Cribbage rules

Cribbage is basically a game for two players, though adaptations for 4 players in fixed partnerships, and for 3 players also exist. The more modern Six Card Cribbage has now almost entirely replaced the original Five Card Cribbage. Cribbage uses a standard 52 card pack.

Dealing Cribbage Rules

The players cut for first deal, and the dealer shuffles and deals five or six cards to each player. Usually, For two players, each is dealt six cards; for three or four players, each is dealt five cards. In the case of three players, a single card is dealt face down in the centre of the table to start the crib. Once the cards have been dealt, the players look at their cards. Each player chooses four cards to retain, then discards the other one or two face-down to form the "crib" which will be used later by the dealer. At this point, each player's hand and the crib will contain exactly four cards. The player on the dealer's left cuts the deck and the dealer reveals the top card, called the "starter". If this card is a Jack, the dealer scores two points for "his heels", also known as "his nibs".

Playing Cribbage Rules

Starting with the non-dealer, the players take turns to play a single cards face up in front of themselves. In this stage of the game the total pip value of the cards played by both players must not exceed 31. The pip values of the cards are: Ace = 1; 2 to 10 = face value; jack = 10; queen = 10; king = 10.

How to play cribbage

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The House of Cards

As each card is played, the player announces the running total. If a card is played which makes the pip total exactly 31, the player pegs two points. This ends the play. A player who cannot play without exceeding 31 does not play a card but says "Go". If your opponent says "Go" then you may continues playing cards and scoring for any combinations you make. If you bring the total to exactly 31 you score 2 points.

Play may end at a total lower than 31, either because both players have played all their cards or because all cards left in the players' hands have pip values so high that they would take the total over 31 if played. In these cases whichever player was the last to play a card pegs 1 point for "last card". This ends the play.

The Show Cribbage Rules

Once the play is complete, each player in turn receives points based on the content of his hand in conjunction with the starter card. Points are scored for combinations of cards totaling fifteen, runs, pairs, flushes and having a Jack of the same suit as the starter card ("one for his nob"). The dealer scores his hand last and then turns the cards in the crib face up. These cards are then scored by the dealer as an additional hand in conjunction with the starter card.

Scores between 0 and 29 are all possible, with the exception of 19, 25, 26 and 27. Players may refer colloquially to a hand scoring zero points as having a score of nineteen.

More details about the points you could get during The Show can be found here.

As soon as someone reaches 61 points, that player wins the game. This can happen at any point - during the play or the show, or even by dealer scoring "two for his heels".

Cribbage boards

Board and Pegs Cribbage Rules

Visually, cribbage is known for its scoring board, a series of holes ("streets") on which the score is tallied with pegs (also known as "spilikins"). Scores can be kept on a piece of paper, but a cribbage board is almost always used, since scoring occurs throughout the game, not just at the conclusion of hands as in most other card games. Points are registered as having been scored by "pegging" along the crib board.

Cribbage board templates

Two pegs are used in a leapfrog fashion, so that if a player loses track during the count one peg still marks the previous score. Some boards have a "game counter", with as many as five holes for use with a third peg to count the games won by each side.