The second-highest trump card was the Left Bower, and this was the knave or jack of the same colour as the trump suit. Victor Mauger soon issued their own Joker →Īccording 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.

Many of the images resemble clowns or jesters, not always ‘Jolly’ sometimes they appear slightly sinister!Ībove: early Jokers by the firm Charles Goodall & Son, London, (1821-1921) produced during the 1870s-1890s. One British manufacturer (Chas Goodall) was manufacturing packs with Jokers for the American market in the 1870s.Ībove: early 'Bower' cards and Jokers by American manufacturers produced during the 1870s-1880s. 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. 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. Originally he was called The Best Bower and then later The Little Joker or The Jolly Joker.

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.

Is the joker card used in poker