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. History The rules of the game are first recorded in England in 1882 and in America in 1884 by Charles M. Green and referred to in Bazaar, Exchange and Mart in 1883 as a "newly invented game". 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. 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. drinking game). 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", "", or "Black Peter" depending on the game. The term "old maid" predates the game, and is a way to refer to a childless or unmarried woman. Rules 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. When using a regular deck, a card is either added or removed, resulting in one unmatchable card. The most common choices are to remove the Queen of Clubs or to add a single Joker. 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 unmatchable card becomes the "old maid", and whoever holds it at the end of the game is the loser. The dealer shuffles and deals all of the cards to the players, one card at a time. Some players may have one more card than others; this is acceptable. Players look at their cards and discard any pairs they have (e.g., two kings) face up. Players can only discard pairs, so a three-of-a-kind is prohibited. In common variants, the suit colors of a discarded pair must match: Spades () must match with Clubs () and Diamonds () must match with Hearts (). Beginning