Cribbage
Cribbage is traditionally
supposed to have evolved during the 17th Century from an earlier
game Noddy. It generally is a two player game, however, partnerships of two can
also be played. In the 18th
Century, cribbage was played with 5 cards, as opposed to the 6 cards overwhelming
played today. The object of the game is to be the first to score 61 points
accumulated over several deals. Points are scored mainly for combinations of
cards either occurring during the play or occurring in a player’s hand or in
the cards discarded before the play, which form the “crib”.
Two players (or two partnerships of
2) use a standard 52 card pack. Cards rank K (high) Q J 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 A (low).
Points are recorded using pegs on a board with two sets of 61 holes. The holes
in the board represent a player’s score from 1 to 61. 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.
The game has several distinct steps:
The Deal
Discard to the Crib
The Play
Showing
The Deal:
Cut cards to determine who deals
first. The player cutting the lower card deals, and the other player (the
“pone”) immediately pegs 3 points for “last” as compensation. This is scored on
the first deal only. Subsequently the turn to deal alternates.
The dealer shuffles and deals 5 cards to each player one at a
time. The remainder of the pack is placed face down on the table. Note, as
cribbage is considered a gentleman’s game, cutting the cards before the deal insinuates
cheating and costs the offending party 2 points immediately.
Discard to the Crib:
Each player discards two cards from
his hand face down to form the “crib” of four cards. The crib is 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 Pone cuts the pack of un-dealt
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 the Pone replaces
the upper part, places it face up on top of the pack as the “starter card”. If the start card is a Jack, the dealer
immediately pegs 2 points - this is called “two for his heels”.
The Play:
Starting with the Pone, 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. If a card is played which makes the pip
total exactly 31, the player pegs two points. This ends the play.
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). If you
bring the total to exactly 31 you score 2 points as above.
Play may end at a total
lower than 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. In these cases whichever player was the
last to play a card pegs 1 point for “last card” and ends the play.
Note. 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.
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 total to 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 a 10 and a queen do NOT make a pair even though they are both worth 10
points.
Pair Royal: If immediately after a pair a third card of
the same rank is played, the player of the third card scores 6 for “pair royal”.
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 or more cards of consecutive ranks
(irrespective of suit) - such as 9-10-Jack or 2-3-4-5. Note that Ace is low so for example Ace-King-Queen is not
a run. The player of a card which completes a run scores for the run; the score
is equal to the number of cards in the run. The cards to not have to be played
in order, but no other cards must intervene.
For example, cards are played in the following order: 3-4-2-5-6. The
player of the duce scores 3 points
for a run, then the player of the five
scores 4 points, and the player of the six
scores 5 points.
Another example: 4-3-5-4-5. The
player of the first five scores 3 points
for the run 4-3-5. Then the player of the second four scores 3 for the run 3-5-4. The player of the second five scores nothing because the five does not complete a run.
Last Card: If neither player manages to make the total exactly
31, whoever played the last card scores 1 point.
The Show:
Players now score for combinations
of cards held in hand. The Pone’s hand is exposed and scored first. The start
card also counts as part of the hand when scoring combinations. All valid
scores from the following list are counted.
15: Any combination of cards adding up to 15 pips
scores 2 points. For example King, Jack, Five, Five would count 8 points (four
fifteens as the king and the jack can each be paired with either five). You
would say “Fifteen two, fifteen four, fifteen six, fifteen eight”.
Pair: A pair of cards of the same rank score 2
points. Three cards of the same rank contain 3 different pairs and thus score a
total of 6 points for “pair Royal”. Four of a kind contain 6 pairs and so score
12 points for a “Double pair Royal”.
Run: Three cards of consecutive rank (irrespective
of suit), such as Ace-2-3, score 3 points for a run. A hand such as 6-7-7-8
contains two runs of 3 (as well as two fifteens and a pair) and so would score
12 altogether. A run of four cards, such as 9-10-J-Q scores 4 points. This is
slightly illogical - you might expect it to score 6 because it contains two
runs of 3, but it doesn’t. The runs of 3 within it does not count -you just get
4.
Flush: If all three cards of the hand are the same
suit, 3 points are scored for a flush. If the start card is the same suit as
well, the flush is worth 4 points. There is no score for having 2 hand cards
and the starter all the same suit. Note also that there is no score for flush
during the play - it only counts in the show.
One for
His Nob: If the hand contains the
Jack of the same suit as the start card,
score 1 extra point.
Note that when scoring a hand, the
same card may be counted and scored as part of several different combinations.
For example if your hand is 7 8 8 and the start card is a 9 you score “fifteen
2, 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's hand is shown, scored and pegged in the same way. Finally the dealer
exposes the four cards of the crib and scores them with the start card. The
scoring is the same as for the players' hands except that: a flush in the crib
only scores if all four crib cards and the start card are of the same suit. If
that happens the flush scores 5 points.
It is now possible to have a run of five cards, which scores just 5
points.
Winning the Game:
As soon as a player 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 that it is not
necessary to reach 61 exactly - for example if you overshoot by scoring 2 more
points when you had 60 you still win.