Joker (playing card) 6 Jokers (3 different pairs) in a 52-card French deck. German Rummy uses 2 packs of French playing cards, with 3 Jokers per pack. The Joker is often compared to "(the) Fool" in the Tarot or Tarock decks. They share many similarities both in appearance and play function. In Central Europe, the Fool, or "Sküs", is the highest trump; elsewhere as an "excuse" ("L'Excuse") that can be played at any time to avoid following suit but cannot win. Practitioners of cartomancy often include a Joker in the standard 52-card deck with a meaning similar to the Fool card of Tarot.
A Gamut of Games Abbott expanded his game Crossings, published here, into the more-refined title Epaminondas. Many of the games covered in the book were creations of Sid Sackson himself, who was a prolific game designer. The sections of the book and the games covered therein are as follows: "All of the games in this section use a standard pack of cards." "All of the games in this section use a checkerboard." "All of the games in this section are meant to be played with pencil and paper." A second edition of the book was published in 1982; Dover Publications released an unabridged reprint,