Card Games
How to play Old Maid
Discard matching pairs and avoid holding the sole unmatched queen when all pairs are gone.
What you need
A standard 52-card deck with one queen removed, or an Old Maid deck
Set up the game
- Remove one queen from a 52-card deck, leaving 51 cards, then deal all cards. Hand sizes need not be equal.
- This follows Bicycle’s one-queen-removed standard-deck format; special Old Maid decks use their own matching illustrations.
Playing Old Maid
- Each player removes all matching rank pairs from their hand and places them aside.
- In turn, take one unseen card from the next player’s fanned hand, make and discard a pair if possible, then offer your hand to the next player.
- Players whose hands empty are safe. When all possible pairs are gone, the one player left holding the unmatched queen is the Old Maid.
A late draw
You have one card and draw a matching rank from your neighbor. Discard the pair and leave the game safely. A player holding the lone queen when all other pairs vanish is left as Old Maid.
Why exactly one queen remains unmatched
Removing one of four queens leaves three. One pair of queens can be discarded, while the third queen can never find another queen to pair with after all cards are distributed. Other rank pairs disappear normally.
Beginner decisions
- Fan cards so the drawing player cannot see their faces.
Common rule mix-ups
- Removing all four queens or forgetting which queen was removed.
- Treating one card drawn from a hand as a face-up choice.
Questions about this game
Do equal hands matter?
No; dealing every card may leave some players with one more.
Is the Old Maid winner?
In this format, the holder of the odd card loses.
Sources and edition notes
Bicycle standard-deck Old Maid with one queen removed.
Sources and stated format checked October 13, 2026. This records a document check, not a claim of hands-on testing.
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