Half Joker

Half Joker

Effect

+20 Mult if played hand contains 3 or fewer cards

Rarity

Common

Unlock Requirement

Available from start.

Stats

Buy Price

5

Sell Price

2

Type

Additive Mult

Activation

Independent

Compatibility

Copyable

✓ Yes

Perishable

✓ Yes

Eternal

✓ Yes

Half Joker is a Common Joker. It is a conditional Additive Mult Joker that adds +20 Mult to played hands containing 3 or fewer cards. Note that this does not take into account whether the excess cards are scored.

This Joker is very good in the earliest of Antes, with most Pairs and Three of a Kinds able to clear the first one on their own, and is one of the strongest flat Additive Mult Jokers in the game. However, due to the weak base power of the hands it enables, it is usually best replaced by other Additive Mult Jokers in later Antes.

• Blue Deck ( {{hl|blue|+1}} hand every round Discover at least {{hl|orange|20}} items from your [[collection]] Blue Deck.png): This Joker works best when repeatedly playing the hands it enables. Therefore, this Deck provides natural synergy, since the small size of all three valid poker hands warrant fewer discards to consistently find and score them.
• Nebula Deck ( Start run with the {{V|Telescope|class=hl-cyan}} voucher <br> {{hl|red|-1}} consumable slot Win a run with the {{D|Blue}} on [[Stakes|any difficulty]] Nebula Deck.png): Since this Deck emphasizes the quick scaling of a single poker hand, it can greatly balloon the power of Half Joker, which already rewards the player for playing the same few hands, with its built-in Telescope Voucher guaranteeing that each Celestial Pack gives a much needed Pluto (Increases {{ph|High Card}} hand value by {{mult|+1}} and {{chips|+10}} Available from start. Planet Pluto.png), Mercury (Increases {{ph|Pair}} hand value by {{mult|+1}} and {{chips|+15}} Available from start. Planet Mercury.png), or Venus (Increases {{ph|Three of a Kind}} hand value by {{mult|+2}} and {{chips|+20}} Available from start. Planet Venus.png), as the three hands this Joker empowers are very weak at base. However, the -1 consumable slot malus can prevent the player from capitalizing on strong consumables like The Chariot (Enhances {{hl|orange|1}} selected card into a [[Card Modifiers|{{hl|orange|Steel Card}}]] Available from start. Tarot The Chariot.png) Tarot Card, or, if somehow generated by Séance (If [[Poker Hands|{{hl|orange|poker hand}}]] is a {{ph|Straight Flush}}, create a random [[Spectral_Cards|{{hl|sblue|Spectral}}]] card <br> {{room}} Uncommon Effect Independent Séance.png) or Sixth Sense (If {{hl|orange|first hand}} of round is a single {{hl|orange|6}}, destroy it and create a [[Spectral Cards|{{hl|sblue|Spectral}}]] card <br> {{room}} Uncommon Effect N/A (Passive) Sixth_Sense.png) in the same run, the Deja Vu (Add a [[Red Seal|{{hl|red|Red Seal}}]] to {{hl|orange|1}} selected card in your hand Available from start. Spectral Deja Vu.png), Ouija (Converts all cards in hand to a single random [[Card Ranks|{{hl|orange|rank}}]]<br>{{hl|red|-1}} hand size Available from start. Spectral Ouija.png), and Trance (Add a [[Blue Seal|{{hl|blue|Blue Seal}}]] to {{hl|orange|1}} selected card in your hand Available from start. Spectral Trance.png) Spectral Cards.
• Ghost Deck ( [[Spectral Cards|{{hl|sblue|Spectral}}]] cards may appear in the shop, start with a {{spectral|Hex}} card Win a run with the {{D|Yellow}} on [[Stakes|any difficulty]] Ghost Deck.png): The aforementioned Spectral Cards ( Deja Vu (Add a [[Red Seal|{{hl|red|Red Seal}}]] to {{hl|orange|1}} selected card in your hand Available from start. Spectral Deja Vu.png), Ouija (Converts all cards in hand to a single random [[Card Ranks|{{hl|orange|rank}}]]<br>{{hl|red|-1}} hand size Available from start. Spectral Ouija.png), and Trance (Add a [[Blue Seal|{{hl|blue|Blue Seal}}]] to {{hl|orange|1}} selected card in your hand Available from start. Spectral Trance.png)) all become more accessible by becoming potential Shop presences. Moreover, the starting Hex (Add [[Card Modifiers#Editions|{{hl|edition|Polychrome}}]] to a random [[Jokers|{{hl|orange|Joker}}]], destroy all other Jokers Available from start. Spectral Hex.png) card can also give Half Joker a noteworthy X1.5 Mult bonus, making it much more feasible to hold later into the run.

