Design: chromolithographs, the reverse sides printed in red and white to show two parrots and the name of the game

The game has no winners, only a loser, the person who holds the single unpaired card at the end of play.

Rewards: n/a
Forfeits: n/a
No. of Players: any
Equipment required: 34 cards arranged in pairs to show children playing different named sports - archery, canoeing, diving, hurdling, net ball, boxing, ice skating, running, table tennis, tennis, cricket, football, hockey, tobogganing, rugby, fishing, cycling
Old Maid card and instructions card
card box printed to show title, details, maker and list of other card games


Rules:
Basic Rules for the game of OLD MAID

It is a simple card game that is a great favourite with young children. It can be played with special cards or with standard playing cards. It is a game for three or more players.
The objective of the game is to aim to discard all the players' cards as pairs. The player who is left with the old maid card when play ends is the loser. There is no winners in the game.
Special decks of Old Maid cards consist of a single card with a picture of the `old maid' and pairs of cards showing other illustrations. If standard cards are used, one of the queens is removed to leave the deck with an odd queen - the `old maid'.

One player deals all the cards face down, one at a time, to all players. It does not matter if some players have one card more than the others. Each player looks at his cards, making sure that none of the other players can see them. If he has any pairs - two matching character cards or two playing cards with the same value - he lays them face down on the table.
A player with three cards of the same value may only put down two of them and must keep the third, but a player with four cards of the same value may put doll all four cards as two pairs.
The player to the left of the dealer fans out his cards, keeping their faces towards him, and offers them to the player to his left. The player who is offered the cards must take any one of them. He then looks to see whether the new card pairs up with any of the cards already in his hand. If it does, he lays the pair face down on the table. If not, he adds the new card to the cards in his hand, fans out the cards and offers them to the player on his left.
Play continues in this way until all cards but the `old maid' has been played. The player holding the `old maid' is the loser, and all the players call him `old maid' before a new game is started.
VARIATION To make the game last longer, cards may be considered as pairs only if their colour matches as well as their number.

LE VIEUX GARCON
This French game is similar to old maid. It is played with a standard deck of playing cards with the jacks of hearts, diamonds, and clubs removed. The game is lost by the player left with the jack of spades-called le vieux garcon or old boy.

BLACK PETER
This game is popular in Germany and is usually played with special cards but a standard deck can be used. Special decks consist of a single BLACK PETER card often showing a fierce balck cat wearing boots and a hat and pairs of other cards showing different animals. It is played in the same way with the loser being the one left with the Black Peter card.

a tower press product made in england with the trademark

MISC.331-1981