Cribbage Corner

Cribbage is a card game for two players. Described by some as 'a game of low, animal cunning', it demands skill, experience, craftiness and luck to win. The role of chance is such that even a novice can beat a seasoned player over one or two games, yet over a longer period skill, experience and thoughtful play will inevitably win out. The scope for tricks, traps, stratagems, forward planning, playing the percentages, and sheer blind luck makes it a fascinating and involving game at every level of play.

Origins

Cribbage is generally agreed to have been invented by English poet Sir John Suckling in the 1630s. However it is a fairly straightforward development of an earlier game called Noddy, Suckling's main contribution being the 'crib' that gives the modern game its name. It was originally played with five cards rather than six, as is now the standard, but the play and strategy are almost identical and the five-card game still survives, especially in the UK.

Amusing, but quite possibly specious historical note: James Masters writes:

Suckling apparently distributed large numbers of packs of marked cards to the aristocratic set and then went around the country playing them at Cribbage for money, managing to earn himself around £20,000 (about £4 million in today's money).

The so-called cribbage board predates Cribbage by many hundreds of years and has been used for scoring many other games, especially pub games. However in the last few centuries the traditional board has been indelibly associated with Cribbage, and customised boards like the '29' have been developed especially for it.

Rules

Overview of play

Cribbage belongs to the family of card games known as 'adders' - that is, games in which the idea is to add successive card values to a running total with the aim of making certain totals - in this case, 31. In the first phase of the hand, players take turns playing a card from their hand which is added to the running total. Two points are scored for making the total 15 or 31. Pairs and sequences also earn points. Once the hands have been played out in this way, the players then score points based on the pairs and sequences in their hands, plus the combinations that add up to 15.

The interweaving of luck and skill in Cribbage is particularly interesting. Although you have no control over the cards you receive (and thus the points you score in the second phase), there is much opportunity for skilful play in the first, or pegging, phase. A good player can make many more points from a given hand than a novice. However, the element of chance is such that a single high-scoring hand can strongly affect the outcome of the whole game. Thus a rank beginner can comfortably beat an expert, given only a little luck. Over many games, though, the luck of the deal should average out and the skilful player's edge will become apparent.

Detailed rules

The deal

The game starts with a cut. The player cutting the lower card is the dealer. He should shuffle the pack and offer it to his opponent (the non-dealer is known as pone) for a further cut. He then deals six cards to each player.

The deal alternates with each hand. Over several games, the first deal may alternate between the players, or it may go to the loser of the previous game. One common convention in a 3-game match is to alternate the first deal of the first 2 games, then cut for the last.

The discard

Each player throws away two cards from his hand into the 'crib' or 'box' - a third hand that is made of both players' discards, and is scored by the dealer. Since the crib scores points for its owner, your choice of discard will generally be different depending on whether the crib is yours or your opponent's. Once the crib is complete, pone cuts the pack and turns up one card (the starter). If this is a Jack, the dealer scores two 'for his heels'. Pone then plays his first card.

The pegging

A hand of Cribbage is played in two phases. In the first phase, the players take turns to lay a card, the value of which is added to the current running total. Making 15, 31, pairs or sequences earns you points. Additionally, you score a point if your opponent cannot play without going over 31. Court cards count ten (together with the face 10 they are known as the 'ten-cards', or 'tenth cards'). Ace counts one.

For example:

Alice (pone) plays a 4, for a total of 4, and says 'Four.'
Bob plays a 7, for a total of 11, and says 'Eleven'.
Alice plays another 4, for a total of 15, and says 'Fifteen for two.' [and pegs 2 points]
Bob plays a Jack, for a total of 25, and says 'Twenty-five'.
Alice cannot go, as any of her remaining cards would take the total over 31. She says 'go'.
Bob plays a 5, for a total of 30, and says 'Thirty, and one for the go' [and pegs 1 point]

The total is now reset to zero, and the play continues. Since Bob played the last card, Alice goes first now.

