Cribbage Rules

Card game for two players or two pairs; two stages - the play and the show with grouping cards in combinations to score points; online cribbage, free cribbage, play crib online Features: live opponents, game rooms, rankings, extensive stats, user profiles, contact lists, private messaging, game records, support for mobile devices. Cribbage Pro is available on both Android and iOS devices like the iPhone, iPod or iPad. Not only can you play the same great computer opponents from Easy all the way to Advanced, but you can also play against some of the best in the mobile community in our online. 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.

Objective

The objective in Cribbage is to be the first player to get 121 points. The gameplay is divided into three distinct parts, The Deal, The Play and The Show. Each part is explained in detail below.

This version of Cribbage is for two players, there are many other variations possible, but these rules are only for the variation we've chosen for this site. There are a lot of rules, I've tried to explain them as best I can here, but you can also look at the rules at www.pagat.com or at Cribbage Corner, both of those are good places to learn how Cribbage works.

The Deal

The game starts with both players drawing a card from the deck to find out who is the dealer. The person that gets the lower card is the dealer. If the players draw equal cards then they draw again until the dealer can be determined. This way of determining the dealer is only done in the first round, in subsequent rounds who is the dealer will alternate between the two players.

The dealer deals 6 cards to himself and 6 cards to the opponent. Each player then chooses two cards from their hand to put face down into the crib. The crib belongs to the dealer and is used at the end of the round to gain extra points. Which cards you choose to put in the crib is very important, as it affects how many points you can get in later parts of the game.

At this point each player has four cards in their hand, and the Crib has four cards. The deck of cards is then put to the side, and the non-dealer (also called a pone) cuts the deck and then reveals the top card. This card is referred to as the starter or the cut. If the starter is a Jack then the dealer immediately scores 2 points. This is known as Two for his heels. Once the starter card has been shown, the players are ready to proceed to the next part of the game.

The Play

The pone (the player who is not the dealer) starts by laying down a card on the table and announcing its value, e.g. lays down a 6 and announces 'Six'. The dealer then lays down a card and announces the cumulative value of the cards on the table, e.g. he lays down a 5 and announces 'Eleven'. This continues with the players laying down one card each until a player cannot lay down another card without the cumulative value going over 31. The player then says 'Go' and the other player can then continue to lay down his cards until he also can't lay down a card without going over 31. He then says 'Go' as well, and the player who laid down the last card will score 1 point if the total value is under 31 but 2 points if the value on the table is exactly 31. They then reset the count to 0 and continue with their remaining cards, starting with the player who did not lay down the last card. An ace is counted as 1, face cards are counted as 10 and other cards are their normal value.

During this phase there are several ways to score points, based on how you lay down your cards. Points are scored as you lay down your cards, e.g. if your opponent has just laid down a 4 and then you lay down another 4 on top of it then you will score a pair. The starter/cut card is not used at all in this part of the game.

Players always announce the cumulative value of the cards on the table when they lay down a new card. If they score points they will announce the points as well, e.g. 15 for 2, or 31 for 2. When a player has said 'Go' then the other player will say '1 for the Go' when he's claiming the point from laying down the last card. He might also say '1 for last', if the other player has not laid down any cards since the value was last reset. 1 for the Go or 1 for last are just different ways of announcing the same thing, that the player gets 1 point because he laid down the last card under 31.

Scoring during The Play

• Fifteen: For adding a card that makes the total 15, score 2 points.
• Pair: For adding a card of the same rank as the card just played, score 2 points.
• Pair Royal (Three of a kind): For adding a card of the same rank as the last two cards, score 6.
• Double Pair Royal (Four of a kind): For adding a card of the same rank as the last 3 cards, score 12.
• Run (sequence) of three or more cards: Score 1 point for each card in the sequence. The cards do not need to be in order, but they do need to be all together. E.g. H2 C8 D6 H7 S5 is a 4 card sequence because C8 D6 H7 S5 can be re-arranged into S5 D6 H7 C8, but H2 C5 C7 D7 S6 is not a sequence because the extra 7 in the middle breaks up the sequence of 5-6-7. Basically if you can take n cards that are in order and re-arrange them so all the n cards form a numerical sequence then it's a sequence.
• Last card, total value less than 31: Score 1 point.
• Last card, total value exactly 31: Score 2 points.

