How Many Points To Win Cribbage

• This hand is worth 20 points. With the 4 5’s you score 12 points since there are 6 different pair combinations. Then you can score another 8 points since there are 4 ways to make 15 using the fives.
• Two game points are awarded for a regular win, three game points for a skunk and no game points for a loss. At the end of the qualifying round the top 25% of the field makes the playoffs. Players are ranked in order of total game points to determine who qualifies (games won and point differential are used as tie-breakers).
• Cribbage Pro puts those odds at 55-67%, depending on who deals first (61% combined). The top tournament players will only win about 55-58% of their games, but that's against moderate-to-expert competitors.

1. How Many Points Do You Need To Win Cribbage
2. How Many Points Do You Need To Win Cribbage

As long as there is a way to count up to 15, you receive two points. Other ways to score include three cards in a row, such as 7, 8, 9. The point total is equal to the number of cards in a row. So 7, 8 9 would be worth three points, while 6, 7, 8, 9 is worth four points, and so on.

Cribbage, or crib, is a card game traditionally for two players, but commonly played with three, four or more, that involves playing and grouping cards in combinations which gain points.

Cribbage has several distinctive features: the cribbage board used for score-keeping, the eponymouscrib, box, or kitty (in parts of Canada)—a separate hand counting for the dealer—two distinct scoring stages (the play and the show) and a unique scoring system including points for groups of cards that total fifteen. It has been characterized as 'Britain's national card game' and the only one legally playable on licensed premises (pubs and clubs) without requiring local authority permission.^[1]

The game has relatively few rules yet yields endless subtleties during play. Tactical play varies, depending on which cards one's opponent has played, how many cards in the remaining deck will help the hand one holds, and what one's position on the board is. A game may be decided by only a few points—or even a single point—and the edge often goes to an experienced player who utilizes strategy, including calculating odds and making decisions based on the relative positions of players on the board.

Both cribbage and its close relative Costly Colours are descended from the old English card game of noddy. Cribbage added the distinctive feature of a crib and changed the scoring system for points, whereas Costly Colours added more combinations but retained the original noddy scoring scheme.

History[edit]

According to John Aubrey, cribbage was created by the English poet Sir John Suckling in the early 17th century, as a derivation of the game 'noddy'. While noddy has become a historical, rarely-played game,^[2] cribbage has continued unchanged as a popular game in the English-speaking world.^[3] The objective of the game is to be the first player to score a target number of points, typically 61 or 121. Points are scored for showing certain jacks, playing the last card, for card combinations adding up to 15 or 31, and for pairs, triples, quadruples (cards of the same rank), runs (sequences of consecutive numbers irrespective of suit) and flushes (sets of cards of the same suit).^[4]

Cribbage was played by American submariners,^[5] serving as a common pastime. The wardroom of the oldest active submarine in the United States Pacific Fleet carries on board the personal cribbage board of World War II submarine commander and Medal of Honor recipient, Rear Admiral Dick O'Kane, and upon the boat's decommissioning, the board is transferred to the next oldest boat.^[6]

Rules[edit]

Play proceeds through a succession of 'hands', each hand consisting of a 'deal', 'the play' and 'the show'. At any time during any of these stages, if a player reaches the target score (usually 121), play ends immediately with that player being the winner of the game. This can even happen during the deal, since the dealer scores if a jack is cut as the starter.

Deal[edit]

The players cut for first deal, and the person who cuts the lowest card deals. The dealer shuffles and deals five or six cards to each player, depending on the number of players. 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, each player chooses four cards to retain, then discards the other one or two face-down to form the 'crib' (also called the box), which will be used later by the dealer.^[7]

At this point, each player's hand and the crib will contain exactly four cards. The player on the dealer's left cuts the remaining deck, and the dealer reveals the top card, called the 'starter' or the 'cut'.^[8] If this card is a jack, the dealer scores two points for 'his heels' or 'his nibs'.

Play[edit]

Starting with the player on the dealer's left, the players each in turn lay one card face up on the table in front of them, stating the count—that is, the cumulative value of the cards that have been laid (for example, the first player lays a five and says 'five', the next lays a six and says 'eleven', and so on)—without the count going above 31. Face cards (kings, queens, and jacks) count as 10. The cards are not laid in the centre of the table as, at the end of the 'play', each player needs to pick up the cards they have laid.

