Rams

Rams is a European trick-taking card game related to Nap and Loo, and may be played by any number of persons not exceeding nine, although five or seven make a good game. In Belgium and France, the game of Rams is also spelt Rammes or Rems, in Germany, Rams, Rammes, Ramsch, Ramschen, Ramscheln or Ramsen, in Austria, Ramsen and Ramschen, and, in America, Rounce. The basic idea is fairly constant, but scoring systems vary. It was a widespread European gambling and drinking game that is still popular today. During the 19th century, it was introduced as Rounce in America and played with a 52-card deck without any difference between simples and doubles and with no General Rounce announcement. In the modern German variety of the game, Ramscheln, the 7♦ is the second best trump ranking next below the ace. History Parlett describes Rams as a "nineteenth-century French, Alsatian and Belgian" pastime, representative of a "very loose-knit group of gambling and drinking games". In fact, although its rules were first published in France around 1820, there are also Austrian sources banning the game of "Leveferln or Ramschen" as early as 1826 and a Bavarian account of the "rural game" of Ramsen being played around 1800. By the 1830s it had reached Sweden and, in 1847, the Swedish variant had already been enhanced by the promotion of the four 'Knights' (Jacks) to become permanent top trumps, hence the game was also known as Knektpass. By the 1850s the game, based on a Piquet pack and using Écarté ranking, was established in France and was just coming into vogue in Paris. Meanwhile identical rules for German-suited cards were being published in Leipzig and, by 1868, the game had reached America where Hoyle's described the American game of Rounce as a 52-card variant derived from the German game of Ramsch. In 1862, the Freiberger Biercomment, a book by students about how they should conduct themselves in pubs and bars, included the rules of drinking games, including Rammes. These rules were more elaborate and introduced the 7 of Bells, or Belle (pronounced "Beller"; the equivalent of the 7 in a French pack), as the 2nd highest trump and a widow known as the 'blind' (Blinde).