Another example:

Bob (pone) plays a 4, for a total of 4, and says 'Four.'
Alice plays another 4, for a total of 8, and says 'Eight for two.' [and pegs 2 points for the pair]
Bob plays a third 4, for a total of 12, and says 'Twelve for six.' [and pegs 6 points for the pair royal ]
Alice plays a 3, for a total of 15, and says 'Fifteen for two.' [and pegs 2 points]
Bob plays a 2, for a total of 17, and says 'Seventeen for three.' [and pegs 3 points for the run 4-3-2]
Alice plays a 5, for a total of 22, and says 'Twenty-two for four.' [and pegs 4 points for the run 5-4-3-2]]
Bob cannot go without going over 31, and so says 'Go'.
Alice plays a 9, for a total of 31, and says 'Thirty-one for two.' [and pegs 2 points. 'One for the go' is only scored when the scoring player does not make 31. ]

The total is now reset, and Bob plays first, as Alice played last.

Bob plays a Queen, for a total of 10, and says 'Ten.'
Alice cannot go, as she has run out of cards, and so says 'Go'. [ Bob pegs 1 point for the go. ]

Table of scores:

The scoring of 'go' sometimes causes confusion. You earn a point for go when your opponent cannot go. This may be (a) because he has no cards (sometimes called 'One for last'), or (b) because he cannot play without going over 31 ('One for the go'). In either case if you make the total 31 you score only 2 points, not 3 (because the go is included, as described above). However, you may well make 15 with the last card (in which case you do score 3).

The counting

Having played out all the cards, both players then score their hands, pone first - this time including the starter card as part of both hands. The dealer's crib also includes the starter. Again, points are scored for 15s, runs, and pairs; you can also score for a flush (all cards of the same suit).

If the four cards in your hand are of the same suit, you score four for a flush. If the starter card is also of the same suit, you score five. However, in the crib you can only score for a flush if all five cards are the same.

2 points are scored for a pair, and 6 for a pair royal - that is, three cards of the same rank. This can be considered as 3 different pairs worth 2 points each. Similarly, double pair royal (four of a kind) scores 12 as there are 6 ways of picking two cards from four. You begin to see why mathematicians love this game.

Combinations of cards making 15 score two points each - for example, 8 and 7. As many ways as you can make 15 with your cards, you score 2 points for each of them. For example, 8-7-7-A can make 15 three ways: the 8 and one 7, the 8 and the other 7, and the 7-7-A. Consequently it scores 6 points (for 15s, and a further 2 for the pair of 7s).

Runs score as many points as there are cards in them. For example, a four-card run 9-T-J-Q scores 4.

You also score 1 point if you have the Jack of the same suit as the starter card (known as 'his nobs' or just 'nobs').

Counting the hands is definitely the most difficult aspect of the game at first, and some practice will be required to spot all the scores in a hand, especially the 15s. Look at these example hands:

Example Hand 1

...

This is a complicated hand, so follow this standard counting procedure. First count the 15s. How many can you see?

Each of the 5s can make 15 with the 10 - that's 2 15s. Each of the 5s can also make 15 with the 6-4 - that's another 2 15s. That's 4 15s in total, making 8 points.

Now look for pairs. There is one pair of 5s, making a further 2 points - that's 10 in total.

Now look for runs. Each of the 5s can make a 4-5-6 run of 3 - that's 3 points per run, 6 points in all, and the hand total so far is 16.

Finally, look for flushes and 'nobs' - there are none. So the hand scores 16.

Example Hand 2

...

Remember, count 15s first, then pairs, then sequences, then flushes and nobs. The answer is at the bottom of the page.

Example Hand 3

...

It's easy to miss 2 of the points in this hand. Check your answer.

For further practice, try counting the 29 hand shown at the top of this page.

Winning

The winner is the first player to reach 121 points. If the loser has not reached 91 points the victor scores a skunk, or double win. Some players also set a double skunk line at 61, for a three (or four) game victory, which adds a certain piquancy to a crushing defeat.

Full Rules at pagat.com

Facts

• The highest possible hand at Cribbage is 29 points (shown at the top of this page). It comprises all four 5s and the Jack of nobs. Nobody you know has ever scored a 29 (though see below). In tournament play there is usually a special award for a 29, whether it be cash or merely glory. A 28, which comprises four 5s and any ten-card but the nob Jack, is also worthy of special mention.