Players score points during the play as follows:

• 15 – For causing the count to reach exactly 15 a player scores two points, then play continues.
• Pair – Completing a pair (two of a kind) scores two points.
  • Three of a kind is the same as three different pairs, or 6 points.
  • Four of a kind is 6 different pairs, or 12 points.
• A run of three or more cards (consecutively played, but not necessarily in order) scores the number of cards in the run.

If a player cannot play without causing the count to exceed 31, they call 'Go'. Continuing with the player on their left, the other player(s) continue(s) the play until no one can play without the count exceeding 31. A player is obliged to play a card unless there is no card in their hand that can be played without the count exceeding 31 (one cannot voluntarily pass). Once 31 is reached or no one is able to play, the player who played the last card scores one point if the count is still under 31 and two if it is exactly 31. The count is then reset to zero and those players with cards remaining in their hands repeat the process starting with the player to the left of the player who played the last card. When all players have played all of their cards the game proceeds to the 'show'.

How Many Points Do You Need To Win Cribbage

Players choose the order in which to lay their cards in order to maximize their scores; experienced players refer to this as either good or poor 'pegging' or 'pegsmanship'. If one player reaches the target (usually 61 or 121), the game ends immediately and that player wins. When the scores are level during a game, the players' pegs will be side by side, and it is thought that this gave rise to the phrase 'level pegging'.^[9]

Show[edit]

Once the play is complete, each player in turn, starting with the player on the left of the dealer, displays their own hand on the table and scores points based on its content in conjunction with the starter card. Points are scored for:

• Combinations of any number of cards totalling fifteen
• Runs
• Pairs (Multiple pairs are scored pair by pair but may be referred to as three or four of a kind.)
• Flush (A four-card flush scores four and cannot include the starter card; a five-card flush scores five.)
• Having a jack of the same suit as the starter card ('one for his nob [or nobs or nibs]', sometimes called the 'right' jack)

The dealer scores their hand last and then turns the cards in the crib face up. These cards are then scored by the dealer as an additional hand, also in conjunction with the starter card. Unlike the dealer's own hand, the crib cannot score a four-card flush, but it can score a five-card flush with the starter.

All scores from 0 to 29 are possible, with the exception of 19, 25, 26 and 27.^[10] Players may refer colloquially to a hand scoring zero points as a “nineteen hand”.^[11]

Muggins[edit]

Muggins (also known as cut-throat) is a commonly used but optional rule, which must be announced before game play begins. If a player fails to claim their full score on any turn, the opponent may call out 'Muggins' and peg any points overlooked by the player.^[12]

Match[edit]

A match (much like tennis) consists of more than one game, often an odd number. The match points are scored on the cribbage board using the holes reserved for match points. On a spiral board, these are often at the bottom of the board in a line with 5 or 7 holes. On a conventional board, they are often in the middle of the board or at the top or bottom.

In a two-player game of cribbage, a player scores one match point for winning a game. Their opponent will start as dealer in the next game. If a player lurches (British) or skunks (US) their opponent (reaches 121 points before their opponent scores 91 points), that player wins two match points for that game. If a player double skunks their opponent (reaches 121 points before their opponent reaches 61), they score three or four match points for the game, depending on local convention.^[13] If a player triple skunks their opponent (reaches 121 points before their opponent reaches 31 points), they automatically win the match. Double and triple skunks are not included in the official rules of cribbage play and are optional. There are several different formats for scoring match points.

Cribbage board[edit]

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').^[14] 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. 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 many additional holes for use with a third peg to count the games won by each side.

