Beyond imbuing everydeck of cardswith a jesterly sentiency of play , jokers have no existent function in many games . Sure , you may utilise one to brook in for a missing card — but if that ’s their independent use , why have a pattern on them at all ?
As HowStuffWorksexplains , that was n’t in the first place their main intent . joker were add up to the deck around the 1860s — long after card deck of cards became uncouth — to take advantage on the popularity of a game called euchre , from the Alsatian gamejuckerspiel . In it , the top two trump scorecard are the diddly , knownas the “ right bower ” and the “ unexpended bower , ” sincebaueris the German word used forjack(its directtranslationisfarmer ) . Butjuckerspielplayers create a card that could trump even the jacks . This card , called the “ best bower , ” is the turkey .
Becausejokersounds pretty similar tojuckerandeuchre , some people believe that ’s where the name came from . But not everyone agrees with this . Playing card manufacturer Bicycle , according to itswebsite , is “ positive it ’s no more than a coincidence . ” It ’s also possible that a jester character was chosen simply because it fit in with kings , queens , and the whole medieval Margaret Court theme . The understanding every pack of cards includes two jokers when there ’s only one best bower in euchre is also unclear ; perhaps bill makers just rolled with the convention of having an even number of cards to a pack of cards .
Though euchre was finally overtaken by bridge as the go - to card secret plan in the U.S. , jokester did get introduced in a number of other cardcontests , like salamander , canasta , and war . In most instances , the jokester answer as a wild identity card or a trump card placard .
[ h / tHowStuffWorks ]
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