Half Joker only synergizes with hands that can be formed with three or fewer cards:

• High Card
• Pair
• Three of a Kind

Half Joker uniquely encourages the user to go big with small hands. As a result, many of the Jokers it synergizes with will ideally play into this trait:

• Blue Joker ({{Chips|+2}} for each remaining card in {{hl|orange|deck}} <br> {{currently|{{chips|+104}}}} Common Chips Independent Blue Joker.png): Giving +2 Chips to all hands played for each card remaining in your Deck, this one is ideal in the early-to-mid-game for empowering the hands this Joker already enables, as their low card count and lessened dependency on discards means its power is not dampened as much as it is by the 5-card hands.
• Delayed Gratification (Earn {{Money|2}} per {{hl|orange|discard}} if no discards are used by end of the round Common Economy N/A (Passive) Delayed_Gratification.png): The high amount of + Mult can allow the player to play using whatever they draw in their opening hand since they can play three cards that do not form a hand, rather than just discarding them to cycle for new cards.
• Green Joker ({{mult|+1}} per hand played <br> {{mult|-1}} per discard <br> {{Currently|{{mult|+0}}}} Common Additive Mult Mixed Green_Joker.png), Ride the Bus (This Joker gains {{Mult|+1}} per {{hl|orange|consecutive}} hand played without a scoring {{hl|orange|face}} card <br> {{Currently|{{Mult|+0}}}} Common Additive Mult Mixed Ride the Bus.png) and Supernova (Adds the number of times [[Poker Hands|{{hl|orange|poker hand}}]] has been played this run to Mult Common Additive Mult Independent Supernova.png): These Additive Mult Jokers will give even more score for playing repeated hands, which is something this Joker already encourages. Their downsides (-Mult on discard, reset when playing Face Card and single-hand focus, respectively) matter very little, as discards are less crucial, and only a small number of hands benefit in the first place.
• Juggler ({{hl|orange|+1}} hand size Common Effect N/A (Passive) Juggler.png), Troubadour ({{hl|orange|+2}} hand size, <br> {{hl|blue|-1}} hand each round Win {{hl|orange|5}} consecutive rounds by <abbr title="Discards are OK to use.">playing only 1 hand</abbr> Uncommon Effect N/A (Passive) Troubadour.png), and Turtle Bean ({{hl|orange|+5}} hand size, reduces by {{hl|red|1}} each round Uncommon Effect N/A (Passive) Turtle Bean.png): All three of these provide passive bonuses to hand size, allowing for easier assembly of Three of a Kinds, and most importantly, more opportunity to trigger 'held in hand' abilities, which scale particularly well with this Joker.
• Raised Fist (Adds {{hl|orange|double}} the rank of {{hl|orange|lowest}} ranked card held in hand to Mult Common Additive Mult On Held Raised Fist.png), Shoot the Moon (Each {{hl|orange|Queen}} held in hand gives {{mult|+13}} Play every Heart card in your deck in one round. Common Additive Mult On Held Shoot the Moon.png), and Baron (Each {{hl|orange|King}} held in hand gives {{xmult|1.5}} Rare Multiplicative Mult On Held Baron.png): These Jokers provide Mult bonuses based on the cards held in your hand (singular variable + Mult, multiple flat + Mult, and multiple flat XMult, respectively), which meshes very well with the need to play fewer cards.
• Reserved Parking (Each {{hl|orange|face}} card held in hand has a {{hl|green|1 in 2}} chance to give {{Money|1}} Common Economy On Held Reserved Parking.png): By repeatedly scoring numbered cards and Aces in small hands, while keeping face cards in hand, a large amount of money can potentially be earned.
• Sly Joker ({{Chips|+50}} if played hand contains a {{ph|Pair}} Common Chips Independent Sly Joker.png) and Wily Joker ({{Chips|+100}} if played hand contains a {{ph|Three of a Kind}} Common Chips Independent Wily Joker.png): These both provide a flat number of Chips for hands containing a Pair or a Three of a Kind, respectively. Since Three of a Kind also contains a Pair, it can benefit from both of these Jokers simultaneously to reap a near-universal +150 Chips.