There are several designs of crib board:

• The classic design is a flat wooden board approximately 250–300 mm (10–12 in) by 70–80 mm (3–4 in) and 10–20 mm (0.4–0.8 in) deep. There are two sets of 60 holes (30 'out' and 30 'back') divided into 5 point sections. A pegging-out hole in the middle at each end allows the board to be used in either direction. One player or team scores on one set of 60 holes and the other player or team scores on the second set. Different arrangements are made for three player games.
• A relatively old design is that of an equilateral triangle with two rows of forty holes on each side. These boards did not generally include extra pegging-out holes or holes to count games.
• A newer design has three or four rows of 120 holes in a 'paperclip' shape (with a pegging-out hole at the end) and is often brightly coloured. It is best suited to games played to 121, though it can also be used for 61-point games.
• A tournament long board is used in sanctioned tournaments in the American Cribbage Congress and consists of four rows of 60 pegs (two rows for each player), no number markings or five point segments, and only a mark indicating the skunk line. Movement around the board starts on the outside and ends on the inside. Players start and end in the same hole.
• Another common variation is based on features of the highest-scoring cribbage hand. The board takes the form of the number 29 (the highest possible score), with the pegging rows following the contour of the numbers '2' and '9'. The design can sometimes include a background image of three fives and a jack, with the fourth five offset—the 'perfect hand' giving that score. The count being 8 combinations of 15 for 16 points, 6 pairs of 2 for 12 points and a matching 'nobs' jack (matching the cut card) for 1 totalling 29.

Each of the four 30-point divisions of the cribbage board (1–30, 31–60, 61–90, and 91–120) is colloquially called a 'street'. Being at 15 points would be on first street, being at 59 points would be on second street, etc.

Noddy and costly colours[edit]

The ancestor of cribbage is noddy, a game for two or four players, each receiving just three cards and playing and scoring in a similar manner to modern cribbage. However, instead of scoring 2 points for reaching 15 or 31 (called hitter), players scored the number of constituent cards making up the point. In addition, there was originally a third point at 25. Players also scored for pairs, prials, runs and flushes as in cribbage. There was no crib and game was 31.

Costly colours may have developed separately from noddy, as it retains several original features that are no longer part of cribbage. Again, only three cards are dealt, there is no crib and it uses the same scoring scheme for points at 15, 25 and 31 or hitter. What is new is that deuces play a similar role to jacks and that players may score for colours—i.e., having three or four cards of the same suit or colour. Four cards of the same suit are costly colours, hence the name.

See also[edit]

• Cribbage Solitaire and Cribbage Square Solitaire, two solitaire card games based on Cribbage
• Hounds and Jackals, an Ancient Egyptian game, which uses a similar board
• Kings Cribbage, a game with cribbage hands being constructed crossword-style
• American Cribbage Congress, sanctioning body for cribbage clubs and tournaments in the US

References[edit]

1. ^Parlett, David. The Penguin Book of Card Games. London: Penguin (2008), p. 423. ISBN978-0-141-03787-5
2. ^Cash, Cassidy (12 January 2019). 'Experience Shakespeare: How to Play Noddy, a 16th Century Card Game'. youtube. Retrieved 11 May 2019.
3. ^Aubrey, John (1898). Andrew Clark (ed.). Brief Lives chiefly of Contemporaries set down John Aubrey between the Years 1669 and 1696, Volume II. Clarendon Press. p. 245.
4. ^'American Cribbage Congress Website'. www.cribbage.org. Retrieved 11 May 2019.
5. ^Klemenc, Stacey Enesey. 'Cribbage: It's not just a game, it's an obsession'. Retrieved 22 July 2018.
6. ^'The O'Kane Cribbage Board Is Passed Down'. US Department of Defense. 8 November 2019. Retrieved 23 February 2020.
7. ^Parlett, David (October 1987). The Penguin Book of Card Games. Treasure Press. ISBN1-85051-221-3.
8. ^'The Mechanics of Playing Cribbage'. The American Cribbage Congress. 2004-10-01. Retrieved 2008-03-01.
9. ^Oxford Dictionaries, OxfordWords blog http://blog.oxforddictionaries.com/2012/11/popular-idioms-explained/ extracted 31 Oct 2014
10. ^Steven S. Lumetta (2007-05-15). 'Amusing Cribbage Facts'. Archived from the original on 2008-05-16. Retrieved 2008-03-03.
11. ^Cribbage Corner (2008-05-05). 'The nineteen hand at cribbage'. Retrieved 2008-05-05.
12. ^'Rule 10. Muggins'.
13. ^Cribbage Corner. 'Cribbage rules – winning the game'. Retrieved 2015-02-23.
14. ^'Spilikin'. Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary. Retrieved 2008-03-08. One of a number of small pieces or pegs of wood, ivory, bone, or other material, for playing a game, or for counting the score in a game, as in cribbage.

