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.
French playing cards was created in Stralsund from a Hamburg derivative. It is often erroneously called the Berlin pattern. The crownless queens' hairstyles reflect the Biedermeier fashions of the day. They are usually in decks of 32 cards with the twos to sixes missing since skat, Germany's most popular card game, does not require a full deck. Decks of 36 cards (with the sixes) are for jass and tapp, a game played in Baden-Württemberg. Decks of 52 cards usually include three jokers but Zwickern decks have six jokers. The French-Swiss pattern shares the same descent from the North-German pattern's Hamburg parent but their