.gif)
Joker (playing card)
Encyclopedia
Playing card
A playing card is a piece of specially prepared heavy paper, thin cardboard, plastic-coated paper, cotton-paper blend, or thin plastic, marked with distinguishing motifs and used as one of a set for playing card games...
found in most modern decks, or else a type of tile
Mahjong tiles
Mahjong tiles are tiles of Chinese origin that are used to play many games, most notably Mahjong and Mahjong solitaire. Although they are most commonly tiles, they may also refer to playing cards with similar contents as well.- Construction :Traditionally, Mahjong tiles were made of bone, often...
in some Mahjong
Mahjong
Mahjong, sometimes spelled Mah Jongg, is a game that originated in China, commonly played by four players...
game sets.
Name
Euchre
Euchre or eucre, is a trick-taking card game most commonly played with four people in two partnerships with a deck of 24 standard playing cards. It is the game responsible for introducing the joker into modern packs; this was invented around 1860 to act as a top trump or best bower...
. The card was originally introduced in about 1860 for games of that family to be used as the highest trump. Catherine Perry Hargrave documents jokers from 1862 and 1865 in her book A History of Playing Cards. The 1862 card has a tiger on it and the label "Highest Trump", while the one from 1865 is inscribed "This card takes either Bower" and "Imperial Bower", or "Highest Trump Card".
An alternate theory is that the Joker was originally developed for the game Poker as a wild card; however, this is largely discredited in favor of the Euchre theory. Confusion on this issue may stem from the fact that both games spread simultaneously northward on the Mississippi.
The Joker came to be represented as a clown or court jester by the 1880s, due to its assumed name and also probably borrowing from The Fool
The Fool (Tarot card)
The Fool or The Jester is one of the 78 cards in a Tarot deck; one of the 22 Trump cards that make up the Major Arcana. The Fool is unnumbered...
in tarot cards (predecessors to the French Tarot Nouveau
Tarot Nouveau
The Tarot Nouveau, French Tarot Nouveau or Bourgeois Tarot deck is a general style of tarot playing card deck. The Tarot Nouveau differs from other styles of tarot deck, such as the Tarot of Marseilles and Rider-Waite decks, in that the Tarot Nouveau is designed solely for playing the various tarot...
, which depict The Fool as a lute-playing jester, were becoming popular in Europe around the same time).
Appearance
The Joker is usually depicted as a court jesterCourt jester
A jester, joker, jokester, fool, wit-cracker, prankster, or buffoon was a person employed to tell jokes and provide general entertainment, typically for a European monarch. Jesters are stereotypically thought to have worn brightly colored clothes and eccentric hats in a motley pattern...
. There are usually two Jokers per deck, often noticeably different. For instance, Bicycle Playing Cards prints their company's guarantee claim on only one. More common traits are the appearance of colored and black/non-colored Jokers. At times, the Jokers will each be colored to match the colors used for suit
Suit (cards)
In playing cards, a suit is one of several categories into which the cards of a deck are divided. Most often, each card bears one of several symbols showing to which suit it belongs; the suit may alternatively or in addition be indicated by the color printed on the card...
s; there will be a red Joker, and a black Joker. In games where the jokers may need to be compared, the red, full-color, or larger-graphic Joker usually outranks the black, monochrome, or smaller-graphic one. If the joker colors are similar, the joker without a guarantee will outrank the guaranteed one. With the red and black jokers, the red one can alternately be counted as a heart/diamond and the black is used to substitute clubs/spades.
In the USA-Produced Bicycle brand of playing cards, The Joker sometimes bears an S superimposed over a U as its index symbol. This is a trademark of the U.S. Playing Card Company. In Canada, the US monogram is replaced by a star.
In Australia, the Joker in the Queen's Slipper brand of playing cards depicts a Kookaburra
Kookaburra
Kookaburras are terrestrial kingfishers native to Australia and New Guinea. They are large to very large, with a total length of . The name is a loanword from Wiradjuri guuguubarra, and is onomatopoeic of its call...
