The same game, under 12 names
Blackout, Judgement, Nomination Whist, Up and Down the River — all one game. Here is every name we can account for, and the four rules that genuinely differ between them.
Oh Hell is one of the most renamed games in existence. If you learned it as Blackout, Judgement, Nomination Whist or Up and Down the River, you learned this game. Below: all 12 names we can account for, where each is used, and — more usefully — the handful of rules that actually differ between them, so you can tell whether your group's version is a different name or a different game.
The 12 names
| Name | Mostly used in | Worth knowing |
|---|---|---|
| Oh Hell | UK, US | The name the card literature settles on. Also spelled Oh Well, Oh Heck. |
| Nomination Whist | UK | Emphasises the bid — you nominate your tricks. Usually 52 cards, no special cards. |
| Blackout | UK | Named for missing your bid and scoring nothing at all. |
| Judgement | India | Very widely played, and the usual name for it on the subcontinent. Also spelled Judgment. |
| Kachuful | India | The same game as Judgement, under an older name. Also spelled Kachufool, Kachu Ful. |
| Up and Down the River | US, Australia | Named after the round shape: up to the biggest hand and back down again. |
| Oh Pshaw | US | A politer branch of the same tree. |
| Contract Whist | UK | Your bid is the contract. Occasionally scored like real contract bridge. |
| Bust | misc. | A local name; same call-your-tricks core. |
| Rikiki, Elevator, Diminishing Whist | Europe | Round-shape names — the deal grows or shrinks every hand. |
What actually differs
The core never changes: equal hands, everyone bids their trick count, hit it exactly or lose points. Four things do change, and they are what to agree on before round 1:
- The deck. 52 plain cards, or 60 with four Magicians and four Jesters. The 60-card version is the German one and is the version our rules pages describe; drop the eight special cards and everything else still holds.
- The round shape. Up only (1, 2, 3 … until the deck runs out), up and down, or down only (start with the biggest hand). "Up and Down the River" is a rule wearing a name.
- Whether the bids must not add up. In some versions the dealer is forbidden from making the total come out exactly — a base rule there, the hook house rule elsewhere. This is the most consequential difference on the list.
- The scoring. 10 plus 1 per trick, 10 plus the tricks taken, or the 20-plus-10 used with the 60-card deck. Worked through on the scoring page.
So which name is right?
None of them, and all of them — this is a folk game with no publisher and no rulebook of record, which is exactly why it has so many names. It is also why nobody owns it: the game is in the public domain and anybody may publish rules for it, including us.
Our own game is called Pythia and deals the 60-card version. If you are looking for the German boxed edition, that is Wizard by Amigo Spiele, a registered trademark of theirs and nothing to do with us.
Whichever name you know it by
It is the same game, and you can have a table in under a minute: play a hand against the computer to see the bidding work, or open a room and put the code in your group chat for 3–6 of you. Free, ad-free, no sign-up. The rules it enforces are the ones on this rules hub, and where your group's version differs, the variants page probably covers it.
Know the rules. Now get a table.
Pythia deals, enforces every rule above and keeps score for you. Open a room, send the code to your group chat, and 3–6 of you are playing in under a minute. Free, ad-free, no sign-up.
Play free in your browser