Cribbage
How to Play Cribbage
Cribbage is a two-player race to 121 points. Each hand you deal six cards, throw two into a crib for the dealer, turn a starter card, play cards for pegging points, then count your four-card hand with the starter. The dealer also counts the crib. You score fifteens, pairs, runs, flushes, nobs, and a few pegging extras such as 31 and last card.
This page is one first game, start to finish. Keep a scoring chart nearby the first time. After the game, replay the awkward parts in cribbage practice with the cards where you can see them.
What you need
- One standard 52-card deck. No jokers.
- Two people. (Three- and four-player versions exist. Learn two-player first.)
- A cribbage board with two pegs each, or a paper track to 121. First peg to 121 wins.
Cut for the deal
Each player lifts a packet and looks at the bottom card of the lifted packet (or turns a card, same idea). Lowest card deals first. Ace is low on this cut.
The dealer has a built-in edge, because the crib belongs to the dealer. Swap the deal every hand.
Deal six, keep four
Dealer gives six cards to each player, one at a time, starting with the non-dealer. Put the rest of the pack face down in the middle. That leftover pack is not the crib. It is the stock you will cut for the starter.
Each of you now chooses two cards to throw. Those four discarded cards (two from each player) become the crib. Stack them face down on the dealer's side of the table. You should each have four cards left.
Throwing is the first real decision:
- If you are the dealer, the crib is yours. Matching ranks, 5s, and sequential cards are friendlier throws.
- If you are not the dealer, do not gift a pair, a 5, or two cards in sequence if you can help it. Mixed suits starve their crib flush.
Night-one shortcut: keep a hand that can make 15s and a run. Dealer versus pone discards: what to throw to the crib.
Cut the starter, watch for his heels
Non-dealer cuts the leftover pack. Dealer turns the top card of the remaining lower part (the usual "cut and turn") as the starter. Put it face up on top of the pack.
If that starter is a jack, dealer immediately pegs 2 for his heels. Do this before anyone plays a card.
The starter is not played during pegging. It is a shared fifth card later, when you count hands and the crib.
Pegging: play toward 31
Non-dealer plays the first card face up in front of themselves and says the running total. A 7 is "seven." A king is "ten," because face cards count 10. Ace counts 1.
Dealer plays a card in front of themselves and adds it: "seventeen," or whatever the new total is.
Keep going, alternating, with three limits:
- The running total cannot pass 31.
- If you cannot play without passing 31, you say go.
- After a go, the other player plays any extra cards they still can under 31, scoring for fifteens, pairs, runs, and 31 as usual, then pegs 1 for go if the count is not 31. A card that hits 31 scores 2 instead, not 1+2.
Then the count resets to 0 and leftover cards start a new series. When all eight cards are down, last card scores 1 unless that play was already 31.
Score during this, not after:
| You just made | Peg |
|---|---|
| Running total 15 | 2 |
| Running total 31 | 2 |
| Pair (same rank as the card you answered) | 2 |
| Three of a kind in a row | 6 |
| Four of a kind in a row | 12 |
| A run of 3 or more (even if played out of order) | 1 per card in the run |
| Go or last card (total not 31) | 1 |
Example, the first four cards of a real first game:
- You (non-dealer) play a 5. "Five."
- Dealer plays a 10. "Fifteen for two." Dealer pegs 2.
- You play a 5. "Twenty." No pair, because the last card was a 10, not a 5.
- Dealer plays a 4. "Twenty-four." No run.
Leading a 5 on night one is how you learn not to lead a 5. Full list: cribbage scoring.
The show: count hands, then the crib
After pegging, leave the starter where it is. Count in this order, every time:
- Non-dealer counts their four cards plus the starter.
- Dealer counts their four cards plus the starter.
- Dealer turns the crib and counts those four plus the starter.
Peg as you count. If anyone reaches 121 during this, the game ends. Non-dealer counting first is a real rule, not politeness. Near the end of a game it decides who wins.
Say the points out loud. What you are looking for:
- Every mix of cards that totals 15 (2 each)
- Pairs (2), three of a kind (6), four of a kind (12)
- Runs (1 per card, with doubles if a pair sits inside the sequence)
- A flush in your own hand (4, or 5 if the starter matches)
- A flush in the crib only if all five cards match
- Nobs: jack of the starter's suit, 1 point
Ace is 1. Face cards are 10 for fifteens, but pairs and runs care about rank, so a king does not pair a 10.
First-game counted example
You were non-dealer. Your remaining four: 3 of clubs, 4 of clubs, 5 of hearts, 7 of spades. Starter: 8 of clubs.
- Fifteens: 3+4+8, and 3+5+7, and 8+7. Three fifteens, 6.
- Run: 3-4-5 is 3.
- Flush: you have two clubs in hand, not four.
- Nobs: no jack.
You peg 9.
Dealer's four: 10, jack, and queen of hearts, plus 2 of diamonds. Same starter.
- Fifteens: none (10+J+Q is 30; 8+2 is 10).
- Run: 10-J-Q is 3. No flush, no nobs (jack is hearts, starter is clubs).
Dealer pegs 3, then counts the crib. The crib might be empty or it might be 12. Count it anyway.
Peg on the board, check for 121
Move pegs as you go. Front peg is your current total. Back peg is where you just were. The next score jumps the back peg ahead of the front.
First player to 121 wins. You can win during pegging, during your hand count, or during the crib. You do not get to "finish the deal" if someone already pegged out.
A game is several hands. After the crib, shuffle, and the person who was non-dealer now deals.
After the first game
Keep a 15 in the hand you keep if you can, do not lead a 5, and count out loud. Then skim the scoring chart, keep the QuickStart as a checklist, and play practice games with the cards in front of you.