• There are several 'impossible totals' - point counts which cannot be made with any hand. The lowest such total is 19 - hence the expression 'a nineteen hand', or 'I have nineteen', almost universally (perhaps sarcastically) used to describe a zero-point hand.

• Cribbage has given the English language a number of expressions which it is hard to imagine doing without, including "level pegging", "what a turn-up/a turn-up for the books", "streets ahead", and "pegged out".

• The fact that the crib alternates with the deal means that on average, the lead should also change hands with each deal - which means it ain't over till it's over!

• The optional 'Muggins' rule allows your opponent to claim points which you fail to score in your own hand or play. While this certainly forces you to pay attention to the play and count your hand carefully, there are arguments against it: it tends to slow down play, as you tend to count everything twice for fear of missing points. It also seems rather unfair to make you pay a double penalty (not only do you not get the points, your opponent gets them) for what is after all a simple mistake, not bad play. This is especially discouraging for beginners, who ironically are most likely to lose points this way. Muggins is usually played in tournaments, serious club play and between old friends who enjoy arguments.

The 29 hand

This fabled hand, shown in the illustration at the top of this page, is a perennial source of interest for peggers. Barry McCormack of London, Ontario, recently received this hand in a friendly game with his son. As his daughter Tiffany wrote to me, ít was "the first he had ever had or seen in over 40 years of playing the game". Barry and no doubt many others would be interested to know the exact odds of this hand appearing.

Mathematician David desJardins explains:

You need to be dealt three fives, the jack of the fourth suit, and two other cards neither of which is a five. The total number of such six-card hands is 4*(47*46/2) = 4324, out of (52*51*50*49*48*47/720) = 20358520 possible hands. Given this event, the probability of turning up the fourth five is 1/46. So the probability is:

4324 / 20358520 / 46 = 1 / 216580 (very roughly, 200,000 to 1)

Michael Schell elaborates on this argument, and the corresponding odds in the 3- and 4-handed games, in this Cribbage Forum article. He also notes:

The 1 in 216,580 figure jibes well with the actual incidence rate of 29 hands in sanctioned tournaments in North America. The ACC pays $100 for a 29 hand received in sanctioned play, and thus publishes a "Club 29" list each season. To be exact, the incidence is a tad lower than the odds predict, since the odds assume you keep an eligible hand (5-5-5-J) whenever you can. Since you wouldn't always want to do this (defending in an endgame for example), the actual occurrence of 29 hands among experts will be a bit less frequent than the mathematical calculation predicts.

Many thanks Michael (and anyone with even a passing interest in Cribbage should find a great deal to read and enjoy at his Cribbage Forum web site).

Fool's Mate

Apart from the matter of the 29 hand above, several readers have enquired about a trick hand at Cribbage in which player A, on 2 points, can outpeg player B, on 58 points, to a game-winning 61. Or in other words, a combination of the play and scoring of two hands and a crib that can amass 59 points for the dealer, without conceding pone more than 2 in either pegging or counting. Once again we turn to the wisdom of Michael Schell:

Pone: 2-4-7-8-10-Q with no flush (toss 7-8)
Dealer: 4-4-5-6-7-8 with no flush (toss 7-8)
Cut: 6

Play goes:

Pone:     Q     10
Dealer:      5      6

Pone:     2     4
Dealer:      4     4

Pone pegged two points (for pairing dealer's 4) and has a bust hand. Dealer pegged eleven points, and has a 24 hand and a 24 crib. Dealer has outscored pone 59-2.

(This is a rather unlikely scenario, which requires pone to make the ill-advised discard 8-7. The Cribbage equivalent of Fool's Mate. -Ed.)

Hand distributions

Steve Lumetta and Seth Copen Goldstein of UC Berkeley took the trouble to work out the distribution of scores for all the possible Cribbage hands. This knowledge, though arcane, is interesting. See Steve's Amusing Cribbage Facts page for details.

Hints

Here are some rules of thumb which should keep you out of the worst of trouble until you have started to get the hang of things.

• If in doubt, lead a 4. This is the highest card on which the opponent cannot immediately make 15. Lower cards are best kept for later.

