How to Play the Old Maid Card Game

When I think of the card game Old Maid, I have an instant memory of sitting on the green living room carpet in front of the orange flowered couch playing with my cousins. We thought we were so cool being able to play a card game without the grownups!

So toady I thought I’d go over the rules that you might have forgotten so that you can share them with a child in your life and hopefully make some new memories! Memories like those playing the other childhood favorites like Crazy Eights, Fe Fi Fo Fum, and Flip Over.

In this post we’ll cover the rules, how to play, how to win and some fun variations that older kids will love—even one or two that will make the grown ups want to play! Let’s get into it.

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What Do I Need for the Old Maid Card Game?

There are many Old Maid card game packs – Story ones, Wizard of Oz ones and my favorite Crazy Cat Lady ones. These are great but for this game you’ll only need one deck of cards. If you’re going to be playing with a larger number of players (more than 6 or 8) you’ll need two identical decks shuffled together.

How Do I Play the Old Maid Card Game?

To start, take three of the four queens out of the deck. The last queen is now the Old Maid. Next, shuffle the cards and then deal all of them out. Some players might have more cards than others. This is fine and won’t affect play.

Once, all the cards have been dealt, all players look at their cards and get to place any pairs they have on the table in front of them.

Now, the dealer gets to turn to the player on their left. This player must spread out her cards and offer the fan to the dealer. He will now choose a card to take and add to his hand. If the card is a match for one that he has, he can set down the pair on the table. If the card is not a match, then he simply adds it to his hand.

The turn now moves to the player on the dealer’s left. She will turn to the player on her left and choose one of that player’s cards to draw into her hand. Again, if it is a match for one she already has, then she gets to discard the pair. If it is not a match, she adds it to her hand, and the turn moves to the next player.

Play continues like this. When a player sheds all of his cards, he is out of the round. When all the cards have been matched and discarded, the round is over.

How Do I Win Old Maid?

Instead of one winner in Old Maid, there are many winners and one unlucky. When you are the player left holding the Old Maid card, you are the unlucky one and have not won.

What Variations are There for the Old Maid Card Game?

The first published set of rules dates back to 1831 so there has been lots of time for the card game Old Maid to accumulate many different ways to play.

The first Old Maid version is to leave all of the queens in the deck and instead add one of the jokers. The joker now becomes the Old Maid.

The second, is to revers the goal of the game. So, instead of trying to avoid the Old Maid, you care trying to be the player who ends up with it. The player that does end up with the Old Maid card is the winner.

Colour Match

In this variation of Old Maid, you must match the colour of the card and the number for it to be a match. For example, the 3 of clubs can only pair with the 3 of spades and the 3 of hearts can only pair with 3 od diamonds. This ups the challenge of the game.

Old Batchelor

At one time, this card game was called Old Maid if girls were playing and Old Batchelor if boys were playing. In this one, all the queens are left in but three of the jacks are removed. The last jack becomes the Old Batchelor card.

Radom Card

In this game, you will pick one card randomly to pull from the deck. The matching card is now the Old Maid but players do not know what card it is. This adds challenge and surprise as well as an element of detective work to the game that older kids and adults will like.

Most Matches

In this game, players are aiming to get the most matches. The player who ends up with the Old Maid is out of the round and does not score any points. The rest of the players, add up their matches. The player with the most matches wins. You can also play to a certain amount of points and play multiple rounds. Each match is worth one point. The player who reaches the point count first is the winner.

Elimination Style

For this Old Maid game, you will play as many rounds as you have players. The play is the same, but the player who is left holding the Old Maid card is out of the game. The next round is played the same, with one less player. The game is over when there are just two players left and one is left with the Old Maid. The other player is the winner.

Scabby Queen

In this game, the queen of clubs is removed, leaving the queen of spades as the Scabby Queen. You will need to play where your must match the colour and the rank of the cards. At the end of the game, the player who is left with the Scabby Queen gets raps on their knuckles with the edge of the deck. The player picks a card from the deck and this is what determines how many raps they get. If the card is a king or a jack, they get 10 raps. The queen will get them 21 raps. All other cards will get them raps equal to the number on the card. If the card is a black card the raps will be hard. On the other hand, if the card is red the raps will be light.

Last, I thought it was interesting that Old Maid is played all over the world under different names. It is Babi Nuki in Japan and Ungguy-Ungguyan in the Philippines and Fedor in Brazil. In Korea it is called Dodukjaphi wich means catching the thief.

Don’t Get Left Out of The Fun

The Old Maid card game is fast and easy. It’s a must play game of childhood and with these fun variations, you can play for many years. You can get the printable rules here.

For more fun card games for kids check out:

10 Easy Card games for kids      Crazy Fish    Rat-A-Tat      The 6 – 7 card game

And check out our Family Game Shelf shop where you can get kid favorite games like our Whacky Putt dice mini golf game and activity sheets like our Mermaids games.