ripped off from http://www.pagat.com/exact/ohhell.html and modified to fit the way we tend to play
 

Contents

Players

From 2 to 10 people can play. The game is best when played with 3 to 6.

Cards

A standard 52 card deck is used. The cards in each suit rank (from high to low) A K Q J 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2.

Sequence of Hands

The maximum number of cards in a hand is INT(50 / PLAYERS).  In English that's:
Players
Maximum Hand
2
25
3
16
4
12
5
10
6
8
7
7
8
6
9
5
10
5

The game consists of a series of hands. The first hand is played with 2 dealt to each player.  Each successive hand is played with one more card up to and including the maximum hand size.  Then each player deals a hand of no-trump.  Then the maximum hand size is played again with trump.  Then max - 1.  Continue playing subsequent hands with one less card until you've played a hand with only two cards.  The game is now over.
 

2
3
...
max
No Trump
...
...
No Trump
max
max-1
...
2

Object of the Game

The object is for each player to bid the number of tricks they think they can take from each hand, then to take exactly that many; no more and no fewer. Points are awarded only for making the bid exactly, and are deducted for missing the bid, either over or under (see scoring below).

The hook is that at least one player will fail on each hand, because the total number of tricks bid by the players is not allowed to equal the number of tricks available on that hand.

Deal

To determine the first dealer, draw cards. The player with the highest card deals first. The turn to deal rotates clockwise with each hand.

The cards are shuffled and cut and the dealer deals the cards singly until everyone has the appropriate number of cards for the hand being played. The next card is turned face up and the suit of this card is the trump suit for the hand. The trump suit beats any of the other three suits played in that hand. The remaining undealt cards are placed in a face down stack with the turned trump on top of it.
 

Bidding

The bidding in each hand begins with the player to the left of the dealer, then continues clockwise, back around to the dealer, who bids last. Each bid is a number representing the number of tricks that player will try to take. Everyone must bid - it is not possible to pass, but you can bid zero, in which case your object is to take no tricks at all. A bid may be changed only if the next player to the left has not yet bid. Remember the hook: the dealer may not bid the number that would cause the total number of tricks bid to equal the number of tricks available; a hand will always be "over-bid" or "under-bid". Keep in mind when bidding that not all cards in the deck are in play in any hand.

Play

The play begins with the player to the left of dealer, who leads the first card. The lead may be any suit (including trump). Play follows clockwise. Each player must follow the suit led, if they can. If not, they may play any other card in their hand, including trump. The player who has played the highest trump card, or if no trump was played, the highest card of the suit led, wins the trick. That player then leads to the next trick. Continue until all tricks have been played and won.

Scoring

The scoring is simple: If a player makes their bid exactly, they get 10 points for each trick bid and won. A successful "zero" bid wins 10 points. If he misses his bid (over or under), he loses 10 points times the number of tricks by which he missed his bid. The scorekeeper is designated prior to each game according to house rules. The scorekeeper, needless to say, has a distinct advantage, and should be monitored closely for "inadvertent" errors. The designated scorekeeper notes each bid and resulting scores on a score sheet.

In case of a tie after the last hand, deal another hand(s) at that number of cards until a clear winner is determined. Any player can win until the end!

Variations


Sequence of Hands

There are a lot of variations of this. Some people start from 1 card each, go up to the maximum number of cards and then back down to 1. Some just go from the maximum down to 1 and then stop, or vice versa. If there are four people the maximum number of cards dealt may be 13 rather than 10. Some people go up to some other maximum, such as 7 cards.

Dan Strohm describes a version, called Devil's Bridge, in which the hand size increases and then decreases. On the final 1 card hand, the players must each hold their card on their forehead, so each player can see all the other player's cards but not their own.

Bryce Francis reports that in Australia, when playing Bust with 5 players, they add 13 low cards from a second pack to make a 65 card pack, so as to deal 13 cards each on the first hand as with 4 players. When there are six players they add a further 13 low cards, so that the bottom half of the pack is duplicated. If duplicate cards are played to a trick, the second played beats the first.

Determining Trumps

Instead of turning up a card, some people go through the possible trump suits in a fixed sequence. This sequence may or may not include "no trumps".

Brad Wilson describes a version called "Oh **i*!" in which Spades are always trumps.

Jean-Pierre Coulon reports a variation in which after the appropriate number of cards have been dealt to the players, the next card is turned face up. If the rank of the turned up card is from 2 to 6, there are no trumps for the deal; if it is 7 or higher, the suit of the turned up card is trumps.

Bidding

Some people play without the hook rule, so the dealer is allowed to bid in such a way that everyone can win. There was a lively discussion in rec.games.playing-cards as to which version is more skilful, with strong advocates of each. Some think that hands where the bids add up are too easy; but others say that forcing the bids not to add up removes a tactical option from the dealer.

Adam Beneschan describes a variation with simultaneous bidding. When the players are ready to bid, they put a fist on the table. When everyone's fist is out, the group says "One, Two, Three" while bouncing their fists on the table. On Three, everyone must stick out some number of fingers (possibly zero) to indicate how many tricks they will try to take. Of course, with this method, there's no restriction against the total number of bid tricks being equal to the number of cards dealt. Since players cannot adjust their bids based on the other players' bids, the total tricks bid can be wildly different from the tricks available - for example it is not uncommon for three or four players to bid "one" when only one card was dealt. Bryce Francis reports that simultaneous bidding is commonly used when playing Bust in Australia.

Play

David Wuori (of Maine, USA) reports a variation in which a player who has no card of the suit led is compelled to trump. Only if you have no cards of the suit led and no trumps can you discard from a different non-trump suit. As far as I know, this version is not widespread.

Scoring

There are many alternative systems.

Score Sheets

Players: 3 4 5 6