In poker, the clown cards (commonly known as big ghosts, small ghosts, or kings and kings, in some places called big turtles, small turtles, or big cats and kittens) had many meanings. The two clowns represented the sun and the moon. The ghost cards were the most special existence in a deck of poker. In the entire deck system, the remaining 52 cards represented the 52 weeks of the year, the four colors represented the four seasons of the year, and the 13 cards in each color represented the 13 weeks of each season. If each suit and card count were calculated by points, the big clown would use half a point to calculate 365 days in a normal year, and one point to calculate 366 days in a leap year. This implied that the design of playing cards was related to astrology, divination, astronomy, and the calendar. In addition, from the perspective of the origin of the name, the Joker card had the word Joker printed on it. Part of the explanation was that it corresponded to "The Fool" in tarot cards. The Fool card was very special in tarot cards. It was both a 0 and the last of the 22 main cards. It symbolized the beginning and end, as well as infinite possibilities. In terms of practical use, in some games, the clown card could be used as a universal card. For example, when playing cards were introduced to the United States, the billboard added by the manufacturer when producing playing cards later evolved into a universal card, which was the clown card. In some games, the clown card had special functions. For example, in some games based on the Texas Hold 'em framework (such as the "Joker" game), there were special card combination rules.
Among poker cards, The clown card was a special existence. It was commonly known as big ghost, small ghost, king, or king. In some places, it was also called big turtle, small turtle, big cat, and small cat. The two joker cards represented the sun and the moon. The relationship between the two cards and the deck could be understood as: if each suit and the number of cards were calculated according to points, the big joker would be 365 days in a normal year if it was calculated by half a point. If the big joker was calculated according to one point, the result would be 366 days in a leap year. The remaining 52 cards represented 52 weeks in a year, the four suits represented the four seasons, and the 13 cards in each suit represented the 13 weeks experienced in each season. Clown cards were mainly categorized as follows: 1. Standard JOKER: The most traditional JOKER is the favorite category of collectors. Some people even only collect this type of JOKER. 2. " Joker: This type of JOKER has a variety of variations in the billboard. Different products have different jokers. The card is usually printed with content related to the product or trademark. Some of the cards have unique designs and are popular among collectors. 3. The JOKER of the suit of poker cards: There are more variations. The contents of the two jokers are generally different, but it is a pity to draw this kind of JOKER and discard the entire suit of poker cards. There are not many used for exchange. 4. Extra Joker: Extra cards in cards, such as bridge scorecards, poker manufacturer's trademark, etc., are also called extra jokers. There are fewer people who collect these cards. In addition, there were also individual animal patterns such as rabbits, squirrels, butterflies, etc. There were also elephants, lions, tigers, deer, camels, etc., which were commonly seen in China. In recent years, cartoon images were also more popular. For example, Mickey Mouse appeared in a variety of poker cards. Moreover, it should be noted that Joker was regarded as the trump card of victory in poker, not just a clown. In the meaning of the word, it could also refer to people who liked to joke and act absurdly. On the commercial side, the game Clown was well received by players since its launch in February 2024 and had been released on almost all mainstream platforms. On December 5, 2024, Fangamer announced that it would launch a new theme poker card, Balatro Playing Card Deck, in conjunction with the popular game Clown. It added a surprise on top of the stupid standard deck of 52 cards and two more game elements. It was scheduled to be released in March 2025 at a price of 16 USD.
The clown card in poker was called The clown card in foreign languages. There were two cards, commonly known as Big Ghost, Little Ghost, or King and Little Wang. In some places, they were called Big Turtle and Small Turtle, or Big Cat and Kitten. These two clown cards represented the sun and the moon. They were the most special existence in a deck of poker. Judging from the relationship between the number of cards and time, if each suit and the number of cards were calculated according to points, the clown would be 365 days in a normal year if it was calculated by half a point. If the clown was calculated according to one point, the result would be 366 days in a leap year. The remaining 52 cards represented 52 weeks in a year. The four suits represented the four seasons of a year, and the 13 cards in each suit represented the 13 weeks experienced in each season. Clown cards had different categories, such as standard jokers (the JOKER of standard poker, the most traditional JOKER, loved by collectors), advertising jokers (printed with content related to products or brands, unique design, some popular with collectors), fancy poker jokers (two jokers generally have different content), additional jokers (such as bridge scorecards, poker manufacturer's trademark, etc.). In addition, individual animal patterns also accounted for a certain proportion of standard poker jokers. There were many common patterns such as elephants and lions in China. In recent years, cartoon jokers had also become popular. For example, Mickey Mouse jokers appeared in a variety of poker cards. In terms of meaning, Joker not only represented the clown card in poker, but also referred to people who liked to joke and act absurdly. In poker, Joker was regarded as a trump card that could win in one blow.
Among poker cards, Joker cards were also known as clown cards. Their origins were related to the clown image on the early billboard. Early poker cards would be mixed with " billboard " of the same texture, and often appeared in the image of a clown. From the development of playing cards, when playing cards were introduced into the United States, some manufacturers would add a billboard printed with company or alcohol advertisements during the production of playing cards. Because the playing cards might be missing during use, this billboard was used as a supplementary card to replace the original playing cards. It gradually became the so-called all-purpose card, which was the Joker card. In poker games, Joker was given a higher weight and could represent any color and any card. It was highly sought after in poker games and was a symbol of poker game culture. In some literary works, such as the movie " The Clown 2," the symbol of playing cards was also used to connect the fate of the characters and social tragedy. The protagonist of the film, Arthur Fleck, accidentally obtained a unique deck of playing cards, which became a symbol of his new life. The colors and numbers on the playing cards indicated the turning of his fate.