• Remember that ten-cards far outnumber any others in the pack. Thus, your opponent is quite likely to have one or more 10s. Consequently, do not lead a 5, or make 21. Naturally enough, 10s are often accompanied by 5s. Beware of making 26.

• Conversely, making 11 is generally a good move, providing of course you hold the necessary ten-card to follow up your opponent's.

• Never play a 6 to a led 4, or vice versa. This leads to a nasty sting as your opponent slaps down a 5, for five points (4-6-5 run and 15). Unless you've got a plan up your sleeve, of course...

• Get rid of your higher cards first, as they will be a liability when the count approaches 31. Save Aces - they are your emergency escape route to turn a point-losing 30 into a 2-point-winning 31.

• Do not pair your opponent's card unless you also hold another of the same card in reserve. For example, if your opponent plays a 4, you should not reply with a 4 if it is the only 4 you hold - because opponent is quite likely to have another 4 himself (making a pair royal for 6 points). Conversely, you should encourage your opponent to pair your card when you yourself hold a pair. The chances of him holding the fourth card to make double pair royal (12 points) are minimal.

• When holding two cards that together make 5 (for example 4 and Ace), lead one of them. Your opponent is likely to play a 10 onto it, enabling you to make 15.

• Watch for runs! Don't play a card with a value 1 or 2 away from your opponent's card - for example a 9 on a 7 - as he is likely to complete the run. The exception, of course, is when you hold the necessary card to extend the run yourself and top your opponent's points. Beware of 'banging your head' on 31, though - calculate beforehand whether you will be able to play onto the run without going over 31.

• Vary your play. Your opponent is certainly familiar with these rules of thumb as well, unless he is a novice, and will be expecting you to make the obvious plays. Don't follow these suggestions slavishly - throw down a weird card every so often. At the least it will make your opponent stop and think - you may be up to something. Or not. Either way, it 'breaks flow' - the equivalent of taking your opponent 'out of the book' at Chess.

• Conversely, study your opponent's play. Is he stuck in a set of unbreakable habits? Does he always lead from a pair, make 11 or discard the same kind of cards? The less he varies his play, the sooner you can pin down his habits of play, and exploit them.

• Think about the cards your opponent plays. Remember that when discarding you generally attempt to maximise the points in your hand by keeping combinations that make 15, or pairs. If your opponent lays an 8, chances are he has a 7 to go with it. If he plays an Ace, expect to see a 4 coming out sooner or later (and a ten-card). By the second card you should have a fair idea of the remaining two cards your opponent holds.

• Your opponent will be doing the same! If you have an 'odd' card - one that is not part of a 15 or a pair - play it first, to throw your opponent off the scent and put off revealing your hand as long as possible.

• Keep an eye on the board. If you are well ahead, go all out for points, even if it means giving some away to gain some. If you are behind, do the opposite and try to prevent your opponent from getting any points at all. At first this advice seems absurd - of course you want to make points yourself and stop your opponent getting any. What difference does it make who's ahead? But you rarely get something for nothing, in Cribbage as in life, and most plays involve sacrificing a few points to gain more (for example, leading from a pair, hoping your opponent will pair it and make 2 points, allowing you to bang down the third card for 6 points). 'Break-even' plays (for example, leading a 10 hoping your opponent will make 15 for 2, allowing you to lay your 5 for another 2) are especially dangerous when you are trailing, as the scores are still level but your opponent is that much closer to the all-important 121.

Variants

• Five-card Cribbage
• Seven-card Cribbage
• Lowball Cribbage
• Speedo Cribbage
• Three-handed Cribbage
• Captain's Cribbage
• Four-handed Cribbage
• Micro-Cribbage
• Nano-Cribbage
• Solitaire
• Tournament play
• '500' or American Cribbage
• Crash Cribbage

Five-card Cribbage

As the standard game, with the following differences:

• After the cut, pone pegs three (on the first hand only). This is to counterbalance the fact that the crib is larger than either hand.
• The deal is five cards each, of which two are discarded to the crib.
• When the count reaches 31 or 'go', the play is over and the players score their hands, instead of starting a new count.
• Game is 61 points.

