Play Cribbage online free

Cribbage is the two-player classic with the wooden board: six cards each, and two of them thrown away before the cut is even seen — that throw is the whole game. Half your score arrives card by card during the play, a fifteen here and a pair there, and the other half sits in your hand waiting to be counted.

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How to play

  1. You are dealt six cards. Choose two to throw into the crib — a fifth hand that is scored at the end and belongs to whoever dealt.
  2. Cut the deck to turn up the starter. It counts as a fifth card in both hands and in the crib.
  3. Take turns laying a card down. Say the running total out loud if it helps: it may never go over 31.
  4. During the play you peg 2 for making the count exactly 15 or exactly 31, 2 for pairing the card just laid, and one point a card for finishing a run of three or more.
  5. If you cannot play without going over 31, you say “go” and your opponent keeps laying cards. The last person to play takes a point.
  6. Once every card is down, each hand is counted with the starter: fifteens, pairs, runs, a flush, and a jack matching the starter’s suit. Non-dealer counts first, then the dealer, then the crib.
  7. First to 61 (or 121 in the full game) wins — and because non-dealer counts first, a close game can end before the dealer ever counts.

The deal and the crib

Six cards each. You both throw two away into the crib, which is scored at the very end and counts for the dealer alone. That single decision is most of cribbage: you are building one hand and either feeding or starving another at the same time. When the crib is yours, a pair or two cards adding to fifteen is a gift to yourself; when it is your opponent’s, the safe throw is usually a king and something that connects to nothing.

The starter

One card is cut from the rest of the deck and turned face up. It is not played — it sits there as a fifth card for both hands and for the crib, which is why a hand can be transformed by a card nobody chose. If the starter is a jack, the dealer takes two immediately: that is “his heels”, and it has ended more than one close game before a card was played.

The play, and the count to 31

Cards go down one at a time and each adds its value to a running total — ace is one, picture cards are ten. Nobody may take the count past 31. Along the way you peg 2 for hitting exactly 15, 2 for hitting exactly 31, 2 for matching the rank just laid (6 for a third, 12 for a fourth), and one point a card for completing a run of three or more, in any order.

Go

If you have no card that fits under 31, you say “go” and your opponent carries on alone for as long as they can. Whoever laid the last card takes one point, unless they landed exactly on 31 and have already been paid two. Then the count resets to zero and whoever did not play last leads again.

Counting the hands

Every combination of cards adding to fifteen is worth two, and they stack: a hand can contain four separate fifteens without repeating a card. Each pair is two. Each run of three or more scores a point a card, and a duplicated rank doubles the whole run. Four cards of one suit is a flush for four, five for five. A jack of the starter’s suit is one more.

Why the order matters

Non-dealer counts first, then the dealer, then the dealer’s crib. That is not a formality — with both players near the target, the non-dealer can go out on a hand the dealer would otherwise have beaten. It is why the deal alternating each hand is worth as much as it is, and why the last few hands of a close game are played differently from the first.

The board

Score is kept on a pegboard rather than on paper, with two pegs each: the front one is where you are, the back one where you were before the last score. It is a running record of how each hand went, and it is the reason cribbage players talk about being “ten holes short” rather than ten points behind.

More card and logic games

Logic

Cribbage

Throw two to the crib, peg your way to thirty-one, then count what the cards were hiding.

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Why play Cribbage here

No ads, no account and no clock. A game to 61 fits in a coffee break, or play the full board to 121 with the deal alternating the way it should. Your board is saved if you close the tab, and the pegs are moved for you — every fifteen, pair and run is named and priced as it happens.

The table teaches as you play. Your first game deals you in step by step and shows you where to tap; after that the scoring reference stays one click away, the count is always on screen with what you have left to spend under thirty-one, and the score sheet walks through each hand one line at a time instead of announcing a total.

Frequently asked questions

Is it free to play?

Yes. Cribbage here is free, with no ads, no download and no account. Nothing is locked and there is nothing to buy.

How do you play Cribbage?

Both players get six cards and throw two into the crib — an extra hand that will count for the dealer. The deck is cut to turn up a starter card, then cards go down one at a time with a running count that may not pass 31: a fifteen pegs two, a pair pegs two, a run of three or more pegs one a card. When the cards are down, the hands are counted — the same combinations again, with the starter joining every hand — and the crib is counted last, for the dealer. First to the target, 61 or 121, wins on the spot, even mid-count.

What is the crib?

The four thrown-away cards, two from each player, counted by the dealer at the end of the hand. It is what makes the throw a real decision: with your own crib you can afford to throw a pair or a fifteen to yourself, while into an opponent’s crib you throw the most useless cards you own. The deal alternates, so the crib is yours every other hand.

What are “his heels” and “his nobs”?

If the cut turns up a jack, the dealer pegs two on the spot — “two for his heels”. A jack in your hand of the same suit as the starter is “one for his nobs” when the hands are counted. Two small rules with strange old names, and both are scored for you here.

What does “go” mean?

When none of your cards fit under 31, you say “go” and your opponent carries on alone. The last card played pegs a point — two if it lands exactly on 31 — and then the count starts again from zero. Cards you could not play are not lost; they wait for the next round of the count.

What is the best hand in Cribbage?

Twenty-nine points: three fives and a jack in hand, with the fourth five — matching the jack’s suit — as the starter. That is sixteen for the fifteens, twelve for the four fives and one for his nobs. Most players go a lifetime without being dealt it.

Can I play Cribbage full screen?

Yes. The full-screen button takes the table over the whole screen with big, easy-to-read cards — it works on desktop and on phones held upright, and you can leave full screen with the button or the Escape key.

Do I play against people or the computer?

Against the computer. You can stop mid-hand, think as long as you like over the throw, and come back later without keeping anyone waiting. There are no leaderboards and nothing is compared against other players.

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