The clowns in poker cards had many meanings. Judging from the connection with the astronomical calendar, the king could represent the sun, the small king represented the moon, and the other 52 cards (representing the 52 weeks of the year) reflected the connection with astrology, astronomy, and the calendar. The four colors represented the four seasons of spring, summer, autumn, and winter. The 13 cards in each color represented the 13 weeks of each season. If it was calculated according to a specific number of points (J, Q, and K were 11, 12, and 13 points. The total number of big and small kings was 365, which symbolized the number of days in the ordinary year, and 366 symbolized the number of days in the leap year), the composition of the entire playing card was related to the number of days in a year. From the perspective of origins, the clown card might have originated from The Fool in the tarot cards. It was 0 and the last of the 22 main cards, symbolizing the beginning and end, as well as infinite possibilities. In the game, the clown did not belong to any suit and had no specific points. It could be regarded as any other card. In some games, it might also be given special abilities or rules, such as fighting for the dealer's position, doubling the score, and so on. In addition, from the perspective of culture and collection, the clown cards were divided into standard jokers (traditional types that were loved by collectors), advertisement jokers (printed with products or trademark related content), poker jokers with different colors (more variations and two pieces of content were generally different), additional jokers (such as bridge scorecards, poker manufacturer's trademark, etc.), etc. There were also jokers with animal patterns, cartoon images, non-clown characters, etc. From a divination point of view, due to the influence of the tarot cards, the clown cards were the most auspicious.
Among the poker cards, there were two clown cards (commonly known as Big Ghost, Little Ghost, or King and Little Wang. In some places, they were called Big Turtle, Small Turtle, or Big Cat and Kitten). The two clowns represented the sun and the moon. These two cards were the most special existence in a deck of poker. Judging from the relationship between the number of cards and time, if each suit and the number of cards were calculated according to points, the big clown would be 365 days in a normal year if it was calculated by half a point. If the big clown was calculated according to one point, it would be 366 days in a leap year. The remaining 52 cards represented 52 weeks in a year. The four suits represented the four seasons of a year, and the 13 cards in each suit represented the 13 weeks experienced in each season. In addition, there were different types of joker cards, such as standard jokers, advertising jokers, fancy jokers, extra jokers, etc. In the collection field, there were many joker-themed cards that had a certain collection value. There were also new poker cards with joker cards as the theme, such as the new theme poker cards launched in conjunction with the game "joker cards."
The clown cards in poker had many meanings. Symbolically speaking, the two clown cards represented the sun and the moon respectively. In terms of the relationship with the year, if it was regarded as a half point, it could be added to the other 52 cards (representing 52 weeks in a year) to correspond to 365 days in a normal year. If it was regarded as a point, it would correspond to 366 days in a leap year. The four colors represented the four seasons of spring, summer, autumn, and winter, and each color represented 13 weeks in each season. In terms of origin, part of the explanation was that poker originated from tarot cards. The clown card corresponded to the "The Fool" in tarot cards. This card was special among tarot cards. It was both a 0 and the last of the 22 main cards. It symbolized the beginning and end, as well as infinite possibilities. There was also a saying that around the 1860s, clowns were added to the deck to take advantage of the popularity of Yug. The "Best Female" card in Yug that beat the male trump card was a clown. However, some people thought that this was just a coincidence, or it might be because the clown character was suitable for the king, queen, and other medieval palace theme of the poker cards. In terms of their role in games, clowns had no real role in many games, but they were used as wild cards or trump cards in some card competitions (such as poker, canasta, and war).
There were 52 cards after removing the joker cards.
In poker, the joker card (King and King) had many relationships with other cards. In terms of quantity, a deck of cards had a total of 54 cards, of which there were 2 clown cards and 52 other cards. These 52 cards represented 52 weeks in a year, and the clown card could symbolize the sun and the moon. In terms of symbolic significance, the clown card and other cards jointly constructed a symbolic system related to astrology, divination, astronomy, and calendar. For example, the J, Q, and K were regarded as 11,12,13 points, and the King and Little King were counted by half a point. The remaining 52 cards symbolized 365 days in a normal year. If the King and Little King were counted by one point, it symbolized 366 days in a leap year. The four colors represented the four seasons of spring, summer, autumn, and winter, and each color had 13 cards representing 13 weeks in each season. In addition, from the perspective of the type of cards, the clown card was the most special existence in a deck of poker. It was different from other cards that had character images (such as Js, Queens, Kings, etc.) or symbolic points. There was also a view that the clown card corresponded to the "Fool" of the tarot cards, and the "Fool" in the tarot cards had a special meaning (symbolizing the starting point and the end point, symbolizing infinite possibilities). This also reflected the relationship between the clown card and other cards in terms of origin.
In poker, the clown card had many meanings. In the traditional sense, the two clowns represented the sun and the moon, and the 52 cards in the deck, excluding the clowns, represented the 52 weeks of the year. The four suits represented the four seasons of the year, and the 13 cards in each suit represented the 13 weeks of each season. If each suit and card count were calculated by points, the big clown would use half a point to calculate the 365 days of the normal year, and the 366 days of the leap year would be calculated by one point. This indicated that the design of the poker cards was related to astronomy and the calendar. In addition, the word "Joker" was not only an English expression of the clown card, but also a person who liked to joke and act absurdly. In a specific context (such as in some games or cultural expressions), it was regarded as a trump card that could win with one blow.