Siebenschräm, Sibbeschröm or Schröömen is a fast-paced, German card game from the Eifel region that is unusual in that the winner of the last trick wins the hand.

Siebenschräm has been played for over two centuries and is part of the pub culture of the Eifel region, but is also popular elsewhere in the Rhineland where it is usually called Tuppen.

The name Siebenschräm[a] means sieben Striche or "seven strokes" and refers to the seven oblique lines (///////) chalked on a slate to keep score;[2] thus it is sometimes written 7-Schräm.

Siebenschräm goes back over 200 years in the German Rhineland and has long been a popular pub game in the Eifel region.

It was recorded in 1877 in a Cologne dialect dictionary as an "old German card game",[5] and an 1849 short story "from the Lower Rhine" by Gottfried Kinkel which describes Sibbeschröm being played "for the highest stakes.

"[6] However, the game was known as early as 1811 when Sibbe Schröm or Tuppen was played for low stakes in the city of Cologne.

For example, at the turn of the 20th century, a number of workers' wives from a town in the county of Daun complained to the mayor that their menfolk played cards excessively and often gambled away their entire week's earnings.

In those days, workers' wages still paid in cash on Friday afternoons, a practice that continued into the decades immediately after the Second World War.

But ignorance is no defence in law and so the case went to a higher court in Trier, where the public prosecutor argued that it was an offence within the meaning of §284 StGB (gambling) and applied for a 5 Reichsmark fine.

As a result, the regional court ruled that Siebenschräm was not a game of chance and acquitted the accused; for it found that "in the case of Sieben-Schräm, the outcome depends less on luck than on skilful play".

[8] In 1986, the game came under scrutiny again causing the 5th Rhineland Championship to be postponed while a judicial review by the Rhineland-Palatinate Ministry of Justice considered whether it was gambling.

As soon as a player knocks, play stops and the opponents of the knocker must now say, in turn and in clockwise order, whether they will stay in the game or pass.

[12] In the Eifel (Siwwe Streöm in the Moselle Franconian south; Sibbeschröm in the Ripuarian north) and Lower Rhine variants of the game, points are counted forward, i.e. each player starts with zero and is eliminated on reaching seven.

An opponent who does not want to play at the higher stake places the cards on the table before the deal starts at the cost of 1 point.

At the start of a round, a player may exchange the entire hand for a new one if it contains only court cards (Jack, Queen, King, Ace).

At the start of a game, each player chalks a Roman XII on a white-washed table or a slate tablet.

There are now 4 strokes left on the X together with the two on the Roman II, making a total of 6 schröhm, which are erased one by one as further penalty points are scored.

Other variations from the Rhine Championship rules include: A variant from Dedenbach in Ahrweiler is called Siwwe Schröhm.

Sometimes that player buys a round of drinks; in other circles, money is paid into a pot which is used to pay for joint events such as meals or tours.

The main difference from the newcomer's variant is that players may now knock in the usual way to raise the game value and opponents may fold or hold.