Oh Hell

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Oh Hell is an easy-to-learn trick-taking card game. As with many popular social card games, it has many local variants and is known by many different names (listed below). The object of Oh Hell is to take exactly the number of tricks bid; unlike contract bridge and Spades, an overtrick downs the contract. It is simple to learn yet provides for great depth in play.


Contents

[edit] Rules

There are many variations to this game; a common set of regulations is given here.

Oh Hell can be played with almost any number of players (3+) although 4-7 is considered optimal. The game is played using a standard 52-card deck, with ace being the highest rank, two the lowest. With six or more players, the game can be played with two decks combined or with a 63-card deck from six-player 500.

The first hand is played with one card dealt to each player. On each succeeding deal one more card is dealt out to each player, until there aren't enough cards for another round. After this, the number of cards per player decreases by one every round. The game is complete when the last round (with one card per player) has been played. For example, a four-player match of Oh Hell consists of twenty-five deals, from hand size 1 up to 13 and back down to 1. Three-player and double-deck variants go up to a maximum hand size of 15 cards.

The dealer (initially determined by cutting cards) deals out the cards one by one, starting with the player to the 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, and the suit of this card determines the trump suit for the deal. (If there are no unused cards, the largest hand is played without a trump suit. Alternatively, the maximal round trump suit can be determined in a variety of ways: for instance, by revealing the dealer's 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. Bidding is unrestricted except for the screw the dealer rule: the number of tricks bid cannot equal the number available. Every deal must either be overbid or underbid. For example, if five cards are dealt, and the first three bids are two, zero, and one, 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, with each player in turn playing one card. Players must follow suit, unless they have no cards of the led suit, in which case they may play any card. The highest card of the led suit wins the trick unless ruffed, when the highest trump card wins. The player who wins the trick leads for the next trick.

[edit] Scoring

  1. Basic scoring: Each player scores the number of tricks he takes. A player that wins the exact number of tricks bid receives an additional 10 points for making the contract.
  2. Exact scoring: A player who makes the exact number of tricks bid scores 10 plus the amount bid. Players who overbid or underbid score nothing.
  3. Exact scoring with penalty: A player who makes the exact number of tricks bid scores 10 plus the amount bid. Players who underbid are deducted points in the amount of the bid. (Missing a 3 bid scores -3; Missing a zero bid scores 0.) Used in the Hassenpfeffer variant.
  4. Reduced 0 bid: Similar to basic (or exact) scoring, with the modification that making a zero contract scores only five points. (Zero bids are often the easiest to make.)
  5. Adjusted 0 bid: 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. (Zero bids are harder to make in larger hands.)
  6. Progressive scoring: As in basic 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.
  7. Simplified / Montreal progressive scoring: Each player receives 10 points for satisfying the contract plus twice the number of tricks taken, otherwise they receive zero points.
  8. 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).
  9. Simplified negative scoring: Each player scores the square of the number of overtricks or undertricks taken.
  10. 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.
  11. Trick scoring: Each player that scores the number of tricks bid receives that many points, with the exception of correctly bidding 0, in which case the player receives a half point. Any overbid or underbid loses the number of points their bid was off (a player bidding 3 tricks that wins only 2 would lose a point, as would a player bidding 2 and winning 3).
  12. Binary scoring: A player who makes the exact number of tricks bid scores 10. Players who overbid or underbid score nothing.
  13. Binary scoring with nil rule: A player who makes the exact number of tricks bid scores 10. If the number of tricks exceeds the number of players, players who bid nil (zero) score 20 if they take no tricks, otherwise -10.
  14. Scratch / Quick scoring: Players who overbid or underbid get a scratch (signified by crossing through their unsuccessful bid). The person with the least scratches wins the game. In the unusual event there is a tie, the tied player who bid the most wins the game (This is done by adding up each tied-player's successful bids.)

[edit] Alternate names

The phrase "oh, hell" is a mild profanity. Some variant names of the game (such as "Oh Heck") substitute a euphemism, while other variant names use what are considered more serious obscenities.

