In the earliest rules of 1844, 32 standard cards are used and the Right Bower, the trump Jack, was the 'commanding card' with the Left Bower, the Jack of the same colour, as the second-highest card. However, Euchre originally did not use jokers. The game of Euchre is credited with the introduction of the Joker into card games. Origin Imperial Bower, the earliest Joker, by Samuel Hart, c. Zwicker which has six Jokers with this function).īy contrast, a wild card is any card that may be used to represent another card or cards – it need not be a Joker. It has since been adopted into many other card games, where it often acts as a wild card, but may have other functions such as the top trump, a skip card (forcing another player to miss a turn), the lowest-ranking card, the highest-value card or a card of a different value from the rest of the pack (see e.g. The Joker originated in the United States during the Civil War, and was created as a trump card for the game of Euchre. From the second half of the 20th century, they have also been found in Spanish- and Italian-suited decks, excluding stripped decks. The Joker is a playing card found in most modern French-suited card decks, as an addition to the standard four suits (Clubs, Diamonds, Hearts, and Spades).
