How old is the card game Old Maid?

Answer 1

The game known today as "Old Maid" has a history probably almost as ancient as that of playing-cards themselves, and went under various names, such as "Black Peter" and "Jackass". Generally it was played with a standard deck from which one card had been removed. However, it was in Victorian times -- probably because the original version was a drinking-game, and standard playing-cards themselves were often looked upon as morally dubious -- that special decks began to be produced which even children in "respectable" families could use. These had cards depicting caricatures of various people in sets of four, plus a single caricature of an old woman, the old maid (meaning an elderly, i.e. "unmatchable", spinster). The player holding this Old Maid card at the end of the game had, of course, lost. The name has stuck, even when the game is played, as originally, with a standard deck.