• Card Sharp ({{xmult|3}} if played {{hl|orange|poker hand}} has already been played this round Uncommon Multiplicative Mult Independent Card_Sharp.png): A flat Multiplicative Mult Joker that gives X3 Mult if the played poker hand has been played previously in the round. Since all of the hands this Joker enables are easy to score, this suave fellow is nearly guaranteed to give his impressive bonus on all subsequently played hands.
• Certificate (When round begins, add a random {{hl|orange|playing card}} with a random [[Seal|{{hl|orange|seal}}]] to your hand Have a [[Gold_Cards|Gold playing card]] with a [[Gold_Seal|{{hl|orange|Gold Seal}}]] Uncommon Effect N/A (Passive) Certificate.png): A unique utility Joker that gives a technical hand size bonus by adding a playing card with a random Seal to the hand at the start of a round. This allows for even greater scaling of the hands this card enables. It also works particularly well with the aforementioned Blue Joker ({{Chips|+2}} for each remaining card in {{hl|orange|deck}} <br> {{currently|{{chips|+104}}}} Common Chips Independent Blue Joker.png).
• Mime (Retrigger all card {{hl|orange|held in hand}} abilities Uncommon Retrigger On Held Mime.png): Allowing all 'held in hand' abilities to trigger an additional time, it gives a huge boost to the power ceiling of this Joker by allowing additional scoring from Steel Cards ({{xmult|1.5}} while this card stays in hand Steel Card.png) and 'held in hand' Mult Jokers, money generation from Reserved Parking (Each {{hl|orange|face}} card held in hand has a {{hl|green|1 in 2}} chance to give {{Money|1}} Common Economy On Held Reserved Parking.png) and Gold Cards ({{money|3}} if this card is held in hand at end of round Gold Card.png), and Planet Card generation from Blue Seals (Creates the {{Planet|}} card for final played [[Poker Hands|{{hl|orange|poker hand}}]] of round if {{hl|orange|held}} in hand<br>{{room}} Blue Seal.png).
• Ramen ({{xmult|2}}, loses {{xmult|0.01}} per {{hl|orange|card}} discarded Uncommon Multiplicative Mult Mixed Ramen.png): Similarly to Green Joker ({{mult|+1}} per hand played <br> {{mult|-1}} per discard <br> {{Currently|{{mult|+0}}}} Common Additive Mult Mixed Green_Joker.png), this card is essentially a free X2 Mult boost for a Half Joker build, as discards are less necessary in the first place.
• Space Joker ({{hl|green|1 in 4}} chance to upgrade level of played [[Poker Hands|{{hl|orange|poker hand}}]] Uncommon Effect On Played Space Joker.png) and Burnt Joker (Upgrade the level of the first {{hl|orange|discarded}} poker hand each round Sell 50 cards. Rare Effect On Discard Burnt Joker.png): These both allow for easy poker hand level scaling, as they can easily be assembled and thus repeatedly played or discarded, respectively.
• Steel Joker (Gives {{xmult|0.2}} for each [[Steel Cards|{{hl|orange|Steel Card}}]] in your {{hl|orange|full deck}} <br> {{currently|{{xmult|1}}}} Uncommon Multiplicative Mult Independent Steel Joker.png): Since this Joker already benefits greatly from a large number of Steel Cards ({{xmult|1.5}} while this card stays in hand Steel Card.png) due to the lesser number of played cards, the bonus it gives just by adding Steel Cards ({{xmult|1.5}} while this card stays in hand Steel Card.png) to the build makes it a natural choice.
• Stuntman ({{Chips|+250}},<br>{{hl|orange|-2}} hand size Earn at least 100 million (100,000,000) Chips in a single hand. Rare Chips Independent Stuntman.png): One of the strongest Chip Jokers in the game, providing an astounding +250 Chips to all played hands, at the cost of a passive -2 hand size penalty. While its drawback detracts from one of this Joker's primary strengths - holding onto more cards to activate 'held in hand' abilities - oftentimes the sheer power it provides will be more than enough to compensate.
• The Duo ({{xmult|2}} if played hand contains a {{ph|Pair}} Win a run without playing a {{ph|Pair}}. Rare Multiplicative Mult Independent The Duo.png) and/or The Trio ({{xmult|3}} if played hand contains a {{ph|Three of a Kind}} Win a run without playing a {{ph|Three of a Kind}}. Rare Multiplicative Mult Independent The Trio.png): These are the strongest Multiplicative Mult Jokers to pair with this one, as only High Card is excluded from their effects (which is only sub-optimal in the Endless Antes). Much like the hand-specific Chip Jokers, Three of a Kinds can benefit from both simultaneously to pump out a staggering X6 Mult.