  • 10, 9, 8
  • 500
  • Animal
  • Blackout
  • Bugger Your Neighbor
  • Contract Whist
  • Crazy Whist (played in the UK, uses basic scoring and 4 rounds of 8<NT>, 7,6,5,4,3,2,1 cards)
  • Elevator
  • Fuck Your Neighbor
  • German Bridge
  • Hassenpfeffer (played with "Exact scoring with penalty" scoring, a fixed order of hands of 7-6-5-4-3-2-1-2-3-4-5-6-7, and without the screw the dealer rule - "public bidding" as described below. Optimal with 4-5 players.)
  • Mormon Bridge (played with 2 decks, Exact Scoring, and the Cancellation rule for duplicate plays)
  • Nomination Whist
  • Oh Cunt
  • Oh Fuck
  • Oh Heck
  • Oh Jerusalem
  • Oh Pshaw
  • Oh Shit
  • Peanuts
  • Perpetual Aggravation
  • Pocha (in Spanish from Spain; using a Spanish 40-card deck)
  • Podrida (in Spanish)
  • Romanian Whist
  • Screw Your Neighbor
  • Seven up, Seven Down (always played 7-6-5-4-3-2-1-2-3-4-5-6-7)
  • Snake
  • Rage (commercial deck sold by Amigo Spiele and Mattel)
  • Risk it for a Biscuit
  • Trump
  • Up and Down
  • Up The River, Down The River

[edit] Variations

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

[edit] 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. Extra maximum hand: 1, 2, 3... maximum-1, maximum, maximum, maximum-1... 3, 2, 1. The second maximum hand is referred to as "turning around in the river" derived from one this games alternate titles Up the River, Down the River. This also ensures that each amount of cards is played twice, making a more symmetrical game.
  3. For a shorter game: 1, 2, 3... maximum-1, maximum.
  4. 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.
  5. 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.
  6. The inverse of the stated order: maximum, maximum-1... 3, 2, 1, 2, 3... maximum-1, maximum.
  7. Random hand order: Draw a card from a separate deck to determine the next hand played. For the 3-player version, use black cards Ace-King for hands 1-13, and red cards Ace-4 for hands 14-17.
  8. Some variations of the game have "special rules" hands. These are usually played either after the maximum has been reached or at the end, after the number of cards per hand has gone back down to 1. For the special rules hands, the maximum number of cards is used, usually.

Some special rules hands are: a blind hand (where contracts are made before the player is allowed to look at his/her cards), a "golden" hand (where no contract is made, i.e. the player needs to get as many tricks as he or she can, without worrying about undertricks or overtricks), a trumpless hand and a "miser" hand (where the object is to win the least number of tricks possible; the player with the least tricks is considered to have fulfilled the contract).

[edit] 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. Also, some play without regard to if the bids "work" or not, because even with an even bid, the tricks may still not end up that way.
  5. Blind bids: For any hand player may choose to bid before the cards are dealt, for double score and double penalties. After seeing cards, player can adjust bid up or down by two tricks, for 1.5x score and 3x penalties.
  6. Nil bidding: In each round where the number of tricks exceeds the number of players, there are two rounds of bidding. In the first round the trump card is left face down, and players must either pass, or go nil by bidding zero. In the second round, the trump card is turned face up, and the players who passed in the first round must now bid one or more. The last bidder (who may or may not be the dealer) has the additional restriction that the total of the bids must not equal the number of tricks.

[edit] 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, then 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. In some games, each player deals a no-trump hand before the descending hands.
  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. There can be no trump at all.
  5. Trump is rotated each hand in a sequence determined before the game (e.g. Diamonds, Clubs, Hearts, Spades, No Trump)

[edit] 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.

[edit] 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.

[edit] Cooperative Version

In this variant, all bids must add up exactly to the number of cards dealt for that round. Players must then "make it work" to move on to the next round. If anyone takes more or less than their bid, the deal moves to the left and the round is re-dealt. With four players, a second deck may be used to specify the round to be played--the value of the upcard determines the number of cards dealt and the suit determines the trump suit for the round.

[edit] External links

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