The rulebook
How to play Old Maid
Pair off every card you're dealt and get out clean. One card in the whole deck can never be paired — whoever's left holding it at the end is the Old Maid.
Step 1
The deck
A standard 52-card deck with one card removed before the deal — traditionally a Queen, leaving 51 cards in play. Twelve ranks have all four cards; the odd rank has three, meaning one pair plus a single card that can never find its match.
Step 2
The deal
The whole deck is dealt out, as evenly as it divides — 51 doesn't split evenly, so some seats get one extra card. As soon as any pair lands in your hand, lay it face up on the table right away. If your whole opening hand pairs off, you're out before play even starts.
Step 3
Your turn: draw blind
You don't choose who to draw from — it's always the nearest seat to your leftthat still holds cards. You take one card from their fan without seeing it. If it pairs with a card you're already holding, both go down face up immediately. Either way, play passes to the next seat.
Step 4
Going out
The moment you shed your very last card, you're out — and you've won. There's no ranking among the winners: everyone who pairs off and empties their hand wins equally, whether they were first out or last.
Step 5
The ending
Cards keep changing hands until only one seat still holds any — and since every other card in play always has its partner in play, that seat is holding the odd card. That player is the Old Maidand the only one who doesn't win. Every card taken narrows the field, so the game always ends.
Step 6
What this table fixes
Two rules other printings vary are settled here and not offered as options. You always draw from your left, never a seat you pick — letting the drawer choose a target turns the game into a race to dump the odd card on one chosen player, and a table that agrees to pick on the same seat would never finish. And pairs are laid down the instant they form, never held back — a game where everyone hides everything has no way to measure its own progress, let alone end. Which rank sits out (Queen or King) and whether a pair earns you another draw are both house rules you set when the game is dealt.