How to Play Old Maid: Card Game Rules for the Whole Family

Want to know how to play Old Maid? It is one of the first card games most children learn: a simple game of matching pairs, with one card nobody wants. Below are the standard Old Maid card game rules for a regular deck of playing cards, plus how to play with a picture-card deck, how the game works with just 2 players, and fun twists for family game night. The whole game runs on luck and a little bluffing, so young kids can beat grown-ups, which is half the fun.

Quick rules

• Remove one queen from a standard deck, leaving 51 cards. The unpaired queen becomes the Old Maid.
• Deal all the cards out, even if some players get one more card than others.
• Everyone discards any pairs from their hand face up.
• Take turns drawing one card, unseen, from the hand of the player next to you. If it makes a pair, discard the pair.
• When you run out of cards you are safe and out of the game.
• The player left holding the Old Maid at the end loses.

What you need

• A standard 52-card deck, with one queen removed. Or a special Old Maid picture-card deck, which has pairs of characters and one single Old Maid card.
• 2 to 8 players. Three to six is the most fun.
• A table or floor space for the discard pile.

Setup

1. Take out one of the four queens and put it back in the box. The queen of clubs is the usual choice. That leaves three queens. Two of them will pair up, and whichever queen ends up without a partner is the Old Maid. (Families who also pair by color remove the queen of clubs so the queen of spades is the Old Maid.)
2. Shuffle the 51 remaining cards well.
3. The dealer deals the cards one at a time, face down, clockwise around the table until every card is dealt. It does not matter if some hands have one card more.
4. Players pick up their cards and hold them so nobody else can see them.

How to play

Phase 1: discarding pairs

1. Every player looks through their hand for pairs: two cards of the same rank, such as two 7s or two kings.
2. Lay each pair face up in the middle of the table. If you have three of a kind, discard two and keep the third. If you have four of a kind, discard them as two pairs.
3. Only pairs are discarded. The Old Maid can never be paired, so whoever has it must keep it, and try to keep a straight face.

Phase 2: drawing from your neighbor

1. The player to the dealer's left goes first. They fan out their cards face down, toward the player on their left.
2. That player draws one card without looking. If it matches a card in their hand, they discard the pair face up. If not, they keep it and shuffle it into their hand.
3. The player who just drew now offers their own fanned hand to the next player to the left, and so on around the table.
4. Most rule books play it this way, with each player drawing from the person on their right, so cards travel clockwise; some families pass the other way. Either works, as long as everyone agrees.

Phase 3: going out

1. When a player has no cards left, they are out and safe. Play continues with the remaining players.
2. If the player you would draw from has gone out, draw from the next player still holding cards.
3. Eventually all pairs are made and one player is left holding just the Old Maid.

Scoring

Old Maid has no points. Each round has one loser: the player holding the Old Maid. If you want to play several rounds, give the loser a tally mark each time, and after an agreed number of rounds the player with the fewest marks wins. A scoreboard makes this easy.

How to win

Strictly speaking, nobody "wins" Old Maid: everyone else wins and the player stuck with the Old Maid loses. Get rid of all your cards before you are the last one holding the odd queen.

Old Maid card game rules for 2 players

With two players, deal all 51 cards between you, about 25 or 26 each. Both players discard pairs, then take turns drawing one card from each other's hand. Because almost every card makes a pair, the game goes fast, and the tension builds when only a few cards remain and the Old Maid keeps bouncing back and forth.

How to play Old Maid with picture cards

Character decks made for Old Maid usually contain pairs of matching pictures and a single Old Maid card. Do not remove anything: just shuffle, deal all the cards, and play exactly the same way. Picture decks are great for children who do not yet know number values, because they only need to match images.

Variations

• Joker as Old Maid: keep all 52 cards and add one joker, which becomes the Old Maid.
• Old Bachelor (the French version): remove a jack instead of a queen. The odd jack is the card to avoid.
• Color pairs: pairs must also match in color, for example the 5 of hearts with the 5 of diamonds. This makes the game longer and a little more strategic.
• Winner takes the Old Maid: some families reverse it, and the player holding the Old Maid at the end is the winner.
• Draw from any player: on your turn you may choose any player still in the game to draw from.

Tips and strategy

• Keep a poker face. When someone draws from you and you hold the Old Maid, do not look at it or react.
• Move the Old Maid around. Shuffle your hand before offering it, and try placing the Old Maid in a tempting spot, such as slightly raised or right in the middle.
• Watch the drawer. If a player smiles after drawing from you and does not discard a pair, they may have just taken the Old Maid.
• Count the discards. Older kids can track which ranks are already paired, which helps them guess what is left.

House rules to agree first

• Which direction you draw from.
• Whether pairs only need to match in rank, or also in color.
• Whether the Old Maid holder loses or wins.
• Whether players may rearrange their hand before every offer (most groups say yes).

Old Maid is a gateway game. When the kids are ready for more, try Go Fish, War or Slapjack, or see our full list of card games for kids.