The five-card game is initially not as attractive as the six-card, because the hands tend to score less. However the larger crib, short game and the single count to 31 add interesting wrinkles to the play. Five-card Cribbage is a good starting point for beginners as the game is fast and the counting is usually easier.

American variant

In this variant the deal is five cards to each player and two to the crib. Each player discards one card. Otherwise the play is as for the standard game.

Seven-card Cribbage

The deal is seven cards to each player and one to the crib. Each player discards two. Game is 151 points.

Speedo

In this variation, after pone has made his discard, the dealer may pick up those two cards, add them to his hand, and then discard the four cards of his choice to his own crib. In other words, pone passes the dealer two cards, who then discards any four from a hand of eight.

However, this only holds true as long as the dealer has not passed the skunk line. After this, he may not look at the crib at all and the game proceeds as normal.

Lowball

Everything you know is wrong! In Lowball Cribbage the aim is to score as low as possible, and the first to 121 is the loser. The winner scores a skunk if he has not yet reached 91 when his opponent pegs out. The play is turned on its head and zero-point hands suddenly become desirable. Playing Lowball will keep your skills and concentration sharp; it is easy to forget that one is trying not to peg points. The play requires you to rewrite your book of tactics - now you are trying to force your opponent into making scores, and avoid them yourself.

See also this excellent Lowball web site.

Three-handed Cribbage

Unlike most good two-player games, Cribbage also works well with three players. The deal is five cards to each player and one to the crib. Each player discards one. Otherwise play is as normal; a special three-track board may be used, or one player can tally his score on a piece of paper.

The play is an intriguing blend of standard and lowball Cribbage, as a play which would normally set you up to make a score may hand the points to the player at your right. If one player says 'Go' the player to his left may play, if he can, make 31, if he can, or say 'Go' himself. After two 'Go's the player who last laid a card scores the go and the player to his left leads.

Though the normal three-handed game is fun to play, the superior variant for three players is...

Captain's Cribbage

As Three-Handed Cribbage except that two players team up against the third. The lone player must make only 61 to win, while his opponents score jointly and must make 121 between them. Each person takes a turn at being the lone player.

After three games each player counts up the number of games he has won, whether alone or as part of a team, and the person scoring the most games is the winner. A two-handed game may optionally be played as a tie-breaker, though when serious money is at stake (such as the price of the next round), thrill-seekers may prefer to cut for it.

Four-handed Cribbage

As the standard game except that the deal is five cards to each player, who discards one to the crib. Each partners the player opposite and game is 121 points the partnership.

Yet another thought-provoking twist to the play as one must now try to set up scores for ones partner, but without knowing what cards he holds. As with three-handed Cribbage, the 'Go' may pass around until it reaches the last person to play, and he scores it.

Micro-Cribbage

Also known as 'Casualty's on in a minute' Cribbage, this fun variant for two players takes little time to play, and offers equally little opportunity for skill and strategy to triumph over a poor hand. After two hands of standard Six-Card Cribbage the player in the lead is the winner.

This game can be played to its conclusion, with practice, in the length of one standard British TV commercial break. This is its chief, some say only, advantage over standard Cribbage.

Nano-Cribbage

Also known as 'We're late for work' Cribbage, this even shorter variant takes only seconds. The players cut for the deal. Pone pegs four points to counterbalance the crib. One hand is dealt, played and scored. The higher score is the winner.

Nano-Cribbage offers keen peggers a cut-down, easily portable version of their favourite game which is strictly for fun and not recommended for use in deciding, for example, world championship titles.

Remembering deals

I find it difficult to remember the deals for each of the common variants. Consequently, I just memorise a short phrase which completely describes the deal and discard. For example, standard six-card is 'Six, throw two' (six cards each, discard 2). Three-handed Cribbage is 'Five and one, throw one' (five cards each and one to the crib, discard one). The four-handed game is 'five, throw one'. And so on.

Tournament play

The most common way to play tournaments is in groups of nine, round-robin fashion. Each player plays one game with each of his eight opponents, scoring 2 for a game won and 3 for a skunk. At the end of the tournament the player with the most points wins. The spread points (how many points you won or lost by) should be recorded for each game so that the total net spread points may be used as a tiebreaker.

