Shlem (Thousand variant)

A shlem is a bid to win every trick in the hand. Because it commits the bidder to a complete sweep, success brings a large reward while failure brings a severe penalty under the ruleset.

Yes. Shlem is a variant of Thousand, also called Tysiąc, an Eastern European game built around bidding, trumps, and trick-taking.

A normal contract can succeed by reaching its bid, but a shlem requires every trick. One lost trick is enough to defeat the sweep attempt, so the bidder needs unusually strong cards and a workable plan for the whole hand.

Players need to judge bidding strength, track the trump suit, count likely winners, and predict opponents' distribution. The all-tricks contract makes accurate planning more important than simply holding a few high cards.