Practice Old Maid with a coach

New to Old Maid? Read the full rules · All practice games

The Old Maid table

The practice game needs JavaScript. The rules page has everything you need to play for real.

Coach

Goal: put down all your cards in pairs, and do not be the player left holding the Old Maid. A pair is two cards of the same rank, like two 7s or two kings. Three queens are in the game, so only two of them can make a pair. The third queen is the Old Maid, and whoever is left holding it loses. Nobody scores points.

What just happened

Tips appear here as you play.

Your progress

Remember my progress on this device

Off by default. When it is on, the totals in the table above are saved in this browser only and never sent anywhere. Pressing Reset progress, or turning this off, deletes them.

About this practice game

One practice game: you and two computer players each get 17 cards and put down every pair. Then you take turns taking a card, face down, from each other’s hands. Whoever is left holding the last queen, the Old Maid, loses. The Coach explains each step as it comes up. Want to see a whole game first? Press Watch a narrated deal: the computer plays all three seats with every hand face up and explains each move.

Keep going

Affiliate disclosure · Privacy · SelectACard home

How Old Maid works

Three players, 51 cards. You play against two computer players: West, on your left, and East, on your right. The deck is a normal 52-card deck with the queen of clubs taken out, which leaves 51 cards. Each player is dealt 17.
Everyone puts down their pairs. A pair is two cards of the same rank, which means the same number or letter: two 7s, two jacks, two aces. The suits do not matter, so the 7 of hearts and the 7 of spades are a pair. Pairs are put down face up. If you hold three cards of one rank, put down two and keep one. If you hold four, put down two pairs. After this, nobody holds a pair.
Then you take turns taking a card. A player holds out their cards, face down, to the player on their left. That player takes one card without looking. If the card makes a pair with a card in their hand, they put the pair down. If not, they keep it. Then they hold out their own hand to the next player on their left. In this game, that means you take a card from East on your turn, and West takes a card from you.
Running out of cards is good. A player with no cards left is safe and takes no more turns. The other players carry on without them.
The Old Maid. Three queens are in the game, and a pair needs two, so one queen is always left over. That queen is the Old Maid. The game ends when everyone else is out of cards, and the player still holding the queen loses. There are no points.

How to use this page

Read the line at the top of the board. It says what to do now.
First, press Put down my pairs. The cards with a gold outline in your hand are your pairs. They move to the row of pairs above your hand. The computer players put down theirs at the same time.
On your turn, click one of the face-down cards of the player whose box has the colored border. The card turns over and joins your hand, or goes down in a pair.
The computer players take their turns by themselves. The line at the top and the Coach say what each of them did. A pair that has just been put down has a colored outline.
Stuck? Press Hint. It tells you what is true about the cards you can choose from. In this game any card is as good as any other, and the Hint says why.
When the game is over, press Deal again. The dealer changes every game, so sometimes a computer player takes the first card.
Want to see a whole game first? Press Watch a narrated deal above the board. The computer plays all three seats with every hand face up, and says what each player does and why. Press Next and Back to step through it, or Play to let it run at the speed you pick. Jump to goes straight to the pairs or the turns. Press Back to playing to return to your own game, which watching never touches.

Playing it for real

Taking a card is luck. The cards in a hand are face down and look the same, so any card is as likely as any other to be the one you want, or the one you hope to avoid. The computer players take cards at random, so nothing you do in this practice game changes your chances.
At a real table, hide where the Old Maid is. If you hold it, spread your cards out evenly, mix them up after each turn so it is not always in the same place, and keep your face and your hands the same whichever card the other player reaches for. A smile, a frown, or a card that sticks out can give it away.
When you take a card, the only thing to go on is how the other player acts as your hand moves along their cards. Do not count on it: a careful player gives nothing away.

Common beginner mistakes

Putting down two cards that are not a pair. A king and a queen are not a pair. Both cards need the same rank. Here the game puts your pairs down for you, so this can only happen at a real table.
Putting down all three of three of a kind. A pair is two cards, so one card stays in your hand.
Thinking the Old Maid is one particular queen. Pairs go by rank only, so any two queens make a pair. The Old Maid is whichever queen is left with no partner.
Thinking that running out of cards wins. It makes you safe. In Old Maid only the last player loses, and everyone else is safe.
Showing which card you are afraid of losing. At a real table, a worried look tells the next player where to reach, or where not to.

The full rules page →

Coach ↓