Ohellega Rules from ‘The Many Games’ by Esther Shawn

Ohellega is a fun game that can be played with three to seven players. The game is played in a series of rounds where each player bets on a number of tricks they will take per round. For the first several rounds, the number of cards dealt out corresponds with the particular round. The first will be one card, the second will be two, the third will be three, and so on. After the hands are dealt, the next top card in the deck is turned face up. The suit shown is what is considered trump for the round. The player to the left will become the new dealer for each round.

Once hands are dealt, the players rotate counterclockwise, making bids for how many tricks they will take. The player left of the dealer bids first. Every player must bid from 0 up to the number of cards in hand. The very first round is played differently as instead of looking at the single card dealt, the player will show it to other players for bidding. Players do not show their cards from rounds two and beyond.

After bidding, the player to the left will play a card, and the game will rotate counterclockwise. Players must follow the suit of the first card if possible. The highest card of the suit led will take the trick unless a suit of the trump is played, in which case the highest card of the trump will take the trick.

After the final round, to evenly split the deck is played, four rounds are played without flipping a card over in the deck. The rounds follow the trumps: Diamonds, hearts, clubs, and spades in that order. Then a final round is played with no trump.

Points are scored only if a player accurately predicts the number of tricks they will take. They will get 10 points for predicting and a number of points for each trick. For example, if a player bids on six tricks, they will get 16 points for accuracy. An incorrect prediction awards zero points.