Old Maid

How to play Old Maid

• Old Maid is a card game for 2 or more players. Take one Queen out of a 52-card deck, or add one Joker as many people do (this page uses the Joker by default). Deal out all the cards and discard your pairs: two cards of the same rank.
• Take turns drawing one card, without looking, from the player next to you, and discard any new pair. When you have no cards left you're out and safe. The last player holding the odd card is the Old Maid and loses.

• Old Maid rulesHow many cards to deal, pairs, turn order, when someone runs out, 2 players and variations, with pictures

How to play on this page

• You play against 1 to 3 computer players (4 players in total by default; change it in Settings, 2 players also works).
• Press With friends under the table and send the link to play online with 1 to 3 friends, each on their own phone or computer (the computer fills any empty seats).
• You draw from the player on your left, and then it's their turn. On your turn, the hand of the player on your left is fanned out face down in the middle. Tap a card to pick it up a little and watch that player's face. Tap the card again, or press Draw, to take it. Tap another card to change your mind.
• Pairs are discarded automatically. The card you just drew is marked with a blue ring. Tap the discard pile to see every discarded card by rank.
• Watch the other players draw from each other too: a shocked face means someone just got the Joker, and a relieved one means they got rid of it.
• Settings: number of players, the Joker game or the Jiji (hidden card) game, and how readable the faces are – Clear, Normal or Straight face. Your game is saved, so you can close the page and continue later.

Tips

• Faces aren't always honest. On Normal, a player holding the Joker shows what they really feel a little more than half the time, keeps a straight face sometimes and occasionally bluffs. On Straight face, trust the face much less and rely on luck and counting.
• Only the Joker's holder has anything to hide, so an expressionless player is usually safe to draw from. A player who looks pleased when you touch a card probably wants you to take it.
• Keep track of where the Joker is. If the player on your left just drew it, the card they seem nervous about is the one they don't want you to take – it's not the Joker.
• In the Jiji game, nobody knows which card is odd, but the discarded pairs let you guess it (tap the discard pile to see them by rank). Every rank has four cards: if two of a rank are already discarded and you hold a third, the fourth is either in someone's hand or set aside – your card might be the odd one.

Jiji (hidden card) variant

In Japan, the Joker version is called Baba-nuki. Jiji-nuki is a popular variant without the Joker: one card is set aside face down before the deal, and nobody knows which card it is. The card left unmatched at the end is the "Jiji", and whoever holds it loses. Since no one knows the odd card, there are no faces to read – it's a game of deduction and luck. On this page the set-aside card is revealed when the game ends.