![]() ![]() The number of raps is decided by reshuffling the pack and getting the loser to draw a card. The player left with the "scabby queen" (Queen of Spades) is the loser and receives a number of raps on the knuckles with the edge of the pack. Scabby queen is a variation of Old Maid played with a standard pack of cards from which the Queen of Clubs has been removed. When playing with more than two players, the game is somewhat unusual in that there is one single loser rather than one distinct winner. The player with the card that has no match is "stuck with the old maid" and loses. The game continues with players taking cards and discarding pairs until no more pairs can be made. The player who just took a card then offers their hand to the person on their left, and so on. If so, the pair is discarded face up as well. This player then sees if the selected card makes a pair with any of their original cards. That player selects a card without looking and adds it to their hand. In common variants, the suit colors of a discarded pair must match: Spades ( ♠) must match with Clubs ( ♣) and Diamonds ( ♦) must match with Hearts ( ♥).īeginning with the dealer, each player takes turns offering their hand face-down to the player on their left. Players can only discard pairs, so a three-of-a-kind is prohibited. Players look at their cards and discard any pairs they have (e.g., two kings) face up. Some players may have one more card than others this is acceptable. The dealer shuffles and deals all of the cards to the players, one card at a time. The unmatchable card becomes the "old maid", and whoever holds it at the end of the game is the loser. It is also possible to remove one card face-down from the top of the deck before hands are dealt if this is done, players will not know which card is unmatchable. The most common choices are to remove the Queen of Clubs or to add a single Joker. When using a regular deck, a card is either added or removed, resulting in one unmatchable card. There are retail card decks specifically designed for playing Old Maid, but the game can just as easily be played with a standard 52-card deck. The term "old maid" predates the game, and is a way to refer to a childless or unmarried woman. They originally employed a pack of 32 or 52 French cards, the queen of diamonds or jack of spades typically being the odd card and the player who is last in and left holding a single queen or jack becoming the "old maid", " vieux garçon", or "Black Peter" depending on the game. All these games are probably ancient and derived from simple gambling games in which the aim was to determine a loser who had to pay for the next round of drinks (c.f. However, it may well be much older and derived from the French game of Vieux Garçon, whose rules first appear in 1853, or from the German game of Black Peter whose rules are recorded as early as 1821. Green and referred to in Bazaar, Exchange and Mart in 1883 as a "newly invented game". The rules of the game are first recorded in England in 1882 and in America in 1884 by Charles M. 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. Matching, pairing and recognising numbers Īny odd number depending on the number of players, typically 25, 49, 51, or 53 ![]()
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