Old Maid: the card game where one card decides everything
How to play Old Maid, the simple card game for young children, how pairs are discarded, why the last player holding the Old Maid loses, and a few ways to make it more fun.
Old Maid is a game that small children can play properly. There is almost no decision making, but there is a lot of anxiety about the one card nobody wants. It is a good game for learning to match and for losing gracefully.
Setup
Take a standard deck and remove one queen. Put it back in the box. Shuffle the 51 remaining cards and deal them out face down, one at a time, to everyone. Some players will have one more card than the others, and that is fine.
Discarding pairs
Each player looks at their hand and removes any pairs, two cards of the same rank, and places them face down on the table. Pairs are only removed when they are first dealt. There is no need to keep a pair in your hand.
Playing
The player to the left of the dealer takes a card from the hand of the player to their left, without looking. They then discard any pair the card makes, and the next player does the same. Play continues round the table.
The game goes on until one player is holding only the Old Maid, with no pair to discard. That player loses. Traditionally they take a sticker or a point, and the next game starts.
Making it fun
- Let each child hold the cards in a fan, so they cannot see the Old Maid without study.
- Make a funny face for the Old Maid card, or draw one on the card.
- Play several rounds and keep a tally. Children enjoy the scores, and the player who is most often left holding the card learns to laugh about it.
Why it helps
Old Maid teaches matching and turn taking, and it teaches children that losing is part of playing. Most families find that the children who lose best are the ones who are happiest to play again.
Questions people ask
Which card is the Old Maid?
After one queen is taken out of the deck, the three queens that are left are paired up. The one that has no partner is the Old Maid.
Can you play Old Maid with a standard deck?
Yes. Take out one queen, which leaves 51 cards. Those cannot all be paired, so exactly one card, the Old Maid, is always left over.
How many players can play Old Maid?
Two or more. Deal the cards as evenly as you can.
How do you get rid of pairs?
As soon as you hold a pair of the same rank, place it face up on the table.
How does a player draw?
On your turn, you take one card face down from the hand of the player on your left, without looking at it.
Who loses?
The player left holding the Old Maid at the end. Players often bluff with their faces to hide it.