Cribbage!
Created | Updated Jan 28, 2002
How to play Cribbage
Cribbage is one of the most entertaining two player card games that I have ever encountered. I learnt to play cribbage or crib long ago, so some of the rules may vary slightly compared with how other people play. This doesn't make a whole lot of difference, really, as long as the rules are consistent.
What you will need
1 deck of playing cards
1 willing opponent
A crib board
Note: a crib board is normally used to keep score but can be replaced by almost anything, bottlecaps, biscuits, money or whatever else that you would like to use. Crib boards vary in shape and size, but usually have a series of regularly spaced holes that small pegs are placed in to keep score (see dodgy diagram 1).
Dodgy diagram 1 : A crib board
|.....|.....|.....|.....| \\ |.....| Player 1's
|.....|.....|.....|.....| // |.....| Rows
|.....|.....|.....|.....| // |.....| Player 2's
|.....|.....|.....|.....| \\ |.....| Rows
There are more holes here,
but you get the idea.
Each row contains 60 holes, with marker lines every 5 holes for easy counting. The objective of cribbage is to be the first person to score 120 points (we'll come to how to score points a little later).
There are three main parts to the game of cribbage, the deal, point play and hand scoring.
Part 1 : The Deal
1. Shuffle the cards thoroughly.
2. Deal out hands of 6 cards to both players.
3. Each player keeps 4 of their cards and puts the other two aside, or "into the crib"
4. The non-dealing player cuts or taps the deck of cards, then turns over the uppermost card (known as the starter), this will be used during hand scoring. If this card is a jack, the non-dealer scores 2 points.
Part 2 : Point Play
5. Starting with the non-dealing player, each player puts down a card face up and calls out the total value of all cards played so far. Aces have a value of 1 and Jacks, Queens and Kings all have a value of 10. A cards suit has absolutely no effect on its value.
Example : Tom puts down the 8 of hearts and calls "eight"
Dan puts down the 2 of spades and calls "ten"
Tom puts down the King of spades and calls "twenty"
etc.....
The total is not allowed to surpass 31, so when neither player can play a card, the person who played the last card scores 1 point and the total is reset to 0. Other scoring opportunities are listed below.
ACTION | POINTS SCORED |
---|---|
Getting a total of 15 | - 2 points |
Getting a total of 31 | - 2 points |
Last card or 'go' | - 1 point |
A pair | - 2 points |
A triple | - 6 points |
A quadruple | - 12 points |
A run of 3 cards (5-4-6) | - 3 points |
A run of 4 cards (9-10-J-Q) | - 4 points |
Any longer run | - 1 point per card in the run |
Runs can be in any order and with any mixture of suits.
Once both players have played out all their cards, we move to the next part of the game.
Part 3 : Scoring the Hand
Starting with the non-dealing player, each player gets a score for their hand. When scoring a hand the 'starter' is considered to be a part of the hand being scored. The scoring system is as follows
ACTION | POINTS SCORED |
---|---|
Getting a total of 15 | - 2 points |
A pair | - 2 points |
A triple | - 6 points |
A quadruple | - 12 points |
A run of 3 cards (5-4-6) | - 3 points |
A run of 4 cards (9-10-J-Q) | - 4 points |
Any longer run | - 1 point per card in the run |
A flush (4 cards in hand in the same suit) | - 4 points |
A flush with same suit as 'starter' | - 5 points |
A jack in the same suit as 'starter' | - 1 point |
I'll score a couple of sample hands now, to more fully explain the scoring system.
Sample Hand 1
4 of Hearts
5 of Hearts
6 of Hearts
King of Hearts
Starter:
Ace of Spades
Combinations | Points Scored |
---|---|
Run of 3 (4H, 5H, 6H) | - 3 points |
15 (4H + 5H + 6H) | - 2 points |
15 (5H + KH) | - 2 points |
Flush | - 4 points |
Grand Total | 11 points |
Sample Hand 2
Ace of Diamonds
Ace of Spades
Two of Hearts
Three of Diamonds
Starter:
Ace of Clubs
Combinations | Points Scored |
---|---|
Run of 3 (1D, 2H, 3D) | - 3 points |
Run of 3 (1S, 2H, 3D) | - 3 points |
Run of 3 (1C, 2H, 3D) | - 3 points |
3 of a kind (1D, 1S, 1C) | - 6 points |
Grand total | 15 points |
Sample Hand 3
Ace of Hearts
10 of Diamonds
Jack of Clubs
King of Hearts
Starter:
Queen of Clubs
Combinations | Points Scored |
---|---|
Run of 4 (10D, JC, QC, KH) | - 4 points |
Jack in same suit as starter | - 1 point |
Grand total | 5 points |
After each player has scored their hand, the dealer takes the crib (the 4 cards that was put aside earlier) and scores that as his/her hand too. Once the crib has been scored the non-dealer becomes the dealer for the next round and it all begins again. The first player to have a total score greater than 120 wins!
Happy Cribbing! :-)