In this case, the first player is to the left of the dealer, so the dealer will fan out their cards in a way that the values are hidden, and the player draws one card. On each turn a player gets to draw one card from randomly from the hand of the player to their right. Once players receive their cards, they should create pairs of matching cards and play them immediately face up on the table. Players should keep their cards hidden from their opponents.
But those players are going first, so it kind of evens out. Depending on the number of players, some players may have 1 more card than the others. The dealer will distribute all of the cards amongst the players, starting with the player to their left and moving clockwise. Or, use any other method, such as rock-paper-scissors, youngest player, etc. If you’d like to determine who goes you can each draw a card and the highest card goes first. The dealer will be the first to offer their cards, essentially making the person to the left of the dealer the first to play. This triplet of queens will create a mismatching pair set where two will get paired and the remaining, pairless queen will become the Old Maid.
You can play with a standard deck of cards.
Old Maid can be played with two to eight players, although it’s most commonly played with four players. How to Play Old Maid 1: Grab at least one friends and a deck of cards
