Old maid (card game) facts for kids
Deck of 19th-century old maid cards
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| Origin | United Kingdom |
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| Type | Shedding game |
| Players | 2-12 |
| Skills required | Matching, pairing and recognising numbers |
| Age range | 4-10 |
| Cards | Any odd number depending on the number of players, typically 25, 49, 51, or 53 |
| Play | Clockwise |
| Random chance | Low-medium skill |
| Easy to play | |
Old maid is a classic card game that became popular during the Victorian era. Two or more players can enjoy this game. It might have come from an old game where the person who lost had to buy drinks. The game also involves a bit of bluffing or pretending.
Contents
How to Play Old Maid
You can buy special card decks just for Old Maid. But it's easy to play with a standard 52-card deck too. To use a regular deck, you need to make one card unmatchable. You can do this by taking out one card, like the ace or queen of hearts. Or, you can add a single joker card.
Sometimes, players remove one card face-down from the top of the deck. If you do this, no one knows which card is the "old maid." The player left with this single, unmatchable card at the end of the game loses.
Starting the Game
The dealer shuffles all the cards. Then, they give one card at a time to each player. Some players might get one or two more cards than others. This is totally fine.
Players then look at their cards. They should find any pairs they have. For example, two kings or two sevens. Players put these pairs face up on the table. You should not discard three of a kind. In many versions, the colors of the suits must match. For example, spades (♠) pair with clubs (♣). Diamonds (♦) pair with hearts (♥).
Taking Turns and Discarding
The dealer starts the game. Each player takes a turn offering their hand of cards face-down to the person on their left. That person picks one card without looking at it. They add this new card to their hand.
Next, the player checks if the new card makes a pair with any cards they already have. If it does, they discard the new pair face up. The player who just took a card then offers their hand to the person on their left. The game continues like this around the circle.
Winning and Losing
The main goal of the game is to keep taking cards and discarding pairs. You want to get rid of all your cards. The game ends when no more pairs can be made. The player who is left with the single card that has no match is "stuck with the old maid." This player is the loser of the game. When many people play, Old Maid is special because it has one clear loser instead of one clear winner.
Other Ways to Play
Many countries have their own versions of Old Maid. These games often have fun, playful consequences for the loser.
Scabby Queen
Scabby Queen is a version of Old Maid played in the United Kingdom. You use a standard deck of cards. But you remove the queen of clubs. The player who ends up with the "scabby queen" (which is the queen of spades) loses.
The loser then gets a number of playful taps on the knuckles. To find out how many taps, the deck is reshuffled. The loser draws a card. If it's a number card, they get that many taps. If it's a jack or king, they get 10 taps. If it's a queen, they get 21 taps. If the card is red, the taps are soft. If it's black, the taps are a bit harder.
Black Peter
In many European countries, a similar game is called "Peter" or "Black Peter." This game often uses special cards. The odd card out might be a chimney sweep or a black cat. You can also play with a standard 32-card deck. Just remove a black jack. The loser often gets a playful smudge on their face. This smudge is made with soot or a piece of burnt cork.
Fun Variants Around the World
- Some versions let all players discard their pairs only after the dealer has taken a card.
- In other games, players take a new card before giving one away. This can sometimes leave a player with just one card and no way to get rid of it.
- In Trinidad, there's a game called Jackass. You remove the jack of diamonds. The jack of hearts becomes the odd card. The player left with it is the "jackass."
- In East Asia, games like baba-nuki in Japan and dodukjapki in Korea are played. They are just like Old Maid. But instead of removing a queen, a joker card is added. The player left with the joker loses.
- The Philippines has a game called ungguy-ungguyan. Any card can be removed at the start. That card is shown at the end. The person left with its "partner" (the odd card) loses. They are called unggoy, which means 'monkey' in Tagalog.
- In Indonesia, a similar game is kartu setan, meaning 'devil card'. In Japan, it's jiji-nuki, meaning 'old man'.
- In Brazil, there are two versions. One is fedor, meaning 'stink'. It uses a regular deck with one card removed. The other is jogo do mico, or 'capuchin-monkey game'. This game uses special cards with animals. Each animal has a male and female card. But only the capuchin monkey (mico) is unpaired.
See also
In Spanish: Culo sucio para niños
