Issue link: https://digital.copcomm.com/i/8603
APRIL FOOLS: GAMES FEATURING 8 By: Daniel Albert Everyone knows that April 1st marks the day forever known to any jokester worth his weight in gold silly string as April Fools. Tradition dictates that this day is a great day to trick your friends with any and every prank your mind can imagine. You may find however that the most famous of all pranksters is closer than you think, and in fact he is present at all of LA's Casinos. I'm referring of course to "The Joker" and many of the great LA Casino games use his card. The Joker card was originally introduced in about 1860 for the game Euchre, and any game in that family or style, to be used as the highest trump and later came to be represented as a clown or court jester by the 1880s. The Joker usually is depicted as a court jester even though it is believed that the term "Joker" comes from a mispronunciation of Juker, the German/Alsatian name for the game Euchre. There are usually two Jokers per deck, often noticeably different. Common traits include the appearance of colored and black/non-colored Jokers. At times, the Jokers will each be colored to match the colors used for suits; there will be a red Joker, and a black Joker. With the red/black jokers, the red one can alternately be counted as a heart/diamond and the black is used to substitute clubs/spades. In games where the jokers may need to be compared, the red or full-color joker usually outranks the black-and-white one. How is the Joker Card used? Well I'm glad you asked. The Joker's use in table games is quite often greatly varied. Many games omit the card from use entirely and due to this fact, Jokers are most often simply used informally as replacements for lost cards in a deck by writing the lost card's value on the joker. Other games, such as a 25-card variant of Euchre, make it one of the most important in the game while in other games the Joker is often a wild card, and thereby allowed to represent any other existing card. The term "Joker's Wild" originates from this practice. The Joker can be an extremely beneficial, or an extremely harmful, card. In Euchre it is often used to represent Benny, the highest trump. In poker, it is wild. However, in the children's game named Old Maid, a solitary joker represents the Maid, a card that is to be avoided. In addition many of the games that are played at any LA Casino make use of the Joker card in their own original ways. HUSTLER CASINO is in on the April Fools action with a few games that feature the Joker. Pai Gow Poker is played with a total of 53 cards consisting of 52 cards and the joker where the object of the game is to win your bet by having both of your