The following Jokers could potentially have synergy with this Joker, but have noticeable downsides:

• Splash (Every {{hl|orange|played card}} counts in scoring Common Effect N/A (Passive) Splash.png): This Joker allows all played cards to count in scoring. When using this Joker, High Card and Pair can be used as makeshift discards while utilizing otherwise non-scoring cards that could have a nice Card Modifier to help with scoring, or another trait to mesh with unique Joker synergy. However, Three of a Kind is completely incapable of benefiting if Half Joker is being emphasized, and in the event that it is the focused hand, Splash would do nothing (like depicted in most other media).
• Marble Joker (Adds one [[Stone Cards|{{hl|orange|Stone}}]] card to the deck when [[Blinds|{{hl|orange|Blind}}]] is selected Uncommon Effect On Blind Select Marble Joker.png): Adding a Stone Card ({{chips|+50}}<br>no rank or suit Stone Card.png) to the Deck at the start of a round can sound enticing, and is especially so if the hands being scaled are High Card or Pair due to allowing more cards to be scored than usual, but the shot of Chips they provide usually is not enough to outweigh the large amassment of Jokers that provide score based on rank or suit - Stones lack both of these. On top of that, more cards in the deck means less of a chance of finding crucial Steel Cards ({{xmult|1.5}} while this card stays in hand Steel Card.png) or Blue Seals (Creates the {{Planet|}} card for final played [[Poker Hands|{{hl|orange|poker hand}}]] of round if {{hl|orange|held}} in hand<br>{{room}} Blue Seal.png). With a large number of Stones, Stone Joker (Gives {{Chips|+25}} for each [[Stone Card|{{hl|orange|Stone Card}}]] in your {{hl|orange|full deck}} <br> {{Currently|{{Chips|+0}}}} Uncommon Chips Independent Stone Joker.png) can form a very potent Chip engine with it, but one should carefully consider all their options before picking this up.
• Blackboard ({{xmult|3}} if all cards held in hand are {{suit|Spades}} or {{suit|Clubs}} Uncommon Multiplicative Mult Independent Blackboard.png): While its Multiplicative Mult bonus is impressive, it can be difficult to trigger by only scoring 3 cards at a time without suit fixing.

• Grabber (Permanently gain {{hl|blue|+1}} hand per round Base Grabber.png) and Nacho Tong (Permanently gain an additional {{hl|blue|+1}} hand per round Play a total of 2,500 cards Upgraded Nacho Tong.png) allow for the three poker hands Half Joker enables to be played more and more often and further increasing the power of cards like Green Joker ({{mult|+1}} per hand played <br> {{mult|-1}} per discard <br> {{Currently|{{mult|+0}}}} Common Additive Mult Mixed Green_Joker.png), Ride the Bus (This Joker gains {{Mult|+1}} per {{hl|orange|consecutive}} hand played without a scoring {{hl|orange|face}} card <br> {{Currently|{{Mult|+0}}}} Common Additive Mult Mixed Ride the Bus.png) and Supernova (Adds the number of times [[Poker Hands|{{hl|orange|poker hand}}]] has been played this run to Mult Common Additive Mult Independent Supernova.png).
• Paint Brush ({{hl|orange|+1}} hand size Base Paint Brush.png) and Palette ({{hl|orange|+1}} hand size Reduce your hand size down to five cards. Upgraded Palette.png) provide passive hand size bonuses without necessitating the consumption of a Joker slot, allowing for easier capitalization on 'held in hand' effects.
• Telescope ([[Booster Packs|{{hl|orange|Celestial Packs}}]] always contain the [[Planet Cards|{{hl|cyan|Planet}}]] card for your most played [[Poker Hands|{{hl|orange|poker hand}}]] Base Telescope.png) is a wonderful pickup in a build featuring this Joker, for the same reason that the Nebula Deck ( Start run with the {{V|Telescope|class=hl-cyan}} voucher <br> {{hl|red|-1}} consumable slot Win a run with the {{D|Blue}} on [[Stakes|any difficulty]] Nebula Deck.png) is a good choice.

