The Joker Card

... the ‘wild-card’, the card of opportunity

The extra “Joker” card is believed to have been invented by American Euchre players who, when modifying the rules sometime during the 1860s, decided that an extra trump card was required. Originally he was called “The Best Bower” and then later “The Little Joker” or “The Jolly Joker”. It was around this time that other innovations and improvements started to appear, such as rounded corners replacing square and various types of corner indices.

These Jokers, or extra cards, were first introduced into American packs around 1863, but took a little longer to reach English packs, in around 1880. One British manufacturer (Chas Goodall) was manufacturing packs with Jokers for the American market in the 1870s.

Above: early 'Bower' cards and Jokers by American manufacturers produced during the 1870s-1880s. Many of the images resemble clowns or jesters, not always ‘Jolly’; sometimes they appear slightly sinister!

Above: early Jokers by the firm Charles Goodall & Son, London, (1821-1921) produced during the 1870s-1890s. Victor Mauger soon issued their own Joker →

According to Websters 1880 edition, Bower derives from the German Bauer (a peasant), so called because in Euchre the knave or jack of the trump suit is the highest card, known as the Right Bower, and the knave was depicted in German cards as a peasant. The second-highest trump card was the Left Bower, and this was the knave or jack of the same colour as the trump suit.

Then requiring an additional trump card we get the Imperial Bower etc.

Jokers keep the pack full of tricks. The Joker card is capable of almost anything or almost nothing, depending on the rules of the game. It has been suggested (Dianne Longley, 1999) that “the Joker is the ‘wild-card’, or the card of opportunity, not unlike the ethos of opportunity and individuality that has been the driving force behind America's pursuit of greatness.” Perhaps the Joker is so named because he is "a trickster", and the Imperial Bower trumped all other cards, thus taking the trick.

Some historians have seen the Joker as a descendant of the Fool of Italian tarot cards, and in some 19th century tarot sets the Fool was depicted as a harlequin or buffoon. However, Matt Probert disputes this, pointing out that in early European Tarot cards the "Fool" is depicted by a foolish man, and the popular depictions of the "Joker" are of characters connected with tricks, such as a jester, clown or card magician (none of which are "fools"), which makes more sense given the Joker's ability to take tricks in card games.

Some early Jokers were specially designed, along with special Aces of Spades, as part of the company’s brand identity. Hence they can also be an aid in identification. Many collectors are primarily interested in certain cards such as Aces of Spades, Jokers, court cards, unique backs, etc., and hence the Joker card has also become a collector's item in it’s own right...

• See the story behind some special Jokers►

There is also more contemporary history wherein the joker has become iconic in other ways, as in beer labels, clowns, films, tattoos and other areas of popular culture.

Above: 3 cards from Peter Wood’s “Jest Jokers” deck comprising 54 different Joker designs, made into a full pack of cards  see more →