Old Maid

  1. Objective: Get rid of all your cards by making pairs. Avoid being the last player holding the unmatched card.
  2. Setup: Use a standard 52-card deck, but *remove one Queen*. The one Queen left in the deck is the 'Old Maid'.
  3. Dealing: Deal all 51 cards as evenly as possible to all players (2-8 players).
  4. Making Pairs: All players look at their hands and discard any pairs (two cards of the same rank, e.g., two 7s) face-up.
  5. Gameplay: The dealer starts. They fan out their hand, face down, for the player to their left.
  6. Drawing: The player on the left draws *one* card (without looking) from the dealer's hand and adds it to their own.
  7. Pairing: If this newly drawn card creates a pair in their hand, they immediately discard the pair face-up.
  8. Continuing Play: This player then fans *their* hand out for the next player to their left, and the game continues.
  9. Losing: As pairs are discarded, hands get smaller. Eventually, all cards will be paired except the Old Maid. The player left holding this card loses.
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