Trick-Taking (Exact-Bid / Oh Hell family) · Britain and the United States (international)

Oh Hell

Also known as Oh Pshaw · Nomination Whist · Contract Whist · Blackout · Blob · Bust · Elevator · Up and Down the River · Oh Well · Forecast Whist

Oh Hell, also spelled politely as Oh Pshaw and known in Britain as Nomination Whist, Contract Whist, or Blackout, is a deceptively simple trick-taking card game that has been delighting and tormenting players since it surfaced in London and New York in the 1930s. The premise sounds easy: before each hand you predict exactly how many tricks you will win, then try to win precisely that many. The catch is that close is worthless. Win one trick too many or one too few and you score nothing for the whole hand, no matter how well you played. What turns Oh Hell from a casual filler into a genuine test of judgement is its rhythm. The number of cards dealt shrinks and grows every hand, a fresh trump suit is set each round, and the dealer is forbidden from making the bids add up neatly, so at least one player is mathematically doomed to fail on every deal. Played by 3 to 7 people with a single 52-card deck, it rewards card-counting, table-reading, and ice-cold restraint over pure luck. On Love Card Games you can play Oh Hell free in your browser against smart bots or live opponents, with no download and no signup. Note that we run Oh Hell on our Kachuful (Judgement) engine: Kachuful is the South Asian name for this very same exact-bid game, so the rules, bidding, and scoring you see here are the authentic Oh Hell experience.

3–7 players · free · no download · no signup

How to play Oh Hell

Gather 3 to 7 players (or fill empty seats with bots) and one 52-card deck. Agree on your deal pattern (down to one card and back up, or just down to one) and a single scoring method before you start.
Deal the starting hand for the first round, then set the trump suit by turning up the next card from the stock (or use a fixed trump rotation if your table prefers). Maximum-deal hands with no card left to turn are played with no trump.
Starting with the player left of the dealer and going clockwise, each player bids the exact number of tricks they expect to win. Zero is allowed. The dealer bids last and may not make the bids total exactly to the number of tricks available (the hook rule).
The player to the dealer's left leads any card. Going clockwise, each player must follow the led suit if able; otherwise they may play any card, including a trump.
The highest trump wins the trick, or if no trump was played, the highest card of the led suit wins. The trick winner collects it and leads the next trick. Repeat until all cards are played.
Compare each player's tricks won against their bid. Award points only for exact matches (commonly 10 plus tricks bid, or 1 per trick plus a 10-point exact bonus), and 0 for any miss.
Pass the deal clockwise, change the hand size per your pattern, set a new trump, and play the next hand. After the final hand, the highest cumulative score wins.

Oh Hell rules

Players, Deck, and Card Ranking

Oh Hell is played by 3 to 7 players using one standard 52-card deck with no jokers, and it plays best with 4 to 6. Everyone plays for themselves; there are no fixed partnerships. Within each suit, cards rank in the usual order from high to low: Ace (high), King, Queen, Jack, 10, 9, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2 (low). One suit is named trump for each hand, and any trump card beats any card of a non-trump suit. The wider tradition stretches the game to as many as 10 players with smaller deals, but our Kachuful (Judgement) engine supports the classic 3-to-7 range.

The Deal and the Changing Hand Size

The deal passes clockwise each hand. The signature feature of Oh Hell is that the hand size changes every round. The most common pattern starts at the largest deal the table allows (often 10 cards each for 3-5 players, fewer with more players so the deck is not exhausted), decreases by one card per hand down to a single card each, then climbs back up to the starting size. Many groups play the shorter version that simply counts down from the maximum to one card and stops there. Because the hand size constantly shrinks and grows, every round is a brand-new puzzle: long hands are about controlling tricks, while the tiny one- and two-card hands come down to nerve and position.

Choosing the Trump Suit

After the hands are dealt, a trump suit is fixed for the round. In the traditional Oh Hell rule the dealer turns up the next card from the undealt stock and its suit becomes trump for that hand. In hands where the whole deck is dealt out (such as the maximum deal), there is no card left to turn, so that round is played with no trump at all. Some groups instead use a fixed rotation of trump suits so the trump is known before bidding even begins. Whichever convention you use, decide it before the first deal so the whole table agrees.

Bidding the Exact Tricks (and the Dealer's Hook)

This is the heart of the game. Starting with the player to the dealer's left and moving clockwise, each player announces exactly how many tricks they expect to win that hand. You may bid anything from zero up to the number of cards in your hand; you cannot pass, and bidding zero is both legal and common. The dealer bids last and is bound by the famous 'hook' (also called the screw-the-dealer rule): the dealer may NOT bid a number that would make the total of all bids equal the number of tricks available that hand. This guarantees the deal is always over-bid or under-bid, so at least one player is certain to miss. Once made, bids stand and cannot be changed.

Playing the Tricks

The player to the dealer's left leads the first trick and may lead any card, including a trump. Play proceeds clockwise. Each player must follow the suit that was led if they hold a card of it. If you have no card of the led suit, you may play any card, including a trump or an off-suit discard. A trick is won by the highest trump played in it; if no trump was played, the highest card of the led suit wins. The winner gathers the trick and leads the next one. Play continues until every card of the round has been played, then each player compares the tricks they actually won against the number they bid.

Scoring: Hit Your Bid or Get Nothing

The most widely used method rewards only exact bids: if you win exactly the number of tricks you bid, you score 10 points plus the number of tricks bid (a correct bid of 0 scores 10, a correct 1 scores 11, a correct 3 scores 13). Miss by even a single trick, over or under, and you score 0 for that hand. A very common softer method instead awards 1 point per trick won plus a 10-point bonus only for an exact bid, so accuracy still pays without the full all-or-nothing sting. Scores accumulate across all hands and the highest cumulative total wins. Settle on one scoring method before you start.

