We all know Joker as the villain form Batman. We also know that a joker is a playing card… but what does it do, and where does it come from?

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Glossary

• floss – short for dental floss
• deck of cards – a set of cards
• trump – surpass (something) by saying or doing something better
• emerge – become apparent or prominent
• incarnation – the form taken by a person or thing during an incarnation
• pop up – appear or occur suddenly

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Think about it

Answer the questions below. Pause at times indicated in brackets.

• Where were the playing cards invented? (0:34)
• When did the joker join the deck? (0:34)
• Were the early versions of Joker important, or unimportant cards? (0:54)
• Why was Joker welcome by card manufacturers? (1:22)
• Was Joker an integral part of Juker or the wild card in the game of Poker?
• What is royal flush?

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Practice makes perfect

Put the words in bold back in the text.

over    –    serve   –    trump (2x)    –    had   –    deck’s    –    for

The joker is the ________ newest element. During the mid-19th century, euchre players introduced a blank card that would ________ as the game’s top ________. Researchers speculate that the new ________ was called the “Jucker card.” (Juckerspiel was the original German name ________ euchre.) ________ time, the Jucker became the “joker,” and by the 1880s, companies ________ begun incorporating jesters into their packs.

Source: http://mentalfloss.com/article/55695/4-playing-card-faqs-answered

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