Is Up and Down the River the same as Oh Hell?
Yes, when the name describes bidding for tricks with changing hand sizes. Pagat records this name in Australia and New Zealand. The name alone does not settle every house rule. This page covers the version with bids, trump, following suit, and a running points total.
To recognize that version, think about what happens before anyone plays a card: each person predicts a trick count. Winning extra tricks can spoil a correct prediction. If you remember a game with different actions or a different objective, check its rules before using this round schedule. Another potentially confusing name is Screw Your Neighbor.
Choose an Up and Down the River deal sequence.
Write the number of cards per player for every round before dealing. Starting small gives everyone a short first decision; starting large puts a full hand in front of the group immediately. The four schedules below are available at our table. Each number is a hand size, not a score or the total number of cards on the table.
| Schedule | Cards per player, in order | Rounds |
|---|---|---|
| Short, up then down | 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1 | 13 |
| Short, down then up | 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7 | 13 |
| Full, up then down | 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 9, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1 | 19 |
| Full, down then up | 10, 9, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10 | 19 |
Notice the turning point in each deal sequence. In 1–7–1, the seven-card hand occurs once. In 7–1–7, the one-card hand occurs once. Repeating that middle hand adds a round, so a family that repeats it needs a different score sheet. Our short game has 13 rounds and our full game has 19; neither repeats the turning-point hand.
Thirteen rounds, forty-nine tricks.
The hand sizes in 1–7–1 add to 49: 28 on the way up, then 21 on the way down. Four players therefore play 196 cards across the session, with the deck shuffled for each new round. Reversing the deal sequence to 7–1–7 still gives 13 rounds, but 55 tricks. Equal round counts do not mean equal amounts of card play.
Fit the hand sizes to your players.
For Up and Down the River with a physical deck, check the card budget before choosing the largest hand. With 52 cards and one reserved to reveal trump, divide 51 by the player count and round down. This is a deck-capacity calculation, not a required starting hand: your group can choose a smaller maximum.
| Players | Maximum hand | Cards dealt |
|---|---|---|
| 3 | 17 | 51 |
| 4 | 12 | 48 |
| 5 | 10 | 50 |
| 6 | 8 | 48 |
| 7 | 7 | 49 |
Our online version has four seats and caps hand sizes at seven or ten, leaving an undealt trump card in every round. It does not offer all of the player counts or maximums in the capacity table. For physical play, also agree who deals first, which direction bidding follows, and who records scores. See the full Oh Hell rules for the order of play.
Agree on Up and Down the River scoring.
Our default gives 10 plus your bid when you hit it exactly, and zero when you miss. The other option counts every trick you win and adds 10 for an exact bid. Choose before the first call: changing systems halfway through would change the value of earlier decisions.
You bid two and win three.
That is a missed bid. Under exact-only scoring you add 0; under the every-trick option you add 3. If your previous total was 24, the new total is either 24 or 27. If you instead take exactly two, both options add 12, bringing you to 36. The deal sequence does not change that calculation.
Use the calculator and printable score sheet to compare those results and record a four-player round schedule. Our two scoring choices are house options, not an exhaustive list of traditional systems. Trickster’s rule settings provide another example of how deal patterns and scoring can vary.
Play Up and Down the River online.
Open our table and choose New Game. For a gentle start, select the short game and “Start with 1 · go up, then down.” If your family begins with a large hand, choose the down-and-up option instead. Set scoring and the dealer restriction, then deal. The selected hand sizes are shown before play begins.
This Up and Down the River game is solo practice against three computer opponents. You can adjust speed, mute sound, and return to the same browser to resume when storage is available. For a gathering around a real deck, the printable sheet is the useful companion; this website does not provide human multiplayer rooms.
Still learning what a trick is? The guided practice walks through two of them before you commit to a full round schedule. Return to this guide when you are ready to choose how the hand sizes rise and fall.