How to Play Cribbage

Beat your opponents in the race to 121 points! Pegs leapfrog each other towards the goal line, showing both your current and previous score.

Stages of play

In Cribbage, the game starts with each player cutting the deck. The player with the lowest rank of card (Ace counts as 1!) wins the cut and starts as the dealer. Once the inital dealer has been determined, the game starts with repeated rounds until one player reaches a score of 121.

Each round consists of the following:

 

Deal:

The dealer deals each player 6 cards. The deck is reshuffled between rounds. The players take turns being dealer each round.

Discard to the crib:

Each player discards two cards to the crib. It is beneficial to discard cards that would not score much in your hand or work together well to the opponent's crib, and aim to discard cards that would score together well into your own crib.

Play:
The dealer's opponent starts first. Each player takes turns playing a single card until the stack reaches 31 points. If one player cannot play their turn because they are out of cards or any of their cards would bring the stack total over 31, the other player may play additional cards until they cannot play or the stack reaches 31. If a player cannot play their turn because their cards would bring the stack over 31, they will say Go!

Count Cards:

If you are playing with manual counting enabled, each player counts their hand and updates their score on the board - in our game you will input your count, submit it, and your pegs will move appropriately. The game will inform you if you missed points or overcounted. In Muggins mode, players can steal missed points from each other.

 

Playing the cards

Play begins with the dealer's opponent laying down a card. Players then take turn laying down cards while keeping a running total. Players may play any card so long as the total does not exceed 31.

If a player plays a card that makes the total exactly 31, that player scores 2 points. The total then restarts to zero and play continues. If a player can't play, Go is called. The opponent then pegs 1 point and plays cards if possible. If that player reaches 31, an additional point is pegged. The pile is cleared, the total restarts to zero and play continues until all cards have been played.

The last player to play a card pegs 1 point. Points can also be earned during play for reaching 15 or 31, playing pairs, triples and quads and for sequences of 3 or more cards (sequences do not need to be in order to count).

Discarding to the Crib

Each hand start with the players discarding 2 of their 6 cards to the crib. The Crib consists of an extra hand the dealer will use later. Once the cards are discarded, the deck is cut and the starter card is turned. If it is a Jack, the dealer scores 2 points.

If your opponent owns the Crib, your goal is to keep the best cards in your hand and give him the least valuable cards possible. If, on the other hand, you own the Crib, it can be advantageous to discard valuable cards if they can have a better potential for points within the Crib. For example, a lone 5 (no 10s) in your hand is not worth many points. Given that 10s are the most common cards in the deck, chances are that your opponent will discard at least one, so moving that 5 to your Crib can be a great move.

Scoring the hand

When all cards have been played, players then score their hands. Scoring starts with the dealer's oponent, followed by the dealer scoring his own hand and then scoring the crib.

You can choose to manually count your own hand or have Cribbage count for you. The muggins rule in another option which allows players to steal points from opponents when they undercount.

Be careful: overcount your hand and 2 points will be deducted from your score! If you undercount then your opponent may mug those points and make them his own.

When scoring a hand or the crib, points are earned for:

•Nob: A jack of the same suit as the starter card earn 1 point. This does not count if the starter card happens to be a jack.

•Fifteen: combinations of cards adding up to 15 earns 2 points.

•Pairs: pairs of cards earn 2 points.

•Triples: three of a kind earns 6 points.

•Quads: four of a kind earn 12 points.

•Straight: sequences of 3 or more cards earn 1 point for each card in the sequence. Remember that Aces are "low" and Q,K,A is not a straight.

•Flush: a hand with 4 cards of the same suit earns 4 points. An additional point can be earned if the start card is also of the suit.