Baba-nuki Jiji-nuki

Jiji-nuki (ジジ抜き) is a variation of Old Maid that is played with n pairs of cards (e.g. a full deck of 52 cards or 54 cards if both Jokers are included) minus one secretly, randomly selected card. Baba-nuki (ババ抜き) is played with n pairs of cards plus a single “Joker”, the identity of which is known to all players at the beginning of the game.

A dealer deals all cards to the players. Some players may initially have one more or one less card than others. Each player discards, face up, as many pairs of matching cards as possible. Next, one player begins the repetitive portion of the game by offering his or her cards to the player on his or her left. Without looking at the values of the cards offered, that person selects a card, adds it to their hand, and then determines whether the selected card makes a pair with any of their other cards; if if does, the pair is discarded face up. The player who just took a card then offers their cards to the person on his or her left, and so on. As soon as a player’s hand is empty, that player exits the game. Play continues until one person is stuck holding the card known as the baba-nuki, the jiji-nuki, or the old maid, depending on the rules and context of the game.

Verbose