The trick is to remember which cards are where. When a player turns over two cards that do not match, those cards are turned face down again (in the same position) and it becomes the next player’s turn. If they successfully match a pair they get to keep the cards, and that player gets another turn. On each turn, a player turns over any two cards (one at a time) and keeps them if the cards make a parent/baby animal match (for instance, two Lions). Play then continues in a clockwise direction. The children’s age should determined how many animal pairs you want to play with at one time, slowly increasing the number as they become more experienced with the game. Shuffle the cards and lay them on the table, face down, in rows. Preselect a number of matching parent and baby animal pairs from the main deck. The objective is to collect the most pairs of parent and baby animal cards.

Younger players can often compete with older players because they can be very good at memory-based games. This card game is a great game for the whole family. Play proceeds in this way until all cards have been paired except one – the Albert card, which cannot be paired. They then offer their own hand to the player on their left. This player discards any pair that may have been formed by the drawn card. The dealer then offers their hand, spread out face down, to the player on their left, who draws one card from it. Players do not need to have an equal number of cards.Įach player removes all parent/baby (uppercase/lowercase) pairs from their hand face down. The goal is to form and discard pairs of matching parent and baby animals, and not to be left with the odd card (Albert) at the end.Īny player shuffles the pack and deals them around, one at a time to each player, until all the cards have been handed out. Learning the ABC’s is fun with the Alphabetimals! In this beautifully-illustrated take on “Old Maid”, players pair letter-shaped animals with their adorable lower-case babies, while trying to avoid getting stuck with Albert.

Old maid animal cards