Old Maid

What you need & setup

1. Take a standard 52-card deck and remove one queen (say, the Q♣), leaving 51 cards and exactly one queen without a partner. (A popular alternative: keep all four queens and add a single joker as the odd card instead — see variations.)
2. Shuffle well and deal all the cards out, one at a time, to every player. It is fine if some players get one more card than others.
3. Everyone looks at their own hand, keeping it hidden from the others.
4. Each player finds pairs in their hand — two cards of the same rank, like 6♦ 6♠ — and places every pair face down in the middle. If you hold three of a rank, discard one pair and keep the third card.
5. You are ready to play once every hand contains only unpaired cards.

Turn sequence

1. The player to the dealer's left starts by fanning their cards face down toward the player on their left.
2. That player pulls one card, sight unseen, and adds it to their hand.
3. If the drawn card completes a pair, they place the pair face down in the middle right away.
4. They then fan their own hand face down for the next player on their left, and the drawing continues around the circle.
5. Any player whose hand empties is safe and drops out of the circle; drawing simply skips past them.
6. The game ends when every card is paired except one lonely queen — whoever holds it is the Old Maid.

Making pairs

A pair is two cards of the same rank — 6♦ 6♠ is a pair, and so is K♥ K♣. Suits and colors do not need to match in the basic game.

Pairs are discarded face down to the middle the moment you have them, both during setup and whenever a drawn card creates one.

Because one queen was removed before the deal, exactly one queen can never find a partner. That card is the Old Maid, and it will end the game in somebody's hand.

Drawing from your neighbor

On each turn, you draw one card blind from the fanned, face-down hand of the player on your right (equivalently, each player offers their fan to the player on their left).

You must keep the card you touch — no peeking, no swapping back. Part of the fun is the poker face of the player offering the fan.

The player offering their hand may shuffle or rearrange their fan before offering it, and a little theatrical card-raising to tempt (or mislead) the drawer is a beloved part of the game.

Going out safe

When your last cards pair up and leave your hand empty, you are safe. You are out of the game and cannot end up as the Old Maid.

Being safe is the real 'win' for each player. The game is less about one winner and more about one good-natured loser.

The circle simply closes over empty seats: players keep drawing from the next person to their right who still holds cards.

Ending the game

Eventually 25 pairs lie in the middle and a single queen remains. The player stuck holding her is the Old Maid and loses the round.

There is no score for the pairs themselves in the traditional game — everyone who went out safe shares the victory.

For a longer session, play several rounds and give one point (or a silly title) to each round's Old Maid; fewest points after five rounds wins.

Scoring & how the game ends

• The traditional game has no point scoring: everyone who empties their hand is safe, and the player holding the last queen loses.
• Across multiple rounds, a simple method is one 'Old Maid point' per round to the loser — fewest points after an agreed number of rounds wins.
• Some families instead count pairs, awarding the round to whoever laid down the most pairs, with the Old Maid holder excluded.

Winning: Avoid being the player left holding the unpaired queen when all other cards have been matched and discarded.

Common variations

These are genuine regional and house-rule differences — none of them is “the one true way” to play. Agree with your table before starting.

• Joker as the odd card

  Keep all four queens and shuffle in a single joker instead; the joker becomes the losing card. Functionally identical, and popular with decks that include jokers.

  Common: Very common household variant.

• Old Boy / odd jack

  Remove a jack instead of a queen, so the losing card is the 'Old Boy'. Some families alternate rounds between the two.

  Common: Family tables; parallels versions found in other countries.

• Color-matched pairs

  Pairs must match in color as well as rank — 6♠ pairs only with 6♣, not 6♦. This slows the game and sharpens attention for older players.

  Common: House rule; also how some illustrated Old Maid decks pair their cards.

• Commercial picture decks

  Special Old Maid decks use illustrated character pairs plus one Old Maid card. Rules are unchanged; the pictures just make pairing easier for pre-readers.

  Common: Widely sold as children's card decks.

A little history

Old Maid is a traditional children's game played in many countries under many names, and similar 'avoid the odd card' games appear across Europe and Asia; its precise origin is unclear.

Special illustrated Old Maid decks have been sold since at least the Victorian era, though the game plays perfectly well with a standard deck.