Jolly Joker

Jolly Joker

Effect

+8 Mult if played hand contains a Pair

Rarity

Common

Unlock Requirement

Available from start.

Stats

Buy Price

3

Sell Price

1

Type

Additive Mult

Activation

Independent

Compatibility

Copyable

✓ Yes

Perishable

✓ Yes

Eternal

✓ Yes

Jolly Joker is a Common Joker that conditionally provides Additive Mult to played hands. It will give +8 Mult if the played hand contains a Pair (i.e., 2 or more cards of the same rank). This is not the same as being a Pair; Two Pair, Three of a Kind, Full House, Four of a Kind, Five of a Kind, Flush House, and Flush Five always contain a Pair, while Flush, Straight, and Straight Flush can contain a Pair under the correct circumstances.

The rationale for using this Joker is mostly comparable to that of the standard Joker ({{Mult|+4}} Common Additive Mult Independent Joker.png), with its effect being stronger at the cost of a mild condition and a higher buy price. While cheap, and a reasonable pickup in the first few Antes, its Additive Mult bonus is overall insignificant, compared to what some scaling or more specialized Jokers can offer. Unless better options are encountered, it should be sold the moment a better Joker contends for its spot.

Virtually all of the Decks work comparably well with Jolly Joker, as Pair is the easiest hand to assemble - barring High Card (which always is assembled), and it is all but guaranteed to find one after a discard or two outside of the most extreme circumstances.

• Abandoned Deck ( Start run with no {{F|}}[[Card Ranks#Face cards|{{hl|orange|Face Cards}}]] in your deck Win a run with the {{D|Green}} on [[Stakes|any difficulty]] Abandoned Deck.png) and Mad World ( ): These Deck are favored by this Joker, as they contain less overall ranks, and total cards, which makes it that much easier to find a Pair.
• 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): Scaling Mercury (Increases {{ph|Pair}} hand value by {{mult|+1}} and {{chips|+15}} Available from start. Planet Mercury.png) using this Deck's integral Telescope Voucher can make it a worthwhile choice.
• Plasma Deck ( Balance [[Chips|{{hl|blue|Chips}}]] and [[Mult|{{hl|red|Mult}}]] when calculating score for played hand <br> {{hl|red|X2}} base Blind size Win a run with any [[Decks|deck]] on the {{Stake|Blue}} difficulty or harder Plasma Deck.png): Has very slight anti-synergy with this Joker, as Additive Mult is overall not a good complement to the Deck's strength; Chips are preferred in the non-Endless Antes, and past that, several sources of Multiplicative Mult are preferred.

Jolly Joker can trigger on any hand except for High Card. Through deck manipulation, even Flushes can benefit. Straight Flushes can benefit under very specific cases when combined with Four Fingers (All {{ph|Flushes}} and {{ph|Straights}} can be made with 4 cards Uncommon Effect N/A (Passive) Four Fingers.png); Straight can benefit under similar circumstances if these two Jokers are also combined with Splash (Every {{hl|orange|played card}} counts in scoring Common Effect N/A (Passive) Splash.png), although this is a highly impractical combo and should be avoided.

• Sly Joker ({{Chips|+50}} if played hand contains a {{ph|Pair}} Common Chips Independent Sly Joker.png) and 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) pair well with this, as both will trigger on the same activation as this joker.
• Half Joker ({{Mult|+20}} if played hand contains {{hl|orange|3}} or fewer cards Common Additive Mult Independent Half Joker.png) can be easily triggered along with this joker.
• 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) also becomes easier to use, as playing a pair doesn't require playing five cards.
• Spare Trousers (This Joker gains {{Mult|+2}} if played hand contains a [[Poker Hands|{{hl|orange|Two Pair}}]] <br> {{currently|{{mult|+0}}}} Uncommon Additive Mult Mixed Spare Trousers.png) pairs well with this joker, as triggering it will always trigger Jolly Joker.
• Jokers that discourage discarding, such as Banner ({{Chips|+30}} for each remaining {{hl|orange|discard}} Common Chips Independent Banner.png), 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), or Green Joker ({{mult|+1}} per hand played <br> {{mult|-1}} per discard <br> {{Currently|{{mult|+0}}}} Common Additive Mult Mixed Green_Joker.png), work well with this joker, as pairs are easier to achieve than most other hands.
• Similarly, Jokers that rely on having no discards between hands, such as Burglar (When [[Blind|{{hl|orange|Blind}}]] is selected, gain {{hl|blue|+3}} Hands and {{hl|orange|lose all discards}} Uncommon Effect On Blind Select Burglar.png) or Mystic Summit ({{Mult|+15}} when {{hl|orange|0}} discards remaining Common Additive Mult Independent Mystic Summit.png) also work well.
• 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) can also work well due to the hand size not mattering as much.

• Jolly Joker can never trigger on a High Card, even with Splash (Every {{hl|orange|played card}} counts in scoring Common Effect N/A (Passive) Splash.png).
• This joker is part of a series of Common Jokers which provide a Mult boost for playing a specific hand type. The others are Zany Joker ({{Mult|+12}} if played hand contains a {{ph|Three of a Kind}} Common Additive Mult Independent Zany Joker.png) for Three of a Kinds, Mad Joker ({{Mult|+10}} if played hand contains a {{ph|Two Pair}} Common Additive Mult Independent Mad Joker.png) for Two Pairs, Crazy Joker ({{Mult|+12}} if played hand contains a {{ph|Straight}} Common Additive Mult Independent Crazy Joker.png) for Straights, and Droll Joker ({{Mult|+10}} if played hand contains a {{ph|Flush}} Common Additive Mult Independent Droll Joker.png) for Flushes.
• Jolly Joker is the center of various miscellaneous card effects included in the purposefully unbalanced Balatro Cryptid Mod made by programmer MathIsFun0. This Joker could be considered a calling card of theirs.

This information has been manually compiled. Some updates may not be included yet.