Scott of Denexa Games not only makes great cards but he's treated me nice. I bought a deck from him and mentioned my interest in jokers and he took good care of me. Thanks Scott. More about your cards and Denexa later on...in the meantime, here are two sets of Denexa’s triptych jokers.
For years, I've had a "flyers" section as part my animal jokers. But, thanks to these dragon jokers by Denexa, I'm recognizing that the dragons are now ready to have their own subsection. There are 33 jokers of dragons and serpents!
Here's a few more dragons and serpent jokers.
And before we get to the complete set of flying dragons and serpent jokers, let me explain there is a difference between dragons (they have six
limbs: four legs and two wings) and wyverns or drakes which have only
two hand legs plus wings. In some of these, the design is more of a flying serpent. And I consider the mythical horses -
centaurs, unicorns, and flying horses - to be a different genus. So here onto the full set of dragons.
The middle joker, in the nine below, is from The De La Rue Iranian cards. My source is the Clear the Decks from June 2021, ar article by Alex Clays. He describes his Iranian deck c 1937 commissioned by the Royal Iranian Government Ministry of Finance. He also mentioned a 1962 deck by Fournier, a Spanish playing card manufacturer, who reprinted the "Historic Iranian Designs".
While we are looking at these Denexa jokers, let me point out like the old Kem cards, they are made out of plastic. So while not indestructible, they will survive endless use and spills. But they are susceptible to violence and fire. I think they're great. Plus they come from a small company in Norman Oklahoma. It's run by a family: Scott is the president and is married to Renee, who is the VP and has her own last name and who has ten years of casino gaming experience.
Their website explains that
Denexa means “playing cards” in the Draconic language. And I quote:
If you ever have to play a card game with a dragon, make sure to bring your Denexa 100% Plastic Playing Cards, because their sharp talons tend to shred paper cards to bits!.The flyer animal joker section now consists of:
- Butterflies. - Coming soon...
On a slightly related note, here's the dragons on the wall in my office. One is a Chinese print bought in China in the 1970s by a friend. The other is a kindergarten art project by my first born, my favorite young lady in the entire world.