Winning the Game

Oh Hell is played over a fixed sequence of hands set by your deal pattern (down to one card and back up, or just down to one). A running score sheet, which traditionally gives the game one of its nicknames, Blackout, where a failed bid is blotted out in black ink, tracks each player's points round by round. After the final hand is scored, the player with the greatest cumulative total is the winner. Because one perfectly judged hand or one disastrous over-bid can swing the standings, the game often stays close right up to the unpredictable low-card hands at the end.

Strategy tips

Respect the dealer's hook. Because the bids can never balance, every hand is over- or under-bid, so someone must fail. Read the running bid total against the tricks available and decide early whether you are fighting for scarce tricks or whether spare tricks are floating around for the taking.
Count your sure trumps. Top trumps and high cards in long suits are near-guaranteed tricks; bare or low trumps are far less reliable. Bid the tricks you can genuinely control and leave the speculative ones out of your number.
Bidding zero is strong but dangerous. A successful zero scores well and is achievable with all low cards and short suits, but you must duck every single trick. Watch for being forced to win late once your safe low cards are gone.
Play to your number, not to win. Once you have bid, extra tricks are poison. If you have already made your bid, actively dump high cards and avoid winning; if you are short, push hard while you still have the cards to do it.
Throw your losers early. If your plan needs you to shed certain cards to hit your bid, get rid of dangerous high cards while you can still safely under-cut, rather than being stuck winning an unwanted trick at the very end.
Mind the tiny hands. In one-, two-, and three-card rounds prediction is mostly position and luck, and the dealer's hook can box you in. Bid conservatively, respect the trump, and accept that these hands swing the game.
Track the trump and led suits as they are played. Knowing which high cards are already gone tells you whether your middling cards have quietly become winners, which is the difference between making and busting your bid.

Variants

Scoring variant: 1 point per trick won plus a 10-point bonus for hitting your exact bid (softer than the all-or-nothing standard). · Quadratic scoring: hit your bid for 10 plus the square of the tricks bid (10, 11, 14, 19, 26...), making large successful bids far more valuable. · Penalty scoring: a successful bid scores its value while a miss deducts the difference, so over- and under-bidding actively costs you points. · Fixed trump rotation: instead of turning up a card each hand, cycle the trump suit through a set order so trump is known before bidding (as in the Kachuful tradition). · No-trump rounds: play the full-deck deal, or every hand, with no trump suit at all. · Deal-pattern variant: count hands down from the maximum to a single card only (no climb back up) for a shorter game, or up and back down for a longer one. · More players: stretch the game to as many as 10 with smaller deals (beyond the 3-to-7 range supported here). · Blackout score sheet: record each failed bid by blotting it out in black ink, the tradition that gives the game its British nickname.

Oh Hell — frequently asked questions

How do you play Oh Hell?

Deal a hand to each of 3 to 7 players from a 52-card deck, set a trump suit (usually by turning up the next card), and have each player bid the exact number of tricks they expect to win. Play tricks clockwise, following the led suit when you can; the highest trump or highest led-suit card wins each trick. You score only if you win exactly your bid, then change the hand size, set a new trump, and play the next hand.

What are the basic rules of Oh Hell?

Each hand you bid exactly how many tricks you will take. You must follow the suit led if you hold it; otherwise you may play any card, including a trump. The highest trump wins a trick, or the highest card of the led suit if no trump is played. You score only when your tricks won exactly equal your bid; being over or under scores zero. The dealer bids last and cannot make the total bids equal the total tricks (the hook rule).

How is Oh Hell scored?

The most common method gives you 10 points plus the number of tricks you bid when you hit your bid exactly (so a correct 0 = 10 points, a correct 2 = 12 points), and 0 if you miss by any amount. A popular softer method awards 1 point per trick won plus a 10-point bonus for an exact bid. Some groups use quadratic scoring (10 plus the square of the bid). Scores add up across all hands and the highest total wins. Agree on one method before you start.

Why is the game called Oh Hell?

The name captures the exact moment a player realizes they are about to overshoot or fall short of their bid, ruining their score. Because the dealer's hook forces every hand to be over- or under-bid, that groan is guaranteed somewhere at the table each round. The name has been softened in many old rule books to Oh Pshaw, and in Britain the same game is called Nomination Whist, Contract Whist, or Blackout.

What is the dealer hook (screw-the-dealer) rule?

The dealer bids last and is forbidden from bidding a number that would make the total of all players' bids equal the exact number of tricks available that hand. This forces every hand to be either over-bid or under-bid, guaranteeing that at least one player cannot make their bid. It is the key rule that keeps the game tense and ensures no hand ends with everyone comfortably hitting their number.

How many players can play Oh Hell?

Oh Hell works with 3 to 7 players using a single 52-card deck and plays best with 4 to 6. Hand sizes are adjusted so the deck is not exhausted, typically starting around 10 cards each for 3-5 players and fewer with more players. The wider tradition allows up to about 10 players with smaller deals; on Love Card Games the supported range is 3 to 7.

Is this real Oh Hell, and what is the Kachuful engine?

Yes, this is the authentic exact-bid Oh Hell game. We run it on our Kachuful (Judgement) engine, because Kachuful is simply the South Asian name for the same game. The bidding, the dealer's hook, the changing hand sizes, the trick play, and the hit-your-bid-exactly scoring are all true to Oh Hell, so what you play here matches the classic rules.

Can I play Oh Hell free online with bots?

Yes. On Love Card Games you can play Oh Hell free in your browser with no download and no signup. You can play solo against smart bots that bid and play to make their own contracts, or sit down at a multiplayer table with friends and let bots fill any empty seats.