It's worth noting that even though all face cards count as 10, you cannot create a pair, pair royal or double pair royal with cards unless they have the same 'real' rank. E.g. two queens are a pair, a queen and a king aren't, even though they are both valued at 10. For sequences an ace is always low, you can't make a sequence with a king and an ace next to each other.

It's also worth noting that you can make points in many ways with the same cards. E.g. if the cards on the table are DA C7 and you lay down H7 you will get 2 points because 1+7+7=15 and 2 points because 7+7 is a pair of sevens. So, in that case you would announce 'Fifteen for 4'.

This part of the game continues until both players have played all their cards. The scores are updated as soon as a player gets points, and if a player reaches the target score, 121, the game is finished immediately.

The Show

Once The Play is finished, the players take back their cards from the table and it's time to calculate the score for their hands, and the crib. These are always scored in the same order: pone's hand, dealer's hand, dealer's crib. As before, the scores are added to the scoreboard as soon as they are calculated, and if a player reaches 121 the game is over immediately, the other player doesn't get to count his score. This means that there's no chance of a tie, or both players going over 121 in the same round. The dealer will normally get more points since he scores both his hand and the crib, but the pone scores his hand first, so if they're both close to 121 the pone might win, even though the dealer would have gotten more points if he were allowed to count them.

The Show Scoring

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The scoring for The Show is similar to the scoring for The Play, but with some important differences. The starter card is used here with both hands and the crib, so a hand is the hand + the starter, and the crib is the crib + the starter. You can use the same card for many different combinations, e.g. it can be part of a pair and also part of a sequence.

• One for his nob: For having the jack of the same suit as the starter, score 1 point. E.g. starter is H4, you have HJ.
• Fifteen: Any combination of cards that sum to 15. You can re-use cards, so if you have HJ, SJ and C5 you get 2 points for HJ C5 and another 2 points for SJ C5.
• Pair: For any pair of cards, e.g. SQ DQ, score 2 points.
• Pair Royal (Three of a kind): For any three cards of the same rank, e.g. S8 C8 H8, score 6 points.
• Double Pair Royal (Four of a kind): For any four cards of the same rank, e.g. HA SA DA CA, score 12 points.
• Run (sequence) of three or more cards: Score 1 point for each card in the sequence. E.g. for SA H2 C3 D4, score 4 points.
• Flush, 4 cards: If all the cards in your hand are of the same suit, e.g. SA S5 S9 SJ, score 4 points. These four cards all have to be in your hand, you cannot have three cards in your hand + the starter count as a flush. A 4 card flush also can't be used for the crib, only for your hand.
• Flush, 5 cards: If all the cards in your hand, and the starter card, are of the same suit, e.g. SA S5 S9 SJ SQ, score 5 points. You can also get a 5 card flush for your crib, if all the cards in the crib and the starter are of the same suit.

Skunks and Double Skunks

A skunk is when a player wins by over 30 points, his opponent has less than 91 points when the game is over. A double skunk is when a player wins by over 60 points, the opponent has less than 61 points. Normally a skunk will count as two games and a double skunk as 3. However, on this site we're not playing multiple games, we only track each game individually. We will however show you an image of a skunk or two if you get a skunk, and we do keep track of skunk counts for the statistics page.

Variations

As with every game, there are slight variations in how people play Cribbage. I've tried to look at many sources and pick the most 'standard' rules I could. Some common variations is that the next-to-last hole on the scoreboard is the 'stinkhole' and not all points count there. I'm not using that variation on this site, you can score wherever you are. There are undoubtedly other variations that people like and would like to see here, if a lot of people request a specific variation I would consider adding it, but I don't want to start adding different options for the game, I like picking one way to play a game and sticking with it.

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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.

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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.

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.

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.

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Variations

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.