Further reading[edit]

• Scarne, John (1965). Scarne on Card Games. Dover Publications. pp. 395–404. ISBN0-486-43603-9.
• Wergin, Joe (1980). Win at Cribbage. Oldcastle Books. ISBN0-948353-97-X.

External links[edit]

amazon.com stocks a selection
of cribbage boards and pegs
which can be ordered on line.

Introduction

Cribbage is traditionally supposed to have been invented in the early 17th Century; it evolved from the earlier game Noddy. It 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 game described on this page. However the five card version does still survive in parts of Britain. For example, in South Wales it is played in pub leagues in combination with Nine Card Don (see the Don page for details). Matthew Probert reports that Five Card Cribbage is popular around Hampshire and Surrey, although the six card game is also played there.

Players and cards

Two players using a standard 52 card pack. Cards rank K(high) Q J 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 A(low).

Object of the Game

To be the first to score 61 points accumulated over several deals. Points are scored mainly for combinations of cards either occuring during the play or occuring in a player's hand or in the cards discarded before the play, which form the 'crib'.

Board and Pegs

The points are recorded by means of a board and pegs. The holes in the board represent scores from 1 to 61.

The above diagram shows the players starting at opposite ends of the board and pegging in opposite directions, which is the way I was taught and is consistent with for example Popular Card Games by Lawrence H Dawson - Wills, Bristol & London (1933). However it is clear that it is now more common for both players to start from the same end, like this:

In any case, each player has two pegs: the forward peg shows the player's score to date, and the rear peg shows the previous score. When a player scores points, the rear peg is moved in front to show the new score. That way the distance between the pegs shows the amount most recently scored, and the opponent can thereby check it has been scored correctly.

Deal

Cut cards to determine who deals first. The player cutting the lower card deals, and the other player immediately pegs 3 points for 'last' as compensation. This is scored on the firstdeal only. Subsequently the turn to deal alternates.

The dealer shuffles, the non-dealer cuts the cards, and dealer deals 5 cards to each player one at a time. The undealt part of the pack is placed face down on the table.

Discard

Each player must choose two cards to discard face down to form the 'crib'. These four cards are set aside until the end of the hand. Any card combinations in the crib will count for the dealer, so non-dealer will try to throw cards that are unlikely to make valuable combinations.

Start Card

The non-dealer cuts the pack of undealt cards, lifting the upper part without showing its bottom card. The dealer takes out the top card of the lower part, turns it face up and, after non-dealerreplaces the upper part, places it face up on top of the pack. This turned up card is called the 'start' card.

If the start card is a jack, the dealer immediately pegs 2 points - this is called 'two for his heels'.

Play of the cards

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.

As each card is played, the player announces the running total, but this total must not exceed 31. 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 (see below). When neither player can play without going over 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), the play ends.

If the play ends with a total lower than 31, whichever player was the last to play a card pegs 1 point for 'last card'. If the play ends at exactly 31, the player who played the last card pegs 2 points instead of 1 point.

Notes.

• Players familiar with Six Card Cribbage will be used to carrying on playing until all the cards have been played, starting again at zero each time 31 is reached or both players say 'Go'. Five Card Cribbage is different: you only play up to 31 once and one or both players may have unplayed cards at the end of the play.
• As in 6-card Cribbage, when neither can play the last person to play scores either 2 for 31 or 1 for last card. It is not possible to make both these scores at once.

Scoring during the play

A player who makes any of the following scores during the play pegs them immediately.

15:

If you play a card which brings the total to 15 you score two points ('Fifteen two')

31:

As mentioned above if you play a card which brings the totalto exactly 31 you score 2 points.

Pair:

If you play a card of the same rank as the previous card (e.g.a king after a king) you score 2 points for a pair. Note that(for example) a 10 and a queen do NOT make a pair even thoughthey are both worth 10 points.

Pair Royal:

If immediately after a pair a third card of the same rankis played, the player of the third card scores 6 for 'pairroyal'.

