Old Maid Variations and House Rules

Old Maid is played in homes all over the world, and almost every family has its own small twist. The heart of the game never changes: one card has no partner, pairs go down, and nobody wants to be left with the odd card. Here are the most common variations, which ones you can switch on in our online Old Maid game, and how they change the play. House rules are under Settings and start with your next game.

The Odd Queen (Standard)

The most common way to play with an ordinary deck is to take one queen out, so that one of the remaining three can never be paired. We take out the queen of clubs, which is the traditional choice in many homes, but any queen works the same way.

With pairs matched by rank only, any two queens make a pair, so the Old Maid isn't a particular card until the end. Two queens will be paired at some point, and the third becomes the Old Maid. In the online game, a queen in your hand carries an "Old Maid?" label until the other two have been paired, and then the last one is labeled "Old Maid."

In our game: this is the default. Choose "The odd queen is the Old Maid" in Settings.

A Joker as the Old Maid

Many families leave all 52 cards in and add one joker as the Old Maid. The joker never pairs with anything, so she's the odd card from the very first deal. Every queen pairs normally.

This version is especially good with young children: a joker looks completely different from the other cards, so a child instantly knows when they're holding her (and, if they're very young, so does everyone else at the table, which is half the fun). The deck has 53 cards, so with four players the hands are 14, 13, 13 and 13.

In our game: choose "Add a joker as the Old Maid" in Settings.

Pairs Must Match in Color

A stricter rule says a pair must be two cards of the same rank and the same color: red with red, black with black. The 8 of hearts pairs only with the 8 of diamonds, and the 8 of spades only with the 8 of clubs. Three of a kind no longer guarantees a pair, so fewer pairs go down after the deal and the game lasts a little longer.

Combined with the odd-queen rule, this fixes the Old Maid as the queen of spades. Her only black partner, the queen of clubs, has been taken out, while the two red queens still pair with each other. It's a classic arrangement, and it means you know for certain whether you hold her from the moment the cards are dealt. With the joker rule, color matching changes nothing about the joker but still makes pairs harder to find.

In our game: tick "Pairs must match in color too" in Settings. It works with either Old Maid.

Which Way the Cards Go

Some families draw from the player on their left, others from the player on their right. It makes no difference to the game, as long as everyone agrees. We follow the rule of drawing from the player on your left, with the turn passing to your right, so whoever has just drawn is the next to be drawn from.

Special Picture Decks

For generations, Old Maid has also been sold as a children's game with its own deck of picture cards: matching pairs of cheerful characters and one odd card, often a funny-looking lady or an animal. The rules are exactly the same. If you have one of these decks in a cupboard somewhere, it plays just like our joker version.

European Cousins

• The odd jack. In France and some other countries, a jack is taken out instead of a queen, and the player left with the odd jack loses. It's the same game with a different card.
• The black card. In German-speaking countries a very similar game is played with a special deck that includes one unpaired card with a dark picture on it. Traditionally the loser gets a little smudge of soot or a playful mark on the face.
• The odd queen of spades. In parts of Britain the queen of spades is the odd card and the loser may be gently teased with a forfeit. That's the same as our odd-queen rule with color pairs.

Other Family Rules

• Touch it, take it. Once your fingers touch a card, you must take it. Good for keeping the game moving.
• Loser deals. Whoever ends up with the Old Maid shuffles and deals the next game. Online, the deal simply passes to the left.
• Playing a match. Keep a tally over several games and see who is left with the Old Maid least often. Our game keeps that count for you at the top of the screen.
• Pairs one at a time. Some families put down only one pair per turn after the deal. It slows the game a little; we put all pairs down at once.

If you like gentle games for the whole family, try Go Fish too. For the plain rules with worked examples, see How to Play Old Maid, and for the few tips that help, the strategy guide.