Free tool
Oh Hell Score Sheet
Bid it exactly or score nothing. The sheet works out how many cards each round gets, refuses to save a hand whose tricks do not add up, and handles all three of the scoring systems groups argue about. Up and Down the River, Blackout, Elevator, Bust — same game, same sheet.
How Oh Hell scoring works
Each round deals a fixed number of cards, turns one up for trump, and asks every player to predict exactly how many tricks they will win. The prediction is the whole game: take what you said and you score, take one more or one fewer and the hand is worthless however well you played it. Because the dealer may not make the bids balance, at least one player at the table is guaranteed to be hunting a trick they do not want or dodging one they cannot avoid. The deal shrinks a card at a time down to a single card — where bidding is pure nerve — and usually climbs back up again, so a long game runs to nineteen rounds with five players. Totals swing hard near the top of the ladder, which is exactly when a running score sheet stops being optional.
FAQ
Oh Hell scoring: common questions
One full deck is split as evenly as it goes, which puts three to five players on ten cards, six players on eight, and seven players on seven. Every following deal drops one card until everyone gets a single card, and most groups then climb back up to the starting size. Pick your player count on the sheet and it lays out the whole run of deals before you start.
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