Double Pair Royal:

Four cards of the same rank, played in immediate succession.The player of the fourth card scores 12.

Run:

A 'run' or 'sequence' is a set of 3 ormore cards of consecutive ranks (irrespective of suit) - suchas 9-10-jack or 2-3-4-5. Note that ace is low so for example ace-king-queenis not a run. The player of a card which completes a run scoresfor the run; the score is equal to the number of cards in therun. The cards to not have to be played in order, but no othercards must intervene.
Example: cards are played in the following order:4-2-3-5-6. The player of the 3 scores 3 for a run, then the playerof the 5 scores 4, and the player of the 6 scores 5.
Another example: 4-2-3-4-3. The player of thefirst 3 scores 3 for the run 4-2-3. Then the player of the second4 score 3 for the run 2-3-4. The player of the second 3 scoresnothing because the 3 does not complete a run.
Another example: 4-2-6-5-3. The final 3 scores 5 points for a 5-card run. Nothing is scored before then, because there is no run until the 3 is played.

Last Card:

If neither player manages to make the total exactly 31, whoeverplayed the last card scores 1 point.

The Show

Players now score for combinations of cards held in hand. Firstthe non-dealer's hand is exposed, and scored. The start card alsocounts as part of the hand when scoring combinations. All validscores from the following list are counted.

How Many Points Do You Need To Win Cribbage

15:

Any combination of cards adding up to 15 pips scores 2 points.For example king, jack, five, five would count 8 points (fourfifteens as the king and the jack can each be paired with eitherfive). You would say 'Fifteen two, fifteen four, fifteensix, fifteen eight).

Pair:

A pair of cards of the same rank score 2 points. Three cardsof the same rank contain 3 different pairs and thus score a totalof 6 points for 'pair Royal'. Four of a kind contain6 pairs and so score 12 points.

Run:

Three cards of consecutive rank (irrespective of suit), suchas ace-2-3, score 3 points for a run. A hand such as 6-7-7-8 containstwo runs of 3 (as well as two fifteens and a pair) and so wouldscore 12 altogether. A run of four cards, such as 9-10-J-Q scores4 points. This is slightly illogical - you might expect it toscore 6 because it contains two runs of 3, but it doesn't. Theruns of 3 within it don't count -you just get 4.

Flush:

If all three cards of the hand are the same suit, 3 pointsare scored for flush. If the start card is the same suit as well,the flush is worth 4 points. There is no score for having 2 handcards and the starter all the same suit. Note also that thereis no score for flush during the play - it only counts in theshow.

One For His Nob:

If the hand contains the jack of the same suit as the startcard, score 1 extra point.

Note that when scoring a hand, the same card may be counted andscored as part of several different combinations. For exampleif your hand is 7 8 8 and the start card is a 9 you score 'fifteen2, fifteen 4, and a pair is 6, and a run is 9 and a run is 12'- 12 points to peg, with each of your 8s forming part of a fifteen,a pair and a run.

After non-dealer's hand has been shown and the score pegged, dealer'shand is shown, scored and pegged in the same way. Finally thedealer exposes the four cards of the crib and scores them withthe start card. The scoring is the same as for the players' handsexcept that:

• a flush in the crib only scores if all four crib cards andthe start card are of the same suit. If that happens the flushscores 5 points
• it is now possible to have a run of five cards, which scoresjust 5 points.

Winning the game

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'. Note thatit is not necessary to reach 61 exactly - for example if you overshoot by scoring 2 more points when you had 60 you still win.

Other Cribbage WWW pages

Here is the web site of the Salisbury and District Licensed Houses Cribbage League, where five-card cribbage is played.

The Cribbage page of Card Game Heaven also describes Five-Card Cribbage.

Other versions of Cribbage:

• Noddy, the precursor of Cribbage.
• Six Card Cribbage, which is now the most widespread form.
• The Noddy and Early Cribbage page of the Period Games site has further information.

With Meggiesoft Cribbage you can play Cribbage on-line or against a computer opponent. The target score is configurable and Muggins and Skunking are available as options. The program supports 5-card, 6-card and 7-card Cribbage and also Noddy.