How to play Cribbage

What you need

You need one standard pack of 52 cards and a cribbage board with pegs to keep score. For counting, picture cards are worth 10, Aces are worth 1, and other cards are worth their number.

Setting up

Each player cuts the pack, and the lower card deals first. The deal then swaps each hand.

The dealer gives each player six cards. Each player then chooses two cards to put face down in the crib. The crib is a spare hand that belongs to the dealer, and it is scored at the end of the hand.

The non-dealer cuts the pack, and the dealer turns over the top card of the lower half. This is the starter. If the starter is a Jack, the dealer scores 2 points straight away, called his heels.

The play (pegging)

Players now take turns laying one card face up in front of themselves, starting with the non-dealer. As you play, call out the running total of all cards played by both players.

You score during the play for:

• Fifteen: bringing the total to exactly 15 scores 2.
• Thirty-one: bringing the total to exactly 31 scores 2.
• Pair: playing a card of the same rank as the last card scores 2. Three of a kind in a row scores 6, and four scores 12.
• Run: if the last three or more cards played form a run, in any order, score 1 per card.

The total must never go over 31. If you cannot play without going over, say go. Your opponent then plays any cards they can. The player who played the last card scores 1 (or 2 if it made exactly 31). The count then starts again from zero with the remaining cards, and the player who did not play the last card starts the new count. When every card has been played, the player of the very last card scores 1 for it (unless it made 31, which already scored 2).

The show (counting hands)

When all cards have been played, players pick them back up and count their hands. Each hand is counted together with the starter card. The non-dealer counts first, then the dealer counts their hand, then the dealer counts the crib.

You score for:

• Fifteens: every different combination of cards adding up to 15 scores 2.
• Pairs: each pair scores 2. Three of a kind contains three pairs (6), and four of a kind contains six pairs (12).
• Runs: three or more cards in sequence score 1 per card. Each different way to make the run counts.
• Flush: four cards in your hand of the same suit score 4, or 5 if the starter matches too. In the crib, only a five-card flush counts.
• His nobs: the Jack of the same suit as the starter scores 1.

Winning

Each player moves their pegs along the board as they score, going twice round a standard board. The first player to reach 121 points wins at once, even in the middle of a hand. That is why the non-dealer, who counts first, can sometimes win before the dealer counts.

Common variants

Cribbage can be played by three players (five cards each) or four players in partnerships. Some players use five-card cribbage, an older version played to 61. Some groups add a muggins rule: if you miss points when counting, your opponent can claim them. On GamesBento every score is counted for you, so muggins does not apply.

Tips for beginners

• Keep fives. Many cards add up to 15 with a 5, because there are so many cards worth 10.
• Think about the crib. Give good cards to your own crib when you deal, and awkward cards to the crib when you do not.
• Avoid leaving 5 or 21. If you bring the count to 5 or 21, a 10-value card from your opponent makes 15 or 31.
• Count slowly. Start with fifteens, then pairs, then runs, then flushes and nobs.
• Keep runs and pairs together. Hands like 6, 7, 7, 8 score very well.