Playing Old Maid Card Game: Rules, Strategy & Tips

Old Maid is a card game that belongs to the “fall guy” family. The purpose of scapegoat games is to resist possessing a certain card or cards. 

Old Maid is a hand match game for two or more players that uses a standard 52-card deck. The game’s goal is to link up all of your hands and prevent having a Queen out towards the end. 

Check out our Go Fish and Kings Corner guides for other classic card games.

Origin of the Old Maid Card Game

A childless and unmarried spinster woman is referred to as an “Old Maid.” As a result, the Queen is the only card that remains unpaired. The term was initially used in England in the 18th century. The card game Old Maid first appeared in the late 1800s. Though the game’s original roots are uncertain, one probable explanation is that it is derived from ancient British drinking games.

Historically, the game’s Old Maid has been portrayed as a negative person (the player who has the Old Maid loses the game after all). Special decks of Old Maid were developed as early as the late 1800s, with inappropriate images of the titled figure on them. An 1890 deck, for instance, depicts an older woman wearing trousers and bike riding. While this may look totally normal now, it was offensive to suffocating Victorian decorum. The image of the Old Maid on specialty decks moved from the Victorian bike rider to the troublesome caricatures of Silly Old Cat Woman and Knitting Fanatic over the twentieth century.

While the depiction of the Old Maid varies depending on the deck, it is nearly always a grandma-like figure.

How To Play Old Maid Card Game?

Without further ado, let’s understand how to play the old maid card game.

The Pack

As per the old maid rules, you use standard 52-card playing cards for the game. However, one of four queens is removed from the playing cards and you are left with 51 cards.

Objective Of The Game

The objective of the card game Old Maid is to match and discard pairs of cards. You must avoid being left with the unpaired card (the Old Maid) at the end of the game.

The Deal

Before the game can begin, an initial dealer must be selected. To do so, each player is dealt a card from a stack of cards, and the person with the highest card is the first dealer. A repeated transaction breaks ties. In the dealer procedure, an Ace is high, and 2 is low. 

To designate the “Old Maid,” the dealer first takes one Queen from the deck. After that, the dealer shuffles the deck, and the player on their right cuts the deck. The dealer then passes all of the cards clockwise to each player one by one.

The Gameplay

Following the distribution of cards, players construct any pairs they can with their own hand and set them face down on the table. The dealer then extends their hand to the player to their left, face down. The player on the dealer’s left selects one card randomly from the other player’s hands and adds it to their own. With this one card taken, the player to the dealer’s left attempts to build another pair. If they can, they add the pair to their collection of pairs. If they can’t, the one card that was taken is returned to their deck. The player to the dealer’s left then gives their own hand face down to the person to their left, and the play continues as before.

Players can “Go Out” and avoid becoming the Old Maid in two ways: couple up all the cards or have the opponent to their left take their final card for the draw. 

There will always be unpaired cards because one of the Queens was eliminated. The player left holding it at the conclusion of the game is the Old Maid, and they lose.

Example Play

Let’s now look at an example of the play. Assume you have been dealt three Queens, an Ace, a 9, two 10s, a 2, 3, 8, and two Jacks. You pair up the Queens, Tens, and Jacks, whereas the opponents do the same. The dealer is the player to your right, showing you their hand facing down. You choose at random and get a 9. You match the two 9s and turn the opponent to your left. They select your Queen at random. The round is over, and the new one begins. You choose a 4, show your hand, and the person to your left selects your Ace. A round is completed. You receive a 7 and a forfeit an 8.

A round passes and the person in front of you is eliminated. You then get your original Queen back and lose a 7. A round passes and the guy on your left is eliminated. You win a King but lose a 3. You then pick the last card of the preceding player. They go, and you take on the role of the Old Maid.

Irregularities in Old Maid Card Games

In the card game Old Maid, if a player discards two cards that aren’t a pair, they make a mistake. This mistake causes the game to have three unpaired cards instead of one. If this happens, the player who made the mistake automatically loses and becomes the Old Maid, which means they have lost the game. This rule ensures that players must only discard valid pairs.

Added Read: How to Play Presidents Card Game

How to win at Old Maid?

There isn’t much room for strategy in the card game Old Maid. If you do have the Old Maid in your grasp, you should try to persuade the person on your left to accept it. You can employ reverse psychology to convince them to accept it. Try concealing it or putting various cards in front of them; perhaps they’ll try to steal the hidden card. Also, if they always take the card from the same spot, place the Old Maid card there next turn. To limit your chances of receiving the Old Maid, don’t pick the card from the same location every time; else, the opposing player will figure it out.

Also Read: How to Play the Whist Card Game? 

Variations

In certain nations where the game is known by a masculine name, such as Black Peter, a Jack rather than a Queen is removed, and the loser is the owner of the unusual Jack at the end. 

An inverted version of Old Maid is also available. The game’s rules remain the same, but when everyone has exhausted their decks, the possessor of the odd card (the final Queen, Jack, or Old Maid card) is declared the winner. 

Old Maid is occasionally played with a unique pack of cards in which all of the cards arrive in ’re part except for a solitary Old Maid card, the bearer of which is the loser at the end.

FAQs

What is the point of the card game Old Maid?

The point of Old Maid is to match and discard pairs of cards to avoid being left with the unpaired Old Maid card at the end of the game. The player left holding the Old Maid card loses the game.

How many players can play the old maid card game?

Old Maid card game is best played with 3 to 6 players for a balanced and fun game, but you can include players as needed. It can also be played between 2 to 8 people.

Who picks first in old maids?

In the card game Old Maid, the dealer picks first. After dealing all the cards, the dealer chooses a card from the hand of the player to their left, and the game continues from there.