Joker (playing card)

The Joker originated in the United States during the Civil War, and was created as a trump card for the game of Euchre.

[1] According to card game historian, David Parlett, the Joker was added to a 32‑card pack in the 1850s specifically for the game of Euchre[2] and is first mentioned in a set of rules in 1868 where the blank specimen card is adapted for use in play.

[3] This gave rise to a variant game called "Euchre with the Joker" in which the blank card ranked above all the rest.

It is also believed that the term "Joker" comes from Juckerspiel, which is also known as Jucker, the original German spelling of Euchre.

[11] The notion of a Joker was later transferred to the game of Poker where it was initially called the Mistigris.

The publishers of playing cards trademark their Jokers, which have unique artwork that often reflect contemporary culture.

For instance, the United States Playing Card Company (USPCC) prints one as monochrome and the other in colour.

The Unicode for playing cards provide symbols for three Jokers: red, black, and white.

Many decks do not provide the Joker with a corner index symbol; of those that do, the most common is a solid star (as is the case with Bee cards).

Joker collecting has been popular for an unknown amount of time, but with the advent of the Internet and social media, it has emerged as a hobby.

In central Europe, the Fool, or Sküs, is the highest trump; elsewhere as an "excuse" (L'Excuse) that can be played at any time to avoid following suit, but cannot win.