Old Maid (card Game) - Variants

Variants

• A commonly marketed version of the game is called "Donkey" in which the odd card is the Donkey and the rest of the set is made up of farmyard animals.
• A variant is called jackass, played with jacks instead of queens as the odd amount of cards. It is known in Dutch as zwartepieten ("playing Black Pete") or pijkezotjagen ("Chasing the jack of spades"), in Polish as Piotruś ("Peter"), in Icelandic as Svarti Pétur ("black Peter") and in Swedish as Svarte Petter ("Black Peter").
• One 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. It is depicted in some anime where the characters play cards; e.g. Suzumiya Haruhi no Yuutsu, Crayon Shin Chan, YuruYuri, Brave Police J-Decker and When They Cry.
• Another 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 has the entire deck scrapped across his knuckles. 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). However, today the game is often played without this punishment, especially where the pain inflicted is not considered appropriate by the players (such as when parents are playing with their children), though the game is still called scabby queen. As with all playground games, the rules are often lost in translation and regional variations are common (school-specific rule-sets are not unusual).
• Another variant played in Egypt in the Middle East is called "Abu Foul" or "blind king"; this follows roughly the same rules, except all Kings are removed except one. Pairs are discarded at the outset and everybody takes turns until only the King is left. If a player can take a card, he must. Pairs are discarded once they are formed. Multiple decks can be used depending on the number of players. Jokers are not present. Punishment is played two ways, depending on the group; wishes or strikes, chosen before the game strikes. At the end, the cards are shuffled and spread and the loser pulls a card for every player. Pictures are worth 10, king 20. Strikes are to the hand outstretched, or wishes are short and simple, local to the area and usually involve some sort of mild humiliation.
• Another variant played in Turkey is called "Papaz Kaçtı" with nearly same rules.
• In Brazil, two variants of the "Old Maid" game are played: One called "Fedor", literally "Stink", played with a regular deck out of which one card has been removed; the other one, played with a specialty deck is called "Jogo do Mico", or "Capuchin Monkey Game". The cards depict animals, each one having a male and a female card representation; only the capuchin monkey (mico) does not have an opposite-sex representation.