Cribbage

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

Logic

Play

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.

What it trains

  • Mental arithmetic that never feels like arithmetic — spotting fifteens in five cards is the whole game, and it gets quicker without you trying
  • Rewards planning two steps out: the two cards you throw away decide what the crib is worth long after you have forgotten them
  • Calm by design: no ads, no account, no clock, and every score explained as it is pegged

Full rules

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.

Play Cribbage free online against one computer opponent — full screen, no download, no ads and no sign-up. Six cards each, two of them thrown into the crib, and a cut card that belongs to everybody. Then the pegging: cards go down one at a time and the count climbs towards thirty-one, paying two for a fifteen, two for a pair and one a card for a run. When the cards are down you count them again, and hands that looked ordinary during the play turn out to be worth eight. Every score is explained as it is pegged, so the arithmetic teaches itself. Play the short game to 61 or the full 121, and your board is saved if you close the tab.

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