• This Joker is easily distinguishable when played against Amber Acorn ( Showdown Amber Acorn.png), as it retains its unique shape even when flipped face-down.

The following poker hands are formed of more than three cards, and thus gain no benefit from Half Joker:

• Two Pair
• Straight
• Flush
• Full House
• Four of a Kind
• Straight Flush
• Five of a Kind
• Flush House
• Flush Five

• Jokers oriented towards larger hands will contribute nothing to a Half Joker build. Some of the numerous examples include not being able to get its benefit while also scaling Square Joker (This Joker gains {{Chips|+4}} if played hand has exactly {{hl|orange|4}} cards <br> {{Currently|{{Chips|0}}}} Common Chips Mixed Square_Joker.png), and being unable to capitalize on The Family ({{xmult|4}} if played hand contains a {{ph|Four of a Kind}} Win a run without playing a {{ph|Four of a Kind}}. Rare Multiplicative Mult Independent The_Family.png), which is one of the strongest flat Multiplicative Mult Jokers in the game, and would otherwise be easy to pivot into from a Three of a Kind build.
• Merry Andy ({{hl|red|+3}} discards each round, <br>{{hl|red|-1}} hand size Win a run in {{hl|orange|12}} or fewer rounds Uncommon Effect N/A (Passive) Merry_Andy.png): The +3 discards it provides are nice for most other builds, but for Half Joker builds, they are largely irrelevant for the reasons stated multiple times before. The -1 hand size penalty it provides can make it just hard enough to find Pairs and Three of a Kinds to be a severe detriment, as well as making Steel Cards ({{xmult|1.5}} while this card stays in hand Steel Card.png) and Blue Seals (Creates the {{Planet|}} card for final played [[Poker Hands|{{hl|orange|poker hand}}]] of round if {{hl|orange|held}} in hand<br>{{room}} Blue Seal.png) harder to find.
• Flower Pot ({{xmult|3}} if poker hand contains a {{Suit|Diamond}} card, {{Suit|Club}} card, {{Suit|Heart}} card, and {{Suit|Spade}} card Reach Ante level {{hl|orange|8}} Uncommon Multiplicative Mult Independent Flower_Pot.png) also does not work well with Half Joker as the four suits are impossible to reach with 3 cards.

There is 1 Boss Blind that counters Half Joker, and a few others that can provide a noticeable challenge but do not directly counter it:

• The Psychic ( Boss The Psychic.png): Hands with less than 5 played cards will not score at all. Unless the player has scaled their build well enough, this is a definite run-ender for a Half Joker build.
• The Eye ( Boss The Eye.png): Hands that have been played previously this Blind will not score at all. Half Joker only empowers 3 of the 12 hands in the game, so once these options are exhausted, it will not assist in scoring whatsoever. This can potentially cause a guaranteed run loss, but is less detrimental when encountered earlier.
• The Ox ( Boss The Ox.png): Playing the poker hand that was the most played at the start of the same Ante will set the player's money to $0. This Joker struggles with it especially, as it encourages focusing on a small number of hands. Since the Jokers and Card Modifiers Half Joker bounces off of best are hard to come by consistently, this Boss Blind can potentially cause irreversible damage to the run by making them virtually inaccessible.
• The Wall ( Boss The Wall.png) and Violet Vessel ( Showdown Violet Vessel.png): With their doubled and tripled Boss Blind size, respectively, they prove an extreme challenge to a Half Joker build without extreme amounts of scaling, as all three hands it enables have very low base Chips and Mult.

• This Joker is part of a set that doesn't adhere to the standard joker size, along with Wee Joker (This Joker gains {{Chips|+8}} when each played {{hl|orange|2}} is scored <br> {{Currently|{{chips|+0}}}} Win a run in {{hl|orange|18}} or fewer rounds Rare Chips Mixed Wee Joker.png), Photograph (First played {{hl|orange|face}} card gives {{xmult|2}} when scored Common Multiplicative Mult On Scored Photograph.png), and Square Joker (This Joker gains {{Chips|+4}} if played hand has exactly {{hl|orange|4}} cards <br> {{Currently|{{Chips|0}}}} Common Chips Mixed Square_Joker.png)