The Mysterious Origins of the Joker Card: From Court Jesters to Card Game Wildcards

All of us have played at least one card game in which the Joker plays a crucial role, but have you ever wondered where the Joker card came from?

A pack of cards is practically incomplete without the Joker. We always prefer buying fresh packs of cards that include a pair of Jokers with them. The use of Joker cards varies according to the games or traditions. Some card players completely omit the Joker cards, while others use the Joker as a backup when they have a missing or damaged card in their suits by simply marking the symbol of the missing or damaged card on the Joker. 

Although the Jokers are only useful as wildcards in most of the card games we play today, the origin of the Joker showcases its real significance.  

The Origins

In the 1860s, the Joker was added as a trump card in the new rules of the game known as Euchre, a game invented in America. 

In Euchre, the Joker is the highest trump card. When the Joker is turned, the dealer's side becomes the maker's, and the dealer must name a trump suit without looking at their hand. 

The Joker was not a part of Euchre at first, and it was added to create a new variant of the game called “Euchre with the Joker." The Joker was also known as the "Best Bower," in which the word "Bower" is inferred from the German word "Bauer," which means farmer or jack. Some people also believe that the word Joker originated from the word "Juckerspiel," which is also known as Jucker, the original spelling of Euchre. The people in Italy used to call them “Jolly” because most of their cards used to be labelled as the Jolly Joker. 

Joker cards are also popularly known as “Clowns” or “Jesters” in other parts of the world.

Guarantee Claim On Joker Cards

The United States Playing Card Company (USPCC), one of the most popular manufacturers of cards, creates a Joker that has a guarantee claim printed on it. 

The red, full-colour, or larger-graphic Joker is usually more powerful than the black, single-colour, or smaller-graphic Joker in games where the Joker needs to be compared. The Joker card without a guarantee has a higher rank than the guaranteed one if its colours are the same. 

When it comes to the red and black jokers, the black one can be distinguished as a club or a spade, and the red one as a heart or diamond. 

The Creation

In the card manufacturing industry, the jokers do not have a fixed appearance when they are produced in the cards. The companies usually prefer to create their own designs according to the locations in which they want to sell their cards. Some companies have even trademarked the design created by them. 

The decks of cards contain jokers that usually match the colour of the suits in the pack. Usually, most of these decks have one Joker in red and one Joker in black. It is also common amongst the manufacturers to write the word “Joker” on the corner or the centre of these cards. While some add only two Jokers to the pack of cards, others may add three to four Jokers to the pack of cards manufactured by them. Some people also have a collection of Joker cards because each manufacturer has a unique way of creating them. 

The Joker card is so popular that the DC comics have incorporated some innuendos that hint at the power of Joker in playing cards.

It's fascinating that a simple card, like the Joker, has such a detailed history. If you would like to learn more about playing cards and their history, you can subscribe to our YouTube channel, play_bazigar. We regularly post shorts that dive deeper into the mysterious origins of cards. The exciting facts about cards will brush up on your knowledge if you are an avid card game enthusiast. 

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