Old Maid

Old maid is a Victorian card game for two or more players probably deriving from an ancient gambling game in which the loser pays for the drinks. It is known in Germany as Schwarzer Peter, in Sweden as Svarte Petter, in Norway as Svarteper, in Denmark as Sorteper, in Croatia as Crni Petar, in Slovenia as Črni Peter, in Hungary as Fekete Péter, in Czech Republic as Černý Petr, in Slovakia as Čierny Peter, in Finland as Musta Pekka (all meaning “Black Peter”), in Italy as Asino, in France as le pouilleux (“the lousy/louse-ridden one”) or vieux garçon (literally “old boy”, but a de facto pejorative for confirmed bachelor), and in Japan as ババ抜き (Babanuki). The game spawns an element of bluffing, commonly used in poker.

There are retail card decks specifically crafted for playing old maid, but it is just as easy (though less pure) to play with a regular deck of 52 cards. When using a regular deck, a card is either added or removed, resulting in one unmatchable card. The most popular choices are to remove the ace of clubs or queen of clubs or to add a single joker. The unmatchable card becomes the “old maid,” and whoever holds it at the end of the game is the loser. It is possible to discard a single card from the deck face-down; if this is done, players cannot know which card is the old maid. Deck of 19th-century cards The dealer deals all of the cards to the players. Some players may have more cards than others; this is acceptable. Players look at their cards and discard any pairs they have (e.g., two kings, two sevens, etc.) face up. Players do not discard three of a kind. In common variants, the suit colors of a discarded pair must match: Spades (♠) with clubs (♣) and diamonds (♦) with hearts (♥). When playing with one card removed, this means one unique card is always the old maid instead of it possibly being any of the three remaining cards of that rank. Beginning with the dealer, each player takes turns offering his or her hand face-down to the person on his or her left. That person selects a card and adds it to his or her hand. This player then sees if the selected card makes a pair with their original cards. If so, the pair is discarded face up as well. The player who just took a card then offers his or her hand to the person to their left and so on. A player is allowed to shuffle his hand before offering it to the player on his left. In some variants, all players discard after the dealer has drawn. Alternatively, play can proceed in reverse order, with players giving up a card before taking a new one. In this variation, players can be stuck in Old Maid Purgatory (OMP): with one card and no way to get rid of it. The objective of the game is to continue to take cards, discarding pairs, until no more pairs can be made. The player with the card that has no match is “stuck with the old maid” and loses. When playing with more than two players, the game is somewhat unusual in having one distinct loser rather than one distinct winner.