Cribbage being played with a travel-sized scoring board | |
Origin | England |
---|---|
Alternative names | Crib |
Family | Matching |
Players | 2 (variations for 3–6) |
Skills required | Strategy, tactics, counting |
Cards | 52 |
Deck | Standard 52-card deck |
Play | Clockwise |
Card rank (highest first) | K Q J 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 A |
Playing time | 15–30 min. |
Related games | |
Noddy, Costly Colours |
The Play - After the starter is turned over (3, in photo below), the non-dealer lays one card face up on the table on their side of the cribbage board. Next, the dealer lays one card face up on their own side of the board. As each person plays a card, they announce a. (ACC cribbage commissioner Robert Milk comments, 'I play frequently on a 28.8 dial-up at the site powered by GameColony.com, and there is almost no delay.' Manual Scoring Option - This is a unique option for sites powered by GameColony.com - this option requires that you score your points during play and count your own hand and crib. Cribbage classic has a number of settings that can help you to learn the best move for your situation and offer assistance if it notices that you are making a sub-optimal play. The American Cribbage Congress (ACC) is the largest cribbage organization in the world. The ACC sanctions tournaments, and authorizes grass roots clubs (237) throughout North America. All else being equal, consecutive cards are better to throw into your crib than unconnected cards. A pair of cards like 7, 7 only becomes worth more on a 7 (four extra pair points) or an 8 (four points for fifteen). Conversely, consecutive cards like 6,7 have twice as many options for additional points, with nearly 30 percent of the deck helping you (three points for a run on 5 or 8, two.
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]
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]
Play Cribbage Offline
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]
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]
Playok Cribbage
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.
Scoring Variation | Points for .. | |||
---|---|---|---|---|
Normal win | Skunking opponent | Double skunking opponent | Triple skunking opponent | |
Official Tournament rules (American Cribbage Congress) | 2 points | 3 points | No extra points | No extra points |
Long Match scoring | 3 points | 4 points | No extra points | No extra points |
Free play rules | 1 point | 2 points | 3 or 4 points | No extra points |
Free play rules with triple skunk | 1 point | 2 points | 4 points | Automatic win of match |
Cribbage board[edit]
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:
- 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]
The Play - After the starter is turned over (3, in photo below), the non-dealer lays one card face up on the table on their side of the cribbage board. Next, the dealer lays one card face up on their own side of the board. As each person plays a card, they announce a. (ACC cribbage commissioner Robert Milk comments, 'I play frequently on a 28.8 dial-up at the site powered by GameColony.com, and there is almost no delay.' Manual Scoring Option - This is a unique option for sites powered by GameColony.com - this option requires that you score your points during play and count your own hand and crib. Cribbage classic has a number of settings that can help you to learn the best move for your situation and offer assistance if it notices that you are making a sub-optimal play. The American Cribbage Congress (ACC) is the largest cribbage organization in the world. The ACC sanctions tournaments, and authorizes grass roots clubs (237) throughout North America. All else being equal, consecutive cards are better to throw into your crib than unconnected cards. A pair of cards like 7, 7 only becomes worth more on a 7 (four extra pair points) or an 8 (four points for fifteen). Conversely, consecutive cards like 6,7 have twice as many options for additional points, with nearly 30 percent of the deck helping you (three points for a run on 5 or 8, two.
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]
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]
Play Cribbage Offline
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]
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]
Playok Cribbage
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.
Scoring Variation | Points for .. | |||
---|---|---|---|---|
Normal win | Skunking opponent | Double skunking opponent | Triple skunking opponent | |
Official Tournament rules (American Cribbage Congress) | 2 points | 3 points | No extra points | No extra points |
Long Match scoring | 3 points | 4 points | No extra points | No extra points |
Free play rules | 1 point | 2 points | 3 or 4 points | No extra points |
Free play rules with triple skunk | 1 point | 2 points | 4 points | Automatic win of match |
Cribbage board[edit]
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:
- 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]
- ^Parlett, David. The Penguin Book of Card Games. London: Penguin (2008), p. 423. ISBN978-0-141-03787-5
- ^Cash, Cassidy (12 January 2019). 'Experience Shakespeare: How to Play Noddy, a 16th Century Card Game'. youtube. Retrieved 11 May 2019.
- ^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.
- ^'American Cribbage Congress Website'. www.cribbage.org. Retrieved 11 May 2019.
- ^Klemenc, Stacey Enesey. 'Cribbage: It's not just a game, it's an obsession'. Retrieved 22 July 2018.
- ^'The O'Kane Cribbage Board Is Passed Down'. US Department of Defense. 8 November 2019. Retrieved 23 February 2020.
- ^Parlett, David (October 1987). The Penguin Book of Card Games. Treasure Press. ISBN1-85051-221-3.
- ^'The Mechanics of Playing Cribbage'. The American Cribbage Congress. 2004-10-01. Retrieved 2008-03-01.
- ^Oxford Dictionaries, OxfordWords blog http://blog.oxforddictionaries.com/2012/11/popular-idioms-explained/ extracted 31 Oct 2014
- ^Steven S. Lumetta (2007-05-15). 'Amusing Cribbage Facts'. Archived from the original on 2008-05-16. Retrieved 2008-03-03.
- ^Cribbage Corner (2008-05-05). 'The nineteen hand at cribbage'. Retrieved 2008-05-05.
- ^'Rule 10. Muggins'.
- ^Cribbage Corner. 'Cribbage rules – winning the game'. Retrieved 2015-02-23.
