The player with the card that has no match is 'stuck with the old maid' and loses. The objective of the game is to continue to take cards, discarding pairs, until no more pairs can be made. The player who just took a card then offers their hand to the person on their left, and so on. If so, the pair is discarded face up as well. This player then sees if the selected card makes a pair with any of their original cards. That person selects a card without looking and adds it to their hand. In common variants, the suit colors of a discarded pair must match: spades ( ♠) must match with clubs ( ♣) and diamonds ( ♦) must match with hearts ( ♥).īeginning with the dealer, each player takes turns offering their hand face-down to the person on their left. Players look at their cards and discard any pairs they have (e.g., two kings, two sevens, etc.) face up. Some players may have one or two more cards than others this is acceptable. The dealer shuffles and deals all of the cards to the players, one card at a time.