Oh Hell: Kings and Fools

oh hecko, it snecko

v1 by Nycki, 2025.

Basic idea taken from Oh Hell, with ideas stolen from the excellent Skull King by Grandpa Beck's Games.

Order of Cards #

Suits: Spades are always trump, all others are equal.

Ranks: A 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 J Q K in four suits, and two Jokers. Aces are low and Kings are high.

The Joker, or Fool, loses every trick, unless a King would win, in which case the Fool wins instead.

tis a jester's privilege to clown on the king.

If both Fools are played, the first Fool beats the second one.

the joke was funnier the first time.

The Play #

Play starts with 1 card per hand and increases each round up to 7 cards per hand, a maximum of 49 cards dealt in a 7-player game. Cards are shuffled after each round.

As in Oh Hell, players bid in turn order, with the dealer bidding last, and being obligated to make the bid total mismatch the round number.

The dealer starts the first trick. As in Oh Hell, players must follow suit if possible. A player who cannot follow suit may play any card they wish.

Exception: a Fool is wild. It may be played to any trick regardless of the other cards in your hand.

The taker of each trick leads the next trick, and so on until all cards are spent.

Scoring #

A player who makes too many or two few tricks scores nothing, but loses nothing.

A player who makes their bid exactly scores 10 times their bid.

A successful bid of 0 scores only 5 times the round number.

a warrior may thrive, but a coward survives.

Additionally, a player who Fools a King scores 10 bonus points.

wait until the other fools hear this!

The highest score after 7 rounds wins the game.