Oh Hell
Also called Up and Down the River
Bid the exact number of tricks you'll take. One too many is as bad as one too few.
the best bit: desperately trying to lose a trick you never wanted to win
- Players
- 3–7 (best with 4–6)
- Time
- 30–60 min
- Learn in
- A minute
- Mood
- Lively
- Format
- Everyone for themselves
The 30-second version
Each round, everyone gets the same number of cards, starting at seven, shrinking to one, then growing back to seven. A card flipped from the deck sets trump. Everyone bids exactly how many tricks they'll win, and only exact bids score. The dealer is never allowed to make the bids add up perfectly, so somebody always misses.
read this, then walk through the steps below once.
Grab these
Set up
- Deal seven cards each for the first round.
- Turn the next card face up. Its suit is trump for this round.
How to play
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Bid
Starting left of the dealer, everyone says how many tricks they'll win. The dealer bids last and can't pick the number that would make the bids add up to the number of cards in each hand.
-
Play tricks
The player left of the dealer leads. Follow suit if you can. The highest trump wins, or if there's no trump, the highest card of the suit led. The winner leads next.
-
Score
Win exactly what you bid and score 10 points plus your bid. Miss by any amount and score nothing.
-
Change the hand size
The deal passes left, and each round gets one card fewer, down to one card each. Then work back up to seven.
How to win
After the last seven-card round, the highest score wins.
From experience…
- Bidding zero is a real strategy. Ten points for taking nothing.
- The one-card round is pure chaos. Bid accordingly.