Two players, 121 points — and every count read out card by card.
Play with somebody else
Anyone can join a table with its code. There are no accounts and nothing to
install. Cribbage is two seats; if the other one is empty, the computer plays it.
Your table code
Send the link to whoever you want to play
with. It opens the game with this table already chosen; they still pick their own
name. If it is easier to read the code out, that works too.
Send the code to the person you want to play with, wait
for them to appear in the seats below, then start. If the other seat is still empty the
computer plays it, so you can start whenever you like.
Seats
Both seats at this table and who is in each. An empty seat is
played by the computer.
Seat
Who
Status
New game
Game
Review
Play
Records
Settings and help
Your turn
Your hand
The play
The hands
The starter
The crib
Score
Both players, their score, how far they still have to go, and how
many games each has won. The dealer takes the crib.
Player
Role
Score
To go
Games won
What has happened G
Newest entry first. Press G to jump here, then Up and Down to move entry by entry, Home for the newest and End for the oldest. This region is never spoken automatically, so you can read back through it at your own pace.
How to play Cribbage
Two players, 121 points, and the first one there wins — the moment they get there, not
at the end of the hand.
Two numbers on every card
A card's counting value is what it adds during the play and towards a
fifteen: ace is one, and the ten, jack, queen and king are all ten. A card's
order is where it sits in a run: ace is one and the king is thirteen, so a
ten really is lower than a jack. Confusing the two is the most common cribbage mistake there
is.
The deal
Cut for deal — lower card deals first and takes the first crib. The dealer gives six
cards each. Both players then throw two cards face down to the crib, which
belongs to the dealer and is counted at the end as an extra hand. Neither player sees the crib
until then.
Then the top of the pack is turned: the starter. If it is a jack the dealer
scores two for his heels straight away.
The play
Starting with the non-dealer, you take turns laying a card face up and calling the running
total. You may not take it past 31. Score as you go:
Fifteen — 2
Thirty-one — 2
A pair — 2. Three of a kind is 6, four is 12.
A run of three or more — one per card. They need not arrive in
order: 5, 3, 4 is a run of three.
One for the go — if your opponent cannot play, they say
“go” and you keep laying cards until you cannot either. Whoever laid last takes
1 — or 2 if they made exactly 31.
One for the last card of the hand.
When neither of you can play, the count goes back to nothing and whoever did not lay
the last card leads again. Pairs and runs only count within the current run of cards, never
back across a reset.
The count
Now the hands are counted, each with the starter as a fifth card. Non-dealer first, then the
dealer, then the dealer's crib — and that order is why being non-dealer matters when the
game is close.
Fifteens — 2 for every combination adding to 15
Pairs — 2 each. Three of a kind is three pairs, so 6; four is 12.
Runs — one per card, and scored once for every distinct
set that makes it. 4-5-6-6 is two runs of three, for 6.
A flush — 4 for all four cards in your hand matching, 5 if the
starter matches too. In the crib it must be all five or it scores nothing.
One for his nob — the jack of the starter's suit, in your hand.
The best possible hand is 29: three fives and the jack of the starter's suit, with the fourth
five turned.
What this game does not do
There is no muggins — nobody can claim points you failed to count, because the program
counts for you. Three and four handed cribbage are not implemented. A skunk is reported when it
happens but counts as one game, not two.