Old Maid is a card game for two or more players, closely related to Chase the Ace. It takes its name from the expression "old maid", meaning a single, usually elderly, woman. Although there are retail card decks specifically for playing Old Maid, it is just as easy to play with a regular deck of 52 cards. In this case, one Queen is taken out of the deck and the remaining 51 cards are used. A card game is any game using playing cards, either traditional or game-specific. ... There is another card game called Chase the Ace that has very little to do with the version described here. ... Some typical Anglo-American playing cards. ...

The dealer deals all of the cards to the players (some players may have 1 more card than others, this is acceptable). Players look at their cards and discard any pairs they have (i.e., 2 Kings, 2 Sevens, etc).

Beginning with the dealer, each player takes turns offering his hand facedown to the person on his left. That person selects a card and adds it to his or her hand. This player then sees if the selected card makes a pair with their original card. If so, the pair is discarded. The player who just took a card then offers his or her hand to the person to their left and so on.

The object of the game is to continue to take cards, discarding pairs, until one is left with no cards. The player left with the odd queen (that has no matching queen) is stuck with the "Old Maid" and loses.

The game spawns an element of bluffing, commonly used in poker, as players sometimes act as if they are holding certain cards when in fact they aren't, such as looking depressed as if one is holding the odd Queen in one's hand. In poker, to bluff is to bet or raise with an inferior hand, or with a hand believed to be inferior. ... Wikibooks Poker has more about this subject: Poker Poker is a card game, the most popular of a class of games called vying games, in which players with fully or partially concealed cards make wagers into a central pot, which is awarded to the remaining player or players with the...

This game most likely originated in China or India.

There are at least three variants of this game.

• One variant from the UK is known as Scabby Queen. The concept of this game is identical, with one exception. When the loser (the player with the single remaining Queen) is found, the deck of cards (including the remaining Queen but not the Jokers) is shuffled and the loser cuts the deck. The card on the bottom of the pile they picked up then decides their "punishment". If a red card (heart or diamond) is chosen, then the player is rapped on the back of the hand with the deck. If a black card (spades or clubs) is chosen, then he/she has the entire deck scrapped across their knuckes. The number of times this is performed is decided by the value of the card. Cards 2-10 carry face value, Jacks and Kings have a value of 10, Aces are 11 and Queens are 21. Be aware that this can rip the skin of your hands, and can be extremely painful, hence the name Scabby Queen. It is also better to use old or cheap cards, as the cards can also be damaged (cheap and older cards also tend to be softer and more bendable, so the "punishment" is less severe).

• A second variant, played in the Philippines, is called ungguy-ungguyan. The game is played exactly as Old Maid except any card can be removed at the start of the game. That card is revealed at the end of the game and the person left with its "partner" (the odd card) loses and is called unggoy (Tagalog for monkey).

• Another variant, Baba-Nuki (ババ抜き), is played in Japan. It is played exactly as Old Maid, but instead of removing a Queen or any other card, a Joker is added, and player who is left with it loses. This game is commonly depicted in some scenes in certain anime where the characters play cards.