Old Maid

Introduce youngsters to the joy of card games with this long time favorite.

Number of Players: Any amount from two upward. Each plays for himself.

The Deck: 51 cards (discard one of the four queens in a standard 52 card deck)

The Deal: Any player may shuffle the pack. Deal the cards around, one at a time, to each player, as far as they will go. They need not come out even.

Object of the game: To form and discard pairs of cards. You do not want to be left with the odd card at the end.

The Play: Each player removes from his hand, in twos, all pairs of cards. (With three sixes, you may remove only two of them.) You then offer your hand, spread out face down, to the player at your left, who selects one card from it. This player discards any pair which may have been formed by the card drawn and now offers his own hand to the player at his left. Proceed playing in this way until all cards have been paired. Whoever holds that card is the old maid.

Note: If any player discards two cards which are not a pair, resulting in three unpaired cards instead of one to remain at the end, the player who performed this irregularity is the Old Maid.