Joker is a special type of playing card found in most modern decks, or else a type of tile in some Mahjong game sets.
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It is believed that the term "Joker" comes from a mispronunciation of Jucker, the German/Alsatian name for the game Euchre. The card was originally introduced in about 1860[1] for games of that family to be used as the highest trump.[2][3][4] 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.[5]
The Joker came to be represented as a clown or court jester by the 1880s[2], due to its assumed name and also probably borrowing from The Fool in tarot cards (predecessors to the French Tarot Nouveau, which depict The Fool as a lute-playing jester, were becoming popular in Europe around the same time).[6]
The Joker is usually depicted as a court jester. 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 suits; 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, 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 head. It is intended to be used in Burro em pé ("standing donkey").[7]
The publishers of playing cards trademark their jokers, which have unique artwork that can reflect contemporary culture. [8]
Political figures are often captured on jokers in an attempt to ridicule them. President Obama is popular now, but other figures have dominated the cards in the past.[9]
Like sports training cards, jokers are often prices by collectors. Many unusual jokers are available for purchase on line [10] while other collectible jokers are catalogued online for viewing.[11]
The Joker is often compared to "the Fool" in the Trumps of the 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 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".
The Joker's use is greatly varied. Many card games 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, 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 is Wild is also the name of a 1957 film with Frank Sinatra. [12]
The Joker can be an extremely beneficial, or an extremely harmful, card. In Euchre it is often used to represent Benny, the highest trump. In poker, it is wild. However, in the children's game named Old Maid, a solitary joker represents the Maid, a card that is to be avoided.
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