- ^'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. |
Cribbage is a card game that lends itself to a solitaire of strategy, perhaps better than any other. You can win at cribbage more often than at most card game solitaires; but solitaire cribbage invokes more skill than other solitaires. If you like solitaire but get tired of winning and losing merely on dumb luck, you'll like this game. And then I'll teach you how to play solitaire euchre[see Natty Bumppo's Columbus Book of Euchre for details].
Basic Game
Deal six cards to your hand and two to a blind crib (most players do this in a 3-2-3 sequence. Whatever the sequence, however, you must deal to yourself first, because of what you do with the turn card later, which will be shown). Throw two cards from your hand to the crib, on top. Then turn the card on top of the deck (and peg two points if it is a jack).
You get to count both your hand and the crib, but the play is against the crib. Play one card from your hand; then play the bottom card (one of the two you have not seen) from the crib; then, another from your hand; then, the other card in the crib that you have not seen, and so on. The rules and scoring of play are the same as in regular cribbage, but you score only your own points in the play, not the crib's.
Count both your hand and the crib, and peg the points from both. Then turn the turn card over, face down, on the deck again (it becomes part of the next hand), and place the used cards face up on the bottom of the deck. The first card face up at the bottom becomes the turn card in a free crib at the end of the game; so it is important which discard is on top (a jack is usually best, as you get to score two points for it when you reach the free crib; a five is usually the second best choice).
Deal again, throw, turn, play, count, return and discard as before, and again, and again, and again, and again - you will find that there are six hands and cribs to play and count in the deck. After the sixth hand, you will find four cards left face down on the top of the deck. This is the 'free crib,' and the first card beneath them, face up, is its 'turn' card (for which you get to score two points if it is a jack). Count these five cards, and the game is over. If you have scored more than 120 points (i.e., passed the end of Fourth Street on the board, as in regular cribbage), you have won.
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Here's a variation you can use to enhance your chance of winning. Before stacking the first hand face up at the bottom of the deck, peek at the four bottom cards in the deck. That way you will know which is the best discard to place on top for the 'turn card' of the 'free crib' at the end of the game. (Some might call this cheating; but, if it's part of your rules, who's to call it?)
Throwing to the crib in solitaire cribbage is a little different from throwing in a two-handed game, because it is always offensive, never defensive; the other two cards in the crib are never the product of an opponent's defensive throw, but always random. Thus you can expect more of the crib than you can playing two-handed; you will find fives, sevens, eights and jacks as often as other cards.
First Alternative
In this alternative version of solitaire cribbage, you play not only against the board but also against the deck. You win either by passing Fourth Street or by beating the deck (and you can count two games won if you do both).
Peg your own points as in the first version above. For the deck, peg the points the crib wins in the play; in the count, peg for the deck the total of points you would have scored had you thrown to the crib for a maximum count. Thus you will never beat the deck in the count, but you often will in the play (since you are playing with eyes wide open and the crib is playing blind).
You may wish to keep track of the points you lose to the deck by not maximizing your throw. You can do this with poker chips, matches, toothpicks or similar dilcods, or with cribbage pegs if you have a three- or four-track board. If at the end of the game there are no such points lost to the deck, you have scored a 'perfect game' (which you still may have lost, if the crib has tied or beaten you in the play, or if you count only passing Fourth Street as a victory). Counting these points and adding them to your final score will tell you also when you 'coulda shoulda woulda' won a game had you maximized the throw.
I kept statistics on a series of 100 games of this alternative. I found that my average deficit in not maximizing throws to the crib was 10 points a game (9.98, to be exact); so you could call a 10-point-deficit game 'par' (5, a 'birdie'; 0, or 'perfect,' an 'eagle'; 15, a 'bogey').
I counted as games won both those in which I beat the deck and in which I passed Fourth Street (scoring two games won if I did both). By this reckoning I won 27 of the 100 games. I 'coulda shoulda woulda' won 51 more had I maximized my throws to the crib, indicating a 78 per cent winning potential. But I scored only three 'perfect' games.
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Also, I was skunked (did not reach Fourth Street) 23 times, but the deck itself was skunked 10 times; so net skunks totaled 13 (blame the others on the cards). I was never double-skunked, and neither was the deck.
Second Alternative
In an alternative to both versions above, you can throw one, two or three Slots for mobile. cards to the crib (your choice, each hand). This enables you to keep combinations in your hand you would hate to bust up (e.g., two eights, two sevens and a six, plus a sixth and useless card) and to beg the crib for better combinations when you have nothing to look forward to in your hand.
Playing this way, you'll have six cards to count in some hands, not just five (with the turn card) – and you may have to count them. For example: An 8-8-7-7-6 hand is an automatic 16 points (not including the four 15's), burned in your memory. But, what about 8-8-8-7-7-6? That's 20 (in addition to the six 15's – it's a total of 32 with the 15's, not just the 24 you had with only five cards).
You will find that this method of play will actually give 'Old Sol' (the deck) a bit of an advantage as you rethrow for the best combinations at the end of each hand. You can still win more often than lose, but it's a bit closer.
Sorry, no three-card flushes if you throw three to the crib. Still gotta have four for a flush (and the turn card won't count if there's no four-flush in your hand). Same deal for the crib if you throw only one card. And a five-card hand has to have all five of the same suit for a flush (no four-flushers in five-card hands). You can't use the turn card for the flush if the hand doesn't flush, just as in regular cribbage.
dedicated to the memories of my mother and 'Aunt Jenn'
© 1993, 2017, 2018 Natty Bumppo