If any player is found to have discarded two cards that are not a pair, (thus causing three unpaired cards instead of one to remain at the end), the player who made the mistake loses and becomes the Old Maid.Two players use one standard deck of 52 cards, 3-4 players use two decks, 5-6 players use three decks Object of the Gameīe the first player to complete your layout of ten cards Ace through Ten (A,1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9,10) Card Values/scoringĪces count as one, cards 2 to 10 have their face values, Jacks are wild, and Queens and Kings automatically end the player's turn The DealĮach player is dealt ten cards face down in two rows of five cards each. Play proceeds in this way until all cards have been paired except one - the odd queen, which cannot be paired - and the player who has that card is the Old Maid! The player then offers their own hand to the player on their left. This player discards any pair that may have been formed by the drawn card. The dealer then offers their hand, spread out face down, to the player on the left, who draws one card from it. If a player has three-of-a-kind, they remove only two of those three cards. Players do not need to have an equal number of cards.Įach player removes all pairs from his hand face down. The goal is to form and discard pairs of cards, and not to be left with the odd card (a queen) at the end.Īny player shuffles the pack and deals them around, one at a time to each player, until all the cards have been handed out.

The standard 52-card pack is used, however, one of the four queens is removed, leaving a total of 51 cards. Matching, pairing, and recognizing numbers. Colorful decks made especially for the game are popular, but regardless of the playing cards used, the rules are the same.

Old Maid is a constant favorite with children and lots of fun for families playing cards together.

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