How to Play Old Maid
What is Old Maid
Old Maid is a classic card game of matching pairs. Pair up all your cards and you’re safe! But get stuck with the Old Maid and you lose!
Objective
Avoid being the player left with the “old maid” card after all pairs have been played.
Equipment
A standard deck of cards (or optionally, an Old Maid deck of cards)
Number of Players
Old Maid is played with two to eight players, but is best to have three to six players.
Skills
Old Maid is a game of luck. There is no skill or strategy. However, for younger players, you’re building skills such as:
- Math (number sense)
- Social skills
- Game mechanics
Why we like it
While there’s no skill involved, this is a great game for younger kids to learn the basic game mechanics of a simple card game. They’ll learn about taking turns, matching cards, etc. Also, the game isn’t about winning; it’s about avoiding being the single loser. So there is more opportunity to experience a “win”
Age
4 and up
How to Play Old Maid
1: Grab at least one friends and a deck of cards
Old Maid can be played with two to eight players, although it’s most commonly played with four players. You can play with a standard deck of cards.
2: Remove one queen from the deck
Remove one of the queens from the deck. This triplet of queens will create a mismatching pair set where two will get paired and the remaining, pairless queen will become the Old Maid.
3: Determine who goes first
The dealer will be the first to offer their cards, essentially making the person to the left of the dealer the first to play. If you’d like to determine who goes you can each draw a card and the highest card goes first. Or, use any other method, such as rock-paper-scissors, youngest player, etc.
4: Deal all the cards to the players
The dealer will distribute all of the cards amongst the players, starting with the player to their left and moving clockwise. Depending on the number of players, some players may have 1 more card than the others. But those players are going first, so it kind of evens out. Players should keep their cards hidden from their opponents.
5: Make pairs and put on table face up
Once players receive their cards, they should create pairs of matching cards and play them immediately face up on the table.
6: Play the first turn by offering cards
On each turn a player gets to draw one card from randomly from the hand of the player to their right. In this case, the first player is to the left of the dealer, so the dealer will fan out their cards in a way that the values are hidden, and the player draws one card.
- If the player draws a card that forms a pair with another card in their hand, they play it immediately face up on the table, and their turn ends.
- If the player draws a card that is not a pair, they keep that turn and their turn ends.
7: Continue play clockwise for the next turn
On each turn, a player draws one card from the player behind them (to their right) and, like above, plays a pair immediately or holds the unpaired card.
Then play continues to the next player.
8: Continue to play until the only card left is the old maid
As the turns rotate, some players will run out of cards. And player who has played all of their cards is done with the game, and safe from ending up as the Old Maid. Play will continue until 3 players are safe and one player is stuck with the unpaired queen, making them the “Old Maid” and the loser of the game.
Old Maid Video Tutorial
Old Maid Rules
- The person left of the dealer plays first.
- On each turn, a player selects a card randomly from the player behind them (to their right)
- After a card is drawn, if paired, it must be played immediately by placing the paired set face up on the table. The players turn is over and play continues clockwise.
- After a card is drawn, if not paired, the turn is over and play continues clockwise
- Once a player has played all of their cards, they are safe from becoming the Old Maid
- The last player to hold a card after all the other cards have been paired and played, is the Old Maid, and loses the game
Variations
- Placing pairs face down instead of face up. Some people prefer to play the pairs face down. But we like the idea of people tracking what’s been played. And, since there is no skill involved, it doesn’t really matter.
- Added joker as Old Maid instead of a queen. When you play with a missing queen, you create suspense in not knowing if your queen is going to be the mismatch, which is fun. Alternatively, some people prefer to add a joker to the deck as the wild card queen. It can be fun, especially for kids, knowing when they have the queen and hoping each turn that someone draws it from them.
- Dedicated old maid deck with a single old maid card. You don’t need a special card deck to play old maid, but there are some fun designs for dedicated Old Maid decks. Typically, these decks will have pairs (not fours of a kind) and a a dedicated card for the Old Maid.
Old Maid FAQs
How do you play Old Maid with picture cards?
There are a number of game manufacturers who produce cards specifically for Old Maid. The rules are generally the same as with a standard deck of cards. The two major changes you’ll likely see are:
- The cards usually only have a single matching pair, not 4 of a kind, so the probability of matches on a draw goes down.
- The Old Maid is one additional card, similar to adding a joker to a deck instead or removing a queen.
How do you play Old Maid with 2 people?
While Old Maid can be played with two people, the game play is not as fun. That’s because whoever is dealt more pairs on the opening hand is the likely winner because every turn will yield a matching pair. The rules of Old Maid with two people is played in exactly the same way as with more players, with several minor differences in game play:
- Players will have more cards (half of the deck)
- Play alternates instead rotating clockwise
- The game will move much faster because each player will have more matches on the opening deal and the draw on every turn will be a matched pair (except for the Old Maid). So with high probability, whoever was dealt more pairs at the start of the game is the likely winner. But it can be kind of fun near the end where the Old Maid is passed back and forth.
How do you play Old Maid with 3 people?
Old Maid is great with 3 people and follows the standard rules. Also, unlike all other player numbers (2-8), all players will have an equal number of cards at 17 (51 cards / 3 players =17 cards p/player).
