Oh Hell! is one of the most fun card games known by various other names like Oh Well!, Oh Pshaw, Blob, Blackout, etc. In this card game, the goal is to bid the exact number of tricks a player thinks they can take. If a player takes more less tricks, it is considered as a loss.
So if you are interested to know more about Oh Hell Card game, then keep reading further.
· Oh Hell Card game goal – To bid the number of tricks they think they can take from each hand by taking that exact number of tricks- no more and no less.
· Total Number of Players – 4-7 players
· Number of Cards – 52 card deck
· Order of Cards – A, K, Q, J, 10, 9, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2
· Game Type – Trick-Taking
· Game Audience – Adult
How to Deal
The dealer is chosen by drawing cards from the deck. The player who draws the highest-ranking card becomes the dealer. The deal moves clockwise. Once the cards are shuffled, they are dealt to all the players one at a time till the players get right number of cards depending on the number of players playing.
As the game can be played with 3 or more players, the cards are dealt according to the number of players in the game –
· 3-5 Players -10 cards each
· 6 Players – 8 cards each
· 7 Players – 7 cards each
The hands are played with one card less than the earlier hand till there remains only one card in the hand. The cards are then added one at a time till the card amount of the first hand is met.
For instance, in hand of 8 cards the series followed is – 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8. So, there are in all 15 hands per game.
The cards are then shuffled and dealt to the players. The next card, after dealing the cards to the players, is flipped and the suit of this flipped over card becomes the trump suit for the hand. This suit will trump over or beat all the other suits. The rest of the cards are placed aside in a stack with the top card begin the flipped card.
How to Bid
Bidding is done before the game or the trick begins. The bidding starts from the player sitting to the left of the dealer. The bid proceeds clockwise and comes back to the dealer who bids the last.
All the players bid a number that indicate the number of tricks they estimated they will take with that hand. All players have to bid, even if they make a bid of zero. When a player bids zero, they plan to take zero tricks.
Players are allowed to change their bid in case the opponent to their left did not bid yet. The dealer is not permitted to bid the number that could make the total number of tricks equal to the total tricks available.
A hand must always be over or under a bid. Until the first card is played, the dealer is allowed to change the bid.
How to Play
The player sitting to the left of the dealer starts the game. The initial suit is led by this player. It can be any suit, even the trump suit. The game proceeds in a clockwise manner.
All the players are required to play a card. If the players can, then they must follow the suit. But if they are unable to follow the suit, then they can play another card, even a trump card.
In case there is no trump card played, the card with the highest value of the leading suit will win the trick. The winner of one trick will lead the next tricks.
This is continued till all the tricks are played and then the next hand is dealt to the players until all the hands have been dealt and all tricks won.
Scoring
Before the deal starts, either a player or a third person is made the scorekeeper. In case a player is made the scorekeeper, they get a benefit and hence have to be monitored so that they don’t cheat.
The game has different ways of scoring. The easiest of all the methods is of scoring states a player has won the exact number of tricks they bid. They get a score of 10+ # of tricks bid.
Hence, if they have won and bid a 5, then their total score would be 15. Every successful bid gets one point and every unsuccessful bid cuts one point from the score.
One common method of scoring in Oh Hell card game is that all the players earn 1 point for winning tricks and plus 10 points for those players who won the exact number of tricks they bid.
Variations
· The first trick is led by the dealer.
· A successful zero bid gives Just 5 points.
· Option Hook rule.
· Players can decide the trumps by a fixed paradigm.
· Some players can play down from and up to 7 cards, irrespective of the total players playing.
· The hand consequences can end after a single card hand. In a group of 3 or 4 players, players can play with more hands up to 17.