, a bird native to Australia with a call which resembles human laughter. In Australian games of 500, the Joker is often referred to colloquially as 'The Bird'. Most other decks simply use a stylized "J" or the word "JOKER" in the corner index.
In Portugal, Litografia Maia has printed French decks where the Joker figure is substituted by a donkey
Donkey
The donkey or ass, Equus africanus asinus, is a domesticated member of the Equidae or horse family. The wild ancestor of the donkey is the African Wild Ass, E...
head.
It is intended to be used in Burro em pé ("standing donkey").
Tarot and cartomancy
The Fool (Tarot card)
The Fool or The Jester is one of the 78 cards in a Tarot deck; one of the 22 Trump cards that make up the Major Arcana. The Fool is unnumbered...
" in the Trumps of the Tarot
Tarot
The tarot |trionfi]] and later as tarocchi, tarock, and others) is a pack of cards , used from the mid-15th century in various parts of Europe to play a group of card games such as Italian tarocchini and French tarot...
deck. They share many similarities both in appearance and play function; the Fool is often the highest trump, or else an "excuse" that can be played at any time but cannot win. Though the inspiration for using the "jester" imagery on the joker may have derived from the Fool card, they have differing origins as stated above; the Tarot deck has included the Fool since its invention in the 15th century while the Joker is a relatively recent (re)addition to the French/Anglo-American 52-card deck.
Because of the above correspondence, practitioners of cartomancy
Cartomancy
Cartomancy is fortune-telling or divination using a deck of cards. Forms of cartomancy appeared soon after playing cards were first introduced into Europe in the 14th century...
often include a Joker in the standard 52-card deck, with a meaning similar to the Fool card of Tarot. Sometimes the two Jokers are used: one approach is to identify the "black" Joker with the Fool and the "red" Joker with "the Magician", also known as the Juggler, a card which is somewhat similar in interpretation and is considered the first step in the "Fool's Journey".
Use of the Joker in card games
The Joker's use is greatly varied. Many card gameCard game
A card game is any game using playing cards as the primary device with which the game is played, be they traditional or game-specific. Countless card games exist, including families of related games...
s omit the card from use entirely; due to this fact, Jokers are often simply used informally as replacements for lost cards in a deck by writing the lost card's value on the joker. Other games, such as a 25-card variant of Euchre
Euchre
Euchre or eucre, is a trick-taking card game most commonly played with four people in two partnerships with a deck of 24 standard playing cards. It is the game responsible for introducing the joker into modern packs; this was invented around 1860 to act as a top trump or best bower...
, make it one of the most important in the game. Often, the joker is a wild card, and thereby allowed to represent other existing cards. The term "joker's wild" originates from this practice, as does the game show of the same name
The Joker's Wild
The Joker's Wild is an American television game show that aired at different times during the 1970s through the 1990s. Contestants answered questions based on categories that were determined randomly by a mechanism resembling a slot machine....
.
The Joker can be an extremely beneficial, or an extremely harmful, card. In Euchre
Euchre
Euchre or eucre, is a trick-taking card game most commonly played with four people in two partnerships with a deck of 24 standard playing cards. It is the game responsible for introducing the joker into modern packs; this was invented around 1860 to act as a top trump or best bower...
it is often used to represent Benny, the highest trump. In poker
Poker
Poker is a family of card games that share betting rules and usually hand rankings. Poker games differ in how the cards are dealt, how hands may be formed, whether the high or low hand wins the pot in a showdown , limits on bet sizes, and how many rounds of betting are allowed.In most modern poker...
, it is wild. However, in the children's game named Old Maid
Old Maid
Old maid is a Victorian card game for two to eight players probably deriving from an ancient gambling game in which the loser pays for the drinks. It is known in Germany as Schwarzer Peter, in Sweden as Svarte Petter and in Finland as Musta Pekka and in France as le pouilleux or vieux garçon...
