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NOTE - June, 2023: This article is obsolete.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:

1. Animals - 
2. Card Themed  
3. Musician  
4. Ladies & Masks  
5. Jesters and clowns  - Western Topsy Subsection
6. People  
7. Things  

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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

Back of the Cards

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

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!

Most Popular Playing Card Jokers

While collectors and collection tend to focus on variety and the exotic jokers, I thought for Mothers Day, I'd focus on the most popular or most common of jokers.  I think it's these four playing card jokers or variations of them.

Playing Card Jokers
Most Popular

Popular Jokers

My Own Jester

Interested in jokers I am. This means playing card jokers, not the Joker from Batman. And certainly not those gaudy close figurines that I see.

Yet, I do have one court jester figure who has worked his way onto my shelves. He holds a nice bauble. And, except for my inlaid joker boxes, the rest of my collection truly are playing cards.

A jester with his bauble

Laugh-In Jokers

There are collections and there are curated collections.

For most of my life, I have been a collector of jokers but of a lowly type. I collected and I counted but I did not curate.  To be honest, I'm a little ashamed that I've just been charmed by their prettiness and not looked into their history and meaning.

I have been reading some joker websites lately  which are very high quality. Their photography and explanations and presentation are very impressive.  I'm inspired and am going to try to step it up.  Some of the sites that are inspiring me to a higher level of work are listed in this previous post on joker and playing card collectors.

I thought I would start with these jokers since they represent a milestone (of sorts) in history.

First: a trivia question:

As we all know, today there are hundreds of television programs and lots of time-shifted viewing so long gone are the days when a large chunk of television viewers (or even the public) tuned in to watch the same show at the same time. Even big events like the Superbowl no longer get half of the viewing audience.  Long ago, it wasn't like this.

Question: What was the last regularly scheduled television program to regularly win over half of the TV viewing audience?

Answer: Rowan and Martin's Laugh-In which ran on Monday nights, from 1968-1973

I remember when my family bought a color TV primarily so we could watch the Laugh-In in color.

The term "Laugh-In"  was a play on the "love-ins" or "be-ins" of the 1960s hippie culture, terms that were, in turn, derived from "sit-ins", common in protests associated with civil rights and anti-war demonstrations of the time.

I think I bought my Laugh In deck of playing cards in a store in the early 70s. It is dated 1969.  I have the full deck but of course, my real interest in these two jokers.

Fickle Finger of Fate Award

One joker commemorates the Fickle Finger of Fate Award, an award that salutes actual dubious achievements by the government or famous people,  It became one of the many catchphrases of the show.

The other joker features (and I'm quoting Wikipedia)  an unnamed "man in a yellow raincoat" and hat, riding a tricycle, then tipping over and falling, frequently used between sketches.

Note.  I did cite some info that I learned from Wikipedia. I have no source for the point about this being the last program to get over half of the audience.  Wikipedia does report that it was the number one show for two seasons. I suppose I could look up somewhere the size of the viewing audience and the share that the program had for its two hit seasons.

Jokers of History

Jokers of  History - Playing Card Jokers

The top three jokers on this page are of old balloons. The ones in position one and three are dated 1784 and 1803 (not the jokers, the images!). The look like old French engravings.

The bottom six are historical characters.

My wife and daughter are coming downstairs. I need to put this stuff away before they catch me at it. I'll scan more later if I can......

Musically themed jokers

This page was organized as a musical instrumental with a flute or banjo joker theme.

I recommend that you click through to the  much better post on jokers with a musical theme.