How to Play Judgement (Oh Hell / Kachuful)

The complete rules of the classic trick-taking card game — known as Judgement in India, Oh Hell in the US and UK, and Kachuful in Gujarati households.

What is Judgement?

Judgement is a trick-taking card game for 3–8 players played over multiple rounds. Each round, every player must predict — judge — exactly how many tricks they will win. Hit your bid exactly and you score; win even one trick more or less and you get nothing. That all-or-nothing bidding is what makes the game brutal and addictive.

The same game goes by many names around the world: Oh Hell, Oh Pshaw, Nomination Whist, Contract Whist, Judgment, and Kachuful — also spelt Kachufull or Kachuphul (a Gujarati phrase roughly meaning "exact/precise"). The rules below follow the common Indian table rules, with notes where Western Oh Hell differs.

Players and cards

• Players: 3–7 with one standard 52-card deck; up to 8 players with two decks (104 cards).
• Ranking: Ace high, two low, within each suit.
• Deal: Round 1 deals a set number of cards to each player (commonly 7, 8 or 10 depending on player count). Each following round deals one card fewer, down to 1 — many groups then climb back up.

Trump rotation

In Kachuful the trump suit follows a fixed cycle every round:

Western Oh Hell often flips the top card of the leftover deck to pick trump instead — both are valid house rules.

Bidding

Starting from the player left of the dealer, each player declares how many tricks they expect to win — anywhere from 0 up to the number of cards in hand.

Playing tricks

1. The player left of the dealer leads the first trick with any card.
2. Everyone must follow suit if they can. If you have no card of the led suit, you may play a trump or discard anything.
3. The trick is won by the highest trump played; if no trump was played, by the highest card of the led suit.
4. The trick winner leads the next trick.

Scoring

The most common Indian scoring: hit your bid exactly and score 10 + your bid (bid 3, win exactly 3 → 13 points). Miss by any amount → 0 points for the round. Other popular schemes give 10 × bid, or a flat 10 plus 1 per trick — agree before you start. Highest total after the final round wins.

The 2-deck variant (up to 8 players)

Serious Judgement groups often play with two full decks shuffled together — 104 cards. That allows 8 players at the table and bigger hands each round. The extra wrinkle: two identical cards can appear in one trick. Standard rule (used in the Kachufull app): the second copy played beats the first.

Very few apps support this — most cap at one deck and 4–5 players. The Kachufull app ships 2-deck mode with up to 8 seats as its flagship feature.

Strategy basics

• Count your sure winners (high trumps, aces) before bidding — don't count on mid-cards in long suits.
• Bidding zero is a real strategy: dump high cards early while others fight for tricks.
• Track which trumps are gone. In 2-deck games remember each rank exists twice.
• If you've hit your bid already, deliberately throw losing cards; if you're short, hold trumps for the end.