Cribbage Card Game

Cribbage is one of the best of two-hand games. It combines in sociable proportions the luck of the deal with opportunity for skill in discarding and play.

Each player looks at his six cards and lays away two of them to reduce his hand to four. The four cards laid away together constitute the crib, which belongs to the dealer but is not exposed or used until after the play.
After the crib is laid away, dealer turns up the top card of the remaining deck. This card, placed face up on the pack, is the starter. If the starter is a jack (called his heels) dealer pegs (scores) 2 points at once. The starter is not used in the play.

After the starter is turned, non-dealer lays one of his cards face up on the table. Dealer similarly exposes a card, then non-dealer again, and so on - the hands are exposed card by card alternately except for go's as noted below. Each player keeps his played cards separate from those of his opponent.

As each plays, the computer displays the total of pips reached by the addition of his card to those previously played. The kings, queens, and jacks count 10 each; every other card counts its pip value (ace being one).

During the play, the running total of cards may never be carried beyond 31. If a player is unable to add another card without exceeding 31, he says "Go" and his turn passes. The player gaining the go must then lay down any additional cards he can without exceeding 31. He is then entitled to any additional points he can make through pairs and runs. If a player reaches exactly 31, he pegs 2. If neither player can lay a card without going over 31, then the last player to lay a card pegs 1.

The opponent of the player who played last, must lead for the next series of play, the count starting at zero. The lead may not be combined with any cards previously played to form a scoring combination, the go having interrupted the sequence. In fact, all previously played cards are turned face down at the beginning of a new round.

Playing the last card of all pegs 1 for go, plus 1 extra if it brings the count to exactly 31.

The object in play is to score points by pegging. In addition to go, a play may score for the following combinations:

Fifteen. For adding a card that makes the total 15, peg 2.

Pair. For adding a card of the same rank as that played last previously, peg 2.

Triplet. For adding the third card of the same rank, peg 6.

Double Pair. For adding the fourth card of the same rank, peg 12.

Run (Sequence). For adding a card which forms, with those played last previously, a sequence of three or more, peg 1 for each card in the sequence. (Runs are independent of suits, but go strictly by rank, e.g. 9-10-J is a run but 9-10-Q is not.)

It is necessary to keep track of the order in which cards are played to determine whether what looks like a pegging formation is interrupted by a foreign card. Examples: Cards are played in this order: 8, 7, 7, 6. Dealer pegs 2 for fifteen, and opponent pegs 2 for pair, but dealer cannot peg for run because of the extra seven-spot. Again, card are played in this order: 9, 6, 8, 7. Dealer pegs 2 for fifteen on his first play, and 4 for run on his second play. The cards were not played in sequential order, but form a true run with no foreign card.

When play ends, the three hands are counted in order: non-dealer (first), dealer's hand, crib. This order is important, for toward the end of a game the non-dealer may "count out" and win before the dealer has a chance to count, even though the dealer's total would have exceeded that of his opponent. The starter is considered to be a part of each hand, so that all hands in counting comprise five cards. Following are the basic formations of scoring value:

Fifteen. Each combination of cards that totals 15 counts 2.

Pair. Each pair of cards of the same rank counts 2.

Run. Each combination of three or more cards in sequence counts 1 for each card in the sequence.

Flush. Four cards of the same suit in the hand (not crib, and not including starter) count 4. Four cards in hand or crib of the same suit as starter count 5.

His Nobs. Jack of same suit as starter counts 1.

For a more detailed description of counting the hand see combinations.

Game may be fixed at either 61 points or 121 points. Play ends the moment either player reaches the agreed total, whether by pegging or by counting his hand. If non-dealer "goes out" by count of his hand, dealer may not count either his hand or crib in the effort to escape lurch.

Each game counts one for the winner, but if the loser fails to pass the halfway mark (fails to reach 31 with game of 61, or 61 with game of 121) he is lurched, and the winner scores two games.

The word combination is used in the strict technical sense. Each and every combination of two cards that make a pair, of two or more cards that make 15, of three or more cards that make a run, count separately. Example: A hand (with starter) of 8, 7, 7, 6, 2 scores 8 points for four combinations that total 15: the 8 with one 7, and with the other 7; the 6-2 with each 7 in turn. It scores 2 for pair, and 6 for two runs of three, 8-7-6 using each seven in turn. The total is 16. An experienced player computes the hand thus: "Fifteen 2, fifteen 4, fifteen 6, fifteen 8, and 8 for double run is 16."
Certain basic formulations should be learned to facilitate counting. For pairs and runs alone:

A triplet counts 6.
Four of a kind counts 12.
A run of three, with one card duplicated (double run), counts 8.
A run of four, with one card duplicated, counts 10.
A run of three, with one card triplicated (triple run), counts 15.
A run of three, with two different cards duplicated, counts 16.

Scoring by pencil and paper is very inconvenient in Cribbage. A special device is therefore used, the cribbage board. This is a wooden or composite tablet with four rows of 30 holes each, divided into two pairs of rows by a central panel. There are usually four additional holes near the end called game holes. With the board come four pegs, usually in two contrasting colors.
The board is placed between the two players, and each takes two pegs of the same color. (The game holes are provided to contain the pegs before the start of a game.) Each time a player scores, he advances a peg along a row on his side of the board, counting one hole per point. Two pegs are used so that the rearmost can be jumped ahead of the foremost, its distance from the latter showing the increment in score. The custom is to "go down" (away from the game holes) on the outer rows and "come up" on the inner rows. The game of 61 is "once around" and 121 is "twice around".


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