Hello Muriel,

Old main has the same goal as Go to the Dump...making a ten.

If you recall how the game Old Maid is played when we were kids, you will recognize this game.

You will have the number of cards that are stated in your Level A book (assuming that is the Level you are reading the directions).

So you will need the cards 1 through 9, for each player in the game but each player needs to also have two cards of 5(so it can make 10).

For instance, if it is Player A and Player B

Player A gets one card of 1,2,3,4,6,7,8,9 and two cards of 5, so it will look like 1,2,3,4,5,5,6,7,8,9.

Player B will get one card of 1,2,3,4,6,7,8,9 and two cards of 5, so it will look like 1,2,3,4,5,5,6,7,8,9.

Then they will mix up all the cards, and remove one card without looking to see what the number was.. they will set it face down, and then deal out the cards until the cards have all be handed to the players.

Then the players will look over their own cards first and make all of the necessary ten matches, laying them face up.

When they are done with that, they will then proceed with the first player taking a card(with out looking at what it is) from the second player. and they will find their match and lay it face up. then the second layer will take a card from the first player. make a match and lay it face, all the way until there is only one "Old Main" card left, check the card that was removed earlier and verify it was its match.

Please let me know if you have any more questions. You can email me directly at Carissa@alabacus.com .

Thank you for giving your child a RightStart in Math,

Carissa
RightStart™ Mathematics by Activities for Learning, Inc.

We have the tiniest twist on this - the person holding the last card, in our house, is the winner - IF they can say what the missing card is going to be before they look at it. If you have a couple of "sore losers" in the house, it's a friendlier ending.

Really? That is SOOOO not how we were doing it, LOL! I read it as mix up the cards, divvy them up, then make matches of 10, then start picking other player's cards!