Tuesday, June 14, 2016

Topsy Turvy Jokers: Upside Down Both Ways

Here are some jokers that I call, topsy turvy jokers. What I mean by topsy turvy jokers is that they are symmetrical with no up or down.  I'm not totally strict about this since, for example, the first two pictured, are not totally symmetrical yet there is no way from the joker side to decide which side is up.

I'd be very interested in knowing if anyone has a better term for this style of jokers than topsy turvy. Comments please? UPDATE: I've been told common terms are mirrored or duplex jokers.
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NOTE - June, 2023: This article is obsolete. To see the updated articles on full duplex or symmetrical jokers:

These first two are original jokers designed by me as part of promotional decks for my day job.  Click to read the description of the process of designing the jokers.

Ed Mouse & Penguin Jokers
Ed Mouse & Penguin Jokers

Back of the Cards



HangMouse Cat & Mouse Joker
HangMouse Cat & Mouse Joker



 The next two are from the GoNoodle deck. GoNoodle also is a SAS provider of educational materials primarily to elementary schools. We also both make really well designed jokers!



I like jokers, topsy turveys, and monkeys. Imagine my joy at finding all these design elements together!

 I really liked Toy Story by Pixar and I particularly liked some of the characters.  Wonder wonder of joys, here are some of my favorite characters on topsy turvy jokers.


 Another favorite of mine: a classical but original jester with his jester wand.

This next joker is known (Per Dan Nordquist and I quote him...) as SlapStick. The term "slap stick" actually comes from the Commedie del Arte, which also produced Punch and Judy and the word 'zany". This originated in Italy, many hundreds of years ago and changed the world of comedy dramatically. It was the continuation of trends begun in Greek theater and originated the idea of characters ( such as the Marx Brothers of modern times ) who always behaved in a similar way. Harlequin was another person from the Commedie. Many jokers have such characters on them.

SlapStick Joker
SlapStick Joker


Polo players on a joker, symmetrically!

Another well rendered classical topsy turvy jester joker.

Another horsey themed topsy turvy joker but this time with a clown. As you may know, I don't like clowns on jokers.

The next two are long standing favorites of mine in that I remember collecting them in 1979. I was 21. I took a trip with my parents (technical exchange, my Dad was a big time space engineering technical type) to the Soviet Union. The next joker is from Russia, the one below from Finnish Air.




The jokers are pictured inside the plastic holders that I keep them in. These pages are sold primarily to collectors of baseball playing card.

I think I have 84 jokers that I count in the topsy turvy section of the joker collection.

The ones in the top photo in the top left and top right spots are original jokers designed by Time4Learning and VocabularySpellingCity.





 I'm particularly fond of the middle joker in this next set and the one on the middle row on the far right.  The reason is that I collected both of them on the same trip, a trip to Leningrad and Moscow form the US. It was 1979, I was about 21 years old. Leningrad of course is no more, now it's back to St Petersburg.
On another note, in the top left and right corners of the nine above, there is a joker known (Per Dan Nordquist and I quote him...) as SlapStick.  The term "slap stick" actually comes from the Commedie del Arte, which also produced Punch and Judy and the word 'zany". This originated in Italy, manjy hundreds of years ago and changed the world of comedy dramatically. It was the continuation of trends begun in Greek theater and originated the idea of characters ( such as the Marx Brothers of modern times ) who always behaved in a similar way. Harlequin was another person from the Commedie. Many jokers have such characters on them.









Sept 22, 2017 - Updated with the most recent set of topsy turvy jokers.  My photography is better than it was but still not good enough.

September 2018 update. I now have about 175 topsy turvy jokers. Here's a quick video of them, please excuse my production values. And another update, late March 2019. I'm at 221. 
And I'll mention one of my favorite pages, the topsy turvy ladies!