The games · Coolhand Cards

Oh Hell

Bid exactly the tricks you will take, no more and no fewer, as the deals shrink from seven cards to one and grow back again.

Players: 3 to 7
Family: Trick-Taking
App: Coolhand Cards · iOS and Android, soon

How it goes

The deal changes size every time: seven cards, then six, down to one and back up to seven. A card turned from the stock names the trump, the suit that beats every other. Before play, everyone bids the number of tricks they expect to take, starting left of the player who dealt and ending with that player, who may not make the bids add up to the number of tricks available. Then the tricks are played. Follow suit if you can. The highest trump takes the trick, or the highest card of the suit led if no trump fell. Hit your bid exactly and score ten plus the bid. Miss it by any margin, over or under, and score nothing. The highest score after the whole run of deals wins.

A good hand

A hand you can count. An ace is a trick, a king with a smaller card under it is nearly one, and a long trump suit is worth its length beyond the second or third card. The small deals are the hardest: with a single card, the trump is a guess. Since the bids may not add up, the last bidder is squeezed, so bid so that the total comes out wrong for someone else, not for you.

The usual mistake

Bidding what you hope to take instead of what you can force. Two aces is a safe bid of two. A queen and a hope isn't a bid of three. The other error is forgetting that one trick too many is exactly as bad as one too few. Once you've reached your bid, every winner in your hand is a burden, and the job is to play it under someone else's higher card.

Played differently where you are?

Card games change from table to table, and we researched some of these games instead of playing them. If Oh Hell goes differently where you play it, tell us. That's one of the things the closed beta is for.

The closed beta is by invitation. How to ask to join.