Wild card (cards)
A wild card in
Use
A wild card is one that may be used to represent any
In many games, ordinary cards may be designated as wild, for example, the J♣ and 9♦ in
In some cases, the wild card or cards must be agreed upon by players before the cards are dealt and play commences. However, in many games, such as
In some Austrian and South Tyrolean card games, one or more other cards may be used as wild cards, including the Weli, a special 6 of Bells, the 7 of Bells and 7 of Acorns. In the game of Perlaggen there are six or seven wild cards: four permanent Perlaggs - K or Maxl, 6 or Weli, 7 or Little Weli, the 7 of Bells or Bell-Spitz and 7 or Eichelspitz - as well as 3 "Trump Perlaggs" - the 7, Unter and Ober of Trumps.
Casino practice
Sometimes a distinction is made between being fully or partially wild. A card that is fully wild can be designated by its holder as any card they choose with no restrictions. Under this rule, for example, a hand with any natural pair and a wild card becomes three of a kind.
A 'limited wild' card may be called a 'bug'. The common rule in casinos is that a wild card plays as a bug, which is given the rank of ace unless designating it as a different card would complete a
There is also a variation of the "fully wild" rule in which the wild card (in this instance they are usually jokers as there are traditionally only two and there is only one black and one red) can be any card of the suits matching the cards colour or current suit. For example, in a jokers wild game with these rules, the red joker could be used as any card of hearts or diamonds. Inversely, the black joker would be any card of clubs or spades.
Two exceptions to standard poker practice sometimes seen in home games are the
Examples
The following is a selection of cards and the games in which they are wild, based on Parlett:[5]
- ♦J – Boston, Guimbarde and Reversis
- ♦7 – Yellow Dwarf
- 7 – Perlaggen
- 7 – Perlaggen
- ♥K – Perlaggen
- S – Mus
- C – Mus
- Matto – Ottocento
- Bègato – Ottocento
- Deuces – Wild-card Rummy, Push Rummy, Canasta, Brag
Footnotes and references
- ^ Parlett (2008), p. 646.
- ISBN 0-19-866178-9.
- ^ The Language of Cards: A glossary of card-playing terms by David Parlett at www.parlettgames.uk. Retrieved 1 Jun 2018.
- ISBN 978-0-141-03787-5.
- ^ Parlett (2008).