, a solitary joker represents the Maid, a card that is to be avoided.
Specific ranks
- EuchreEuchreEuchre or eucre, is a trick-taking card game most commonly played with four people in two partnerships with a deck of 24 standard playing cards. It is the game responsible for introducing the joker into modern packs; this was invented around 1860 to act as a top trump or best bower...
, 500500 (card game)500, Five Hundred, is a game devised in America shortly before 1900 and promoted by the United States Playing Card Company, who copyrighted and marketed the rules in 1904. The game can be played by two to six players but the most common form is for four players in partnerships although some sources...
, SpadesSpadesSpades is a partnership trick-taking card game devised in the United States in the 1930s, in which the object is for each pair or partnership to take at least the number of tricks they bid on before play began. Spades is a descendant of the Whist family of card games, which also includes Bridge,...
: As the highest trump, "Benny" or top Bower. - CanastaCanastaCanasta is a card game of the rummy family of games believed to be a variant of 500 Rum. Although many variations exist for 2, 3, 5 or 6 players, it is most commonly played by four in two partnerships with two standard decks of cards. Players attempt to make melds of 7 cards of the same rank and...
: The joker, like the deuce, is a wild card. However, the joker is worth 50 points in melding, as opposed to 20 for the deuce. - Gin RummyGin rummyGin rummy, or simply gin, is a two-player card game created in 1909 by Elwood T. Baker and his son C. Graham Baker. According to John Scarne, Gin evolved from 18th-century Whiskey Poker and was created with the intention of being faster than standard rummy, but less spontaneous than knock...
: a wild card, able to be used as any necessary rank or suit to complete a meld. - Chase the Joker: An alternative version of Old MaidOld MaidOld maid is a Victorian card game for two to eight players probably deriving from an ancient gambling game in which the loser pays for the drinks. It is known in Germany as Schwarzer Peter, in Sweden as Svarte Petter and in Finland as Musta Pekka and in France as le pouilleux or vieux garçon...
where the Joker card is used instead of the Ace. - WarWar (card game)War is a card game typically involving two players. It uses a standard French playing card deck. Due to its simplicity, it is played most often by children.-Gameplay:The deck is divided evenly among the two players, giving each a down stack...
: In some variations, beats all other cards. - PitchPitch (card game)Pitch is an American trick-taking card game derived from the English game of All Fours . Historically, Pitch started as "Blind All Fours", a very simple All Fours variant that is still played in England as a pub game...
: A point card in some variations. Jokers ranks above the Ace, and are marked as "High" and "Low", one outranking the other. - MightyMighty (card game)Mighty is a card game invented in 1970s by Korean college students. Mighty is mostly played by Korean students, and also by some groups in North America. It is usually played by five people, but the rules can be modified so that it could be played by four or six people. It is a point-trick game...
: Second most-powerful card in the game, though it cannot be legally played on the first or last trick. - Daihinmin: a wild card, or a deuce (which ends the round and clears the discard pile).
- Crazy EightsCrazy EightsCrazy Eights is a shedding-type card game for two to seven players. The object of the game is to be the first to get rid of all the player's cards to a discard pile. The game is considered a pre-extension of Switch and Mau Mau, much favoured in schools during the 1970s.A standard 52-card deck is...
: a "skip" card, playable on top of any other card, that forces the next player to lose a turn. - SpadesSpadesSpades is a partnership trick-taking card game devised in the United States in the 1930s, in which the object is for each pair or partnership to take at least the number of tricks they bid on before play began. Spades is a descendant of the Whist family of card games, which also includes Bridge,...
: uncommon, but when playing with three or six players they are added to make the cards deal evenly (18 or 9 cards each, respectively). They are either "junk" cards playable anytime that cannot win a trick, or they count as the two highest trumps (the two Jokers must be differentiable; the "big Joker" outranks the "little Joker").