News & Updates:

Like the website?
Recommend Us To a Friend

OLD MAID THE CARD GAME

Number of Players: Two or more, each playing for himself.

The Deal: One card at a time to each player, as far as the cards will go. It doesn't matter if the cards don't come out even.

The Cards: Fifty-one cards, including only 3 of the 4 Queens. (Remove 1 Queen from the normal deck before beginning the game.)

Object: To avoid being "stuck" with the last unpaired card.

The Play: Each player assorts his cards and puts aside, face down, all cards that he can pair—two by two. For example, he would put aside 2 Kings, 2 Queens, 2 Jacks, and so on. If he had 3 Queens, 3 Jacks, he would be allowed to put two of them aside, but the third Jack would stay in his hand.

After each player has discarded his paired cards, the dealer presents his cards, fanned out but face down, to the player at his left. The player at the left selects 1 card (blindly, since the hand is presented face down) and quickly examines it to see if it pairs some card still in his hand. If so, he discards the pair. In any case, this player now fans his hand out and presents it face down to the next player at the left.

This process continues, each player presenting his hand, fanned out and face down, to the player at his left, in turn. Eventually, every card will be paired except one of the 3 Queens. The player who is left with the odd Queen at the end of the hand is the "Old Maid."

Whenever a player's last card is taken, he drops out. He can no longer be the "Old Maid."

Skillful Playing: There is nothing to the playing of Old Maid, since it can be learned in about one minute and since there is nothing you can do to improve your chance of winning. The player who is stuck with an odd Queen during the middle of the play usually looks worried and will squeal with delight if the player at his left selects the Queen. If you keep alert, you can usually tell which player at the table has an odd Queen as the play is still going on.

If you have an odd Queen in your hand, put it somewhere in the middle of your hand when you present it to the player at your left for a choice. Most players tend to pick a card from the middle rather than select an end card. Make use of this same principle to defend yourself if you think that the player at your right has the odd Queen when he presents his hand for you to make your choice. He will usually put the Queen in the middle somewhere, and you can usually avoid choosing it by taking one of the two end cards instead of a middle card.

It isn't bad to get an odd Queen towards the beginning of the play, for you will have many chances to get rid of it, and it will then probably stay in some other player's hand or move only part of the way around the table.

If you like to cause a little confusion, act worried when you don't really have a Queen in your hand. Another good idea is to squeal with delight when the player at your left picks some perfectly harmless card. This will make the other players in the game believe that he has taken an odd Queen from you. You, yourself, will usually know where the odd Queen really is, but the other players may be in considerable doubt.

Related terms include pitch card game and free online solitaire card game.