Oh hell is a trick-taking card game of British origin, first described by card game writer B. C. Westall around 1930 under the name Oh! Well. The game was introduced to American clubs in New York the following year and later became known there as contract whist or oh pshaw, among other regional names. Play uses a standard fifty-two card deck for three to seven players seated clockwise. After the deal, each player bids the exact number of tricks they expect to win that hand, then tricks are played following suit where possible, with the highest trump or, absent a trump, the highest card of the led suit taking the trick. Scoring rewards players who both win at least one trick per bid point and, crucially, meet their bid exactly: overshooting the bid counts as a failure just as undershooting does, a rule that distinguishes Oh hell from many other trick-taking games and makes each hand's declared bid the central tactical decision.
Facts
Sport
Game Type (category) Classification
Player CountSmall Group (3-6 Players) 1 Connections
In the Other Atlases
Sources
1. Oh hell (Wikipedia)
Lead, game type
Oh hell is a trick-taking card game of British origin.
Lead, players
3-7 players.
Lead, history
First described by B. C. Westall around 1930.
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