Old maid (card game)
Vieux Garçon | |
Easy to play[1] |
Old Maid is a 19th-century American card game for two or more players, probably deriving from an ancient European gambling game in which the loser pays for the drinks.[2]
History
The rules of the game are first recorded in a book for girls by
These games originally employed a pack of 32 or 52
Apart from reprints of Leslie, the game largely disappeared from the literature during the mid-19th century but experienced something of a revival in the 1880s.
Earliest rules (1831)
The following is a summary of the rules by Leslie (1831):[3]
Old Maid is a girls' game and any number may play. Three queens are removed from a
If the game is played by boys, it is called Old Bachelor and three
Merry Matches
"Merry Matches", a proprietary card game by Wyman & Sons of London, appeared in 1883. It was originally published as a black-and-white game, but a coloured version appeared in 1884. There were 31 cards, the pairs "to be wed" including:
Modern rules (2011)
There are commercial card packs specifically designed for playing Old Maid, but the game can just as easily be played with a standard 52-card pack. The following rules are based on Arnold (2011), supplemented by other sources where indicated:[13]
A standard pack is used (or two if more than six play) from which a single queen is removed. The cards are
Variations
- A specific card is removed, typically any Queen card, e.g. Queen of Hearts.[14]
- A joker is added to the pack. This card acts as the Old Maid.[15]
- A card is removed from the pack at random. The resulting, unknown, unmatchable card becomes the Old Maid.[16]
- The suit colours of a discarded pair must match: ♠ with ♣; ♦ with ♥.[citation needed]
- Players discard only after the dealer has taken a card.[citation needed]
- Players take a new card before giving one up. This can result in a player being stuck in "old maid purgatory", i.e. with one card and no way to get rid of it.[citation needed]
Scabby Queen
Scabby queen is a modern variation of Old Maid played with a standard pack of cards from which the queen of clubs has been removed. The player left with the "scabby queen" (♠Q) is the loser and receives a number of raps on the knuckles with the edge of the pack. The number of raps is decided by reshuffling the pack and getting the loser to draw a card. He or she get the number of raps based on the face value of the card or, if it is a jack or king, 10 raps; if it is a queen, 21 raps. If the loser draws a red card, he or she receives soft raps; if a black card, hard raps.[17] Scabby Queen is recorded in 2002 as a game played in Perthshire, Scotland, but also known as Raps in Derbyshire, Raps or Chase the Bitch in Staffordshire, and Executioner in Hampshire. It some parts of Britain it is called Chase the Ace, but that is also the name of a different game.[18]
Black Peter
The equivalent game in many European countries is known (in each country's own language) as "Peter" or "Black Peter", and is often played with special cards, typically 31 or 37, in which the odd one out is typically a chimney sweep or a black cat. The game can also be played with a standard 32-card pack from which a black jack is removed. The loser often gets a smudge on his or her face with a piece of soot or piece of burnt cork.[19]
Regional variants
- Trinidad: Jackass. The ♦J is removed leaving the ♥J as the odd card. The player left holding it is the "jackass".[20]
- Turkey: Papaz kaçtı ("Priest eloped"). As Old Maid, but king is removed instead of queen or knave.[21]
See also
- Donkey
- Happy Families
- Hearts
Footnotes
References
- ^ a b c d e Children's Card Games by USPC Co. Retrieved 22 Apr 2019
- ^ The Game of 'Old Maid at wopc.co.uk. Retrieved 8 May 2023.
- ^ a b c Leslie (1831). pp. 138–140 & 144–146
- ^ Leslie (1835), pp. 141–143.
- ^ _ (1821), p. 298.
- ^ Lasserre (1853), pp. 307–308.
- ^ Parlett (1992/96).
- ^ Roya (2021), p. 31.
- ^ Cassell's Book of Sports and Pastimes. (1882), p. 885.
- ^ Green (1884), p. 336.
- ^ a b _ (1883), p. 336.
- ^ The Furniture Gazette (1884), p. 330.
- ^ Arnold (2011), p. 216–217.
- ^ Dawson (1923), p. 234. "The Queen of Hearts is taken out of a full pack of cards, which is then dealt..."
- ^ Mulac (1946), p. 140.
- ^ Champlin & Bostwick (1890), p. 510.
- ^ McAlpine, Fraser. "5 British Card Games You Should Learn". BBC America. Archived from the original on 25 October 2020.
- ^ Scabby Queen - Card Game at h2g2.com. Retrieved 29 September 2023.
- ^ Schwarzer Peter at pagat.com. Retrieved 18 Jun 2020.
- ^ Golick (1986), p. 92.
- ^ "Papaz kaçtı nasıl oynanır, oyunun kuralları nelerdir? Papaz kimde kaç kağıtla oynanır?". 22 September 2021.
Literature
- _ (1821). Das neue Königliche l'Hombre. Lüneburg: Herold & Wahlstab.
- _ (1882). Cassell's Book of Sports and Pastimes. London, Paris and New York: Cassell, Petter, Galpin.
- _ (1883). "Merry Matches" in The Bazaar, The Exchange and Mart, 26 September 1883, p. 336.
- _ (1884). The Furniture Gazette, Vol. 22. 25 October 1884.
- Champlin, John Denison and Arthur Elmore Bostwick (1890). The Young Folk's Cyclopædia of Games and Sports. New York: Henry Holt.
- Dawson, L. (1923) [reprinted 1980]. Hoyle's Card Games. Routledge. ISBN 0-415-00880-8
- Golick, Margie (1986). Reading, Writing, and Rummy. Markham, Ontario: Pembroke.
- Green, Charles M. (1884). The Friend of All. W. Greens's Son.
- Lasserre, Lebrun and Leroy (1853). Nouveau Manuel Complet des Jeux de Calcul et de Hasard. Paris: Roret.
- Leslie, Eliza (1831). The American Girl's Book.Boston: Munroe & Francis; NY: C.S. Francis.
- Leslie, Eliza (1835). The Girl's Book of Diversions.London, Dublin, Glasgow, Sydney: Tegg.
- Mulac, Margaret Elizabeth (1946). The Game Book. New York and London: Harper & Bros.
- Parlett, David(1992/96) Oxford Dictionary of Card Games. Oxford / New York: Oxford University Press.
- Roya, Will (2021). Card Night: Classic Games, Classic Decks, and the History Behind Them Black Dog & Leventhal Publishers. ISBN 9780762473519
- ISBN 0-486-28100-0
External links
- Media related to Old Maid (game) at Wikimedia Commons
- Rules of Card Games: Old Maid on Pagat.com