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To play Old Maid, remove one Queen from a standard 52-card deck and deal all 51 cards to two or more players. Everyone lays down their pairs, then each player in turn draws one card, face down, from the player on their right and lays down any new pair. A player with no cards left is safe. Whoever is left holding the last Queen, the Old Maid, loses. Play it here against one, two or three bots, or at an online table where bots fill the empty seats.
Mobile gameplay: Old Maid
See the game board, controls and moves on a mobile screen.
How to play
- Use a standard 52-card deck without jokers and take out one Queen, traditionally the Queen of clubs. Three Queens remain, so one of them can never be paired: that card is the Old Maid.
- Two to four players is the usual table, and this game seats two, three or four. The dealer deals every card one at a time, clockwise, so some players may hold one card more than others.
- Everyone looks at their hand and lays down every pair face up: two cards of the same rank, such as two sevens or two Kings. With three of a kind, lay down two and keep one; four of a kind makes two pairs.
- The dealer fans their cards face down for the player on their left, who draws one without looking. If it makes a pair, it goes down at once. That player then offers their own hand to the next player on the left, so every draw is from the player on your right.
- A player who runs out of cards is safe and drops out. The next player draws from the nearest player on their right who still holds cards.
- Play goes on until every pair is down. The player left holding the odd Queen is the Old Maid and loses.
- Online, the first player out of cards wins the game and the Old Maid loses it; at a three- or four-player table anyone in between is safe, neither winning nor losing.
Example
Three players: Ann, Ben and you. After laying down your pairs you hold 7♠, 9♥, K♣ and Q♦. Ben sits on your right and fans his five cards face down. You draw the third one: it is the 9♣, which pairs your 9♥, so both go down and you keep 7♠, K♣ and Q♦. Now Ann, on your left, draws from you. If she takes the Q♦, the Old Maid is her problem until someone draws it from her; if she takes the 7♠ while holding the 7♥, she pairs it straight away.
Playing tip
Old Maid is mostly luck, so the skill is in your face: keep the same expression whichever card your neighbour touches, and do not watch the Queen. Some players move the Queen to the middle of the fan because people often pick from the ends. Online, the bots choose a card at random, so no position is safer than another.
Frequently asked questions
How many cards do you deal in Old Maid?
All of them. With one Queen removed, the 51 cards are dealt one at a time, so with four players three people get 13 cards and the dealer gets 12. Uneven hands do not matter, because most cards pair off before the drawing starts.
Who goes first in Old Maid?
The dealer offers their hand first, so the player on the dealer's left makes the first draw. The turn then passes to the left.
Can you play Old Maid with 2 players?
Yes. With two players every card you draw pairs at once unless it is the Queen, so the game is a quick race decided by who ends up holding her. Three or four players make it longer and less predictable. Here you can play against one, two or three bots.
How do you win Old Maid?
Strictly, Old Maid has a loser rather than a winner: the player stuck with the odd Queen. Many families count the first player to run out of cards as the winner, and that is how results are counted online here.
What happens if you have three of a kind?
Lay down two of them as a pair and keep the third. It can still pair later with the fourth card of that rank.
Is Old Maid the same as Black Peter?
The play is the same: pairs, blind draws and one loser. Black Peter (Schwarzer Peter) uses a black Jack or a special card as the odd one, and the French Vieux Garçon and Le Pouilleux use a Jack instead of a Queen.
Can you play Old Maid with a regular deck of cards?
Yes. Take one Queen out of a standard 52-card deck and play with the other 51. Special Old Maid decks have matching picture pairs and one Old Maid card, but the rules are the same.