Cribbage Game

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A standard cribbage board usually comes with 3 different colors on the face of it with 121 holes in each color. It also contains three pegs of each color which are kept in the back of the board in a small compartment. A peg is used to keep track of the points that you have scored throughout the duration of the game. The custom is to 'go down' (away from the game holes) on the outer rows and 'come up' on the inner rows. A game of 61 is 'once around' and a game of 121 is 'twice around.' As noted previously, continuous line Cribbage boards are available. If a Cribbage board is not available, each player may use a piece of paper or cardboard, marked thus. 8,294 likes 140 talking about this. Cribbage the card game also known as Crib, Cribble, and Noddy. A card game for two players, that involves pegging, playing, and grouping cards.

Cribbage
Cribbage being played with a travel-sized scoring board
OriginEngland
Alternative namesCrib
FamilyMatching
Players2 (variations for 3–6)
Skills requiredStrategy, tactics, counting
Cards52
DeckStandard 52-card deck
PlayClockwise
Card rank (highest first)K Q J 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 A
Playing time15–30 min.
Related games
Noddy, Costly Colours

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]

A game of cribbage being played.

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]

Cribbage game online

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'.

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.

Match point scoring
Scoring VariationPoints for ...
Normal winSkunking
opponent
Double skunking
opponent
Triple skunking
opponent
Official Tournament rules (American Cribbage Congress)2 points3 pointsNo extra pointsNo extra points
Long Match scoring3 points4 pointsNo extra pointsNo extra points
Free play rules1 point2 points3 or 4 pointsNo extra points
Free play rules with triple skunk1 point2 points4 pointsAutomatic win of match

Cribbage board[edit]

Traditional wooden board layout with wooden pegs
Modern 120-hole board

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:

Game
  • 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]

Wikisource has the text of the 1911 Encyclopædia Britannica article Cribbage.
Retrieved from 'https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Cribbage&oldid=1003388505'

PLAY CRIBBAGE ONLINE: RULES AND GUIDE

Objective

Cribbage requires a fair amount of calculation, tactical skills and strategy. The trick is in making and adding points. For a math enthusiast, this should be a walk in the park. The first player to get 121 points wins. The game has three notable parts: the deal, the play and the show.


Traditionally the game has two players, but three or even four players can play it. However, this explanation is limited to two players.


Cribbage is a game of many rules. Although this explanation is thorough, you still need some game experience to be an expert.

The Deal

Before the game begins, both players draw a card from the deck. The player whose card value is lowest becomes the dealer, while the player with a card with the highest value becomes the non-dealer or pone. If both drawn cards are equal in value, the process is repeated until a dealer is determined. The dealer is only selected through drawing once. After the drawing, the dealer and non-dealer role is alternated until the game has a winner.


The dealer deals six cards for both players. From the six-card deal, both players give two cards and place them on the crib. The crib belongs to the dealer; it is the third hand. The dealer uses the crib to get extra cores at the end of the game.


At the start of the game, all the hands have four cards. The non-dealer cuts the deck and takes the top card. The picked card is called the starter or the cut. If the starter card is a Jack, the non-dealer gains 2 points. The gain is referred to as ‘two for his heels.’ When the starter is chosen, the play can begin.

The Play

The goal of the play is to get a value of cards reaching 31 or 15 to earn 2 points. The pone is the first to play. The pone gives one card and announces its value. The dealer also gives one card but announces the cumulative value of both given cards. The maximum cumulative value is 31.


The card placement process continues until the value of the cards placed gets to 31. The player that places the card that gets the value to 31 gets two points. You cannot place a card that will exceed 31. Instead of playing, the player says ‘go’ for the other player to continue laying down their card without exceeding the 31.


If the card placed does not get the cumulative card value to 31, the player that placed the card gets one point, and this gain is called ‘one for the go.’ A player earns two points if their given card gets the cumulative value to 31. The player that lays the last card gets one point; this gain is called ‘one for the last.’


When the card value gets to 31, the next round begins, and the value is reset to 0. The next round also begins when the players have cards with values that exceed 31 or when all players have no cards in their deal.


For the card values, an ace card has a value of one. The number of the card represents the numbered card value while the face cards value is 10.

How to Gain Points During the Play

  • You score two points if you lay a matching card with the same value as the card placed. Cards with the same value are called a pair.
  • You score six points if there are two similar cards laid, and you add a third. Three cards with similar value are called three of a kind or a royal pair
  • Y ou score 12 points if there are three matching cards laid, and you add a fourth. Four cards with the same value are called double pair royal or four of a kind.

The starter card value is not included in this part of the game.


  • For face cards, two queens or two kings are a pair, but a king and a queen are not a pair even though they are both valued at 10.
  • You score two points for placing your card that gets the cumulative number to 15 or 31.
  • You score a point for placing cards that follow each other in a sequence. For instance, an Ace, 2 and 3 will get you three points. The sequence is called a run. The order of the placement in a run is not essential.

However, a sequence is not a run if an eccentric number disrupts the order. For example, 7,5,6,4 is a sequence that can be rearranged to 4,5,6,7, but 5,7,9,6 is not a run.Scores are updated while you play the game. The game continues until one player reaches 121, and then it ends right away.

The Show

Once the game is over, each player takes back their four cards to score their hand. Scores are calculated in the following sequence: the non-dealer hand, dealer’s hand and the dealer’s crib. Scores are added to the scoreboard immediately after calculation.


If the pone’s value is 121, the dealer’s scores will not be calculated. The game is over, and the pone is the winner because while the dealer has two hands, the non-dealer gets the first hand. Tied scores do not exist in this game.

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The Show Scoring

  • One for his nob: you score one point if you have a Jack in the same suit as the starter
  • Any combination of 15 in your deck gets you two points. You can use all the combinations of card value in your hand to score.
  • You get two points for a pair of cards
  • You get six points for a royal pair
  • You get 12 points for a double pair royal
  • You get four points for having a deck of cards in the same suit; for instance, you score four points for having a hand with four diamond cards.
  • You get five points if the cards are the same as the starter.

Having the same suit as the starter is called a flush. A flush is only counted with the hand cards, not the crib. However, if the crib cards and the starter are in the same suit, you score five flush points.

Cribbage Game Board

Skunks and Double Skunks

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A skunk occurs when one player wins by over 30 points against a score of less than 91. A skunk is the equivalent of two games. On the other hand, a double skunk is when a player wins by over 60 points and the other player scores less than 61. The double skunk is the equivalent to 3 games.

Cribbage Game App

Variations

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There are many variations with this game. For instance, some rules the last score hole a sink hole, and not all scores count at that hole. Nevertheless, the mentioned rules are a standard used by most gamers and are sufficient to play and enjoy the game.