When playing with progressive scoring: 1, 2, 3... maximum-1, maximum, 1, 2, 3... maximum-1, maximum. Since progressive scoring has the goal of facilitating comebacks made with large bids, it is necessary to have many cards in the final hands.
5. The inverse of the stated order: maximum, maximum-1... 3, 2, 1, 2, 3... maximum-1, maximum.

Making bids

1. The stated version, also called "Screw the dealer": Each person bids in order, and the dealer cannot make it "work". Frequently in the round of 1, this results in the dealer not having any choice in his bid.
2. Public bidding, no restrictions: Each person bids out loud in order, with no restriction on the dealer's bid.
3. Private bidding: The scorekeeper writes his bid on the scoresheet, and then each other person privately passes his bid to the scorekeeper for marking (such as holding fingers under the table). Once everyone has bid, the scorekeeper reads off everyone's bids.
4. Knocking: After each player has chosen his bid he places his fist on the table. When everyone has chosen they knock on the table together three times, and on the fourth they show their bid by the number of fingers. If the total number of bids "work" then everyone bids again. After three bids, everyone has to change their bid.

Trump suit

1. Stated option: After the deal is complete, the dealer flips the next card over; this suit is trump. One drawback is that when all the cards are dealt out (such as the round of 13 in a 4-player game), there is no "next card" to turn up. There are several ways of determining the trump for this hand:
   • The dealer's last card is turned face up to determine trump, the enters his hand, as in Whist.
   • A card is randomly flipped up to determine trump, then the deck is shuffled and dealt.
   • The round is played no-trump.
2. Spades are always trump.
3. The player with the highest bid in the regular bid auction chooses trump after everybody else has bid. If two players bid the same number, the player who bid first picks trump.
4. Trump is rotated each hand in a sequence determined before the game (e.g. Diamonds, Clubs, Hearts, Spades, No Trump)

Double deck

With more than 6 or 7 players, the game becomes fairly short, so a double deck may be used. This introduces ambiguities as to what happens if both Aces of trump are played on the same trick. If two (or more) of the same card are played on a trick...

1. Pinochle rule: The first one has precedence.
2. Cancellation rule: None of them can win the trick. If this eliminates all potential winners (i.e. all cards in trump and the led suit are matched)...
   • Up the ante: The same player leads again, and this trick counts double.
   • Exception: The first copy of the highest eligible card wins. For example, in a 7-player game, if hearts is trump, and the cards are in order, 3s, Qh, 7h, Qh, 8d, 7h, 3s, all trumps have been cancelled, and all spades have been cancelled. The diamond is ineligible to win the trick, so player 2, the first Qh, wins the trick.

Miscellaneous

In some variants, in rounds where each players has only one card, the players don't look at their cards when bidding, instead, they place their card face up on their foreheads as in Blind Man's Bluff (poker), so they all see the cards of the other players.

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