'500' or American Cribbage

I am indebted to Mr Herb Barge who sent me scans of a book written by a distant relative of his in the 30s, Thomas B. Stauff. This book, entitled "Rules of Play governing '500' Cribbage, Thomas system, a Modern Version of Cribbage", appears to be a fairly radical re-working of the game.

As it seems not to have caught on with card players, even Americans, and is therefore primarily of historical interest, I will not give the complete rules of '500' Cribbage here. A summary of the main differences follows.

• Go is 34. Mr Stauff bases this choice on its number-theoretical relationship with 15, and invokes no less an authority than Euclid to back him up. However, you could probably find justifications for choosing almost any number, and 34 seems not sufficiently a more obvious number than 31. Neither does it make the pegging play dramatically different or more logical, which rather leads one to suspect that things not broken are better not mended.

• Mr Stauff, clearly a keen poker player, was apparently much exercised about the relative point values of the straight flush (10) and four-of-a-kind, known as pair royal (12). He points out, accurately, that the straight flush is a more unlikely poker hand than four-of-a-kind and so ranks higher in poker scoring. Thus he makes a special award for the 5-card straight flush (but, not, interestingly, the 4-card variety) of 5 points, bringing the total to 15.

  His justification for this particular choice is that in a pair royal each card is 'worth' 3 points of the total 12. Therefore each card in a 5-card straight flush should also be 'worth' 3 points, making 15. Which perhaps goes to show that his grasp of card playing exceeded his grasp of combinatorics and probability theory, but his very American reforming zeal endears him to us nonetheless.

• Though 5-card straight flushes probably don't come up that often, rendering the whole debate rather negligible, the 5-point bonus does mean that a 19 hand becomes attainable (and thereby, no doubt, infuriates traditionalists everywhere). For example the 3-4-5-6-7 flush contains a 15-4 in addition to the Stauff 15, making a resounding 19. I can see this causing scoring confusion, though. Perhaps this score should be announced as "I really have nineteen. No, honestly."

• Mr Stauff argues that traditional Cribbage scoring does not give adequate recognition to the three different ways to score points: pegging, hand and crib. Accordingly, he proposes (as far as I can determine, for the description is not exhaustive) a six-track board where each player can record separately the points gained in each class.

  The scores in each class are then given a different weighting and summed to count towards Game (500). Pegging points are the most valuable, which seems reasonable, followed by one's own hand and finally the crib (which some might say should be the highest-weighted, since half the cards were placed in it by your opponent specifically to stop you scoring). I suspect that this change, being by far the most radical of Mr Stauff's proposed modifications, and involving as it does not only the purchase of special equipment but a good deal of mental arithmetic for scoring every hand, may have been the one which broke the camel's back as far as the Cribbage community at large was concerned.

Nonetheless I would be most interested to hear from anyone who has played, or even heard of '500' Cribbage, or its seemingly forgotten originator. Do any of Mr Stauff's special boards still exist (assuming they were ever made)? Or perhaps your ancestor devised a version of Cribbage where you have to make 17 instead of 15, and you score an extra 50 points on hands containing the nine-and-a-half of diamonds. Email and let me know.

Solitaire

There are at least two versions of Cribbage Solitaire that I know of. One involves laying the cards out in a five-by-five array so as to make the most points counting hands across and down. I have not tried this, but it sounds just slightly the wrong side of thrilling. The other is Natty Bumppo's version, which calls for more skill and is generally more entertaining: you deal a hand and a blind crib, to which you discard; you then play your hand against the crib, blind; you then score both hand and crib. The aim is to make 121 in six deals (which will take you right through the pack).

• Natty Bumppo's Cribbage Solitaire

There are also various computer versions of Cribbage Solitaire available; these seem superfluous given the availability of several high-quality computer versions of real Cribbage.

Crash Cribbage

Joseph Kane sells a special Cribbage board, with conventional tracks on one side and a special figure-8 design on the other for playing a game of his own invention called 'Crash Cribbage'. Both players' pegs share a single track, and if your peg collides with one of your opponent's it modifies his score. See Joseph's site for further details.

Etiquette

Etiquette is important in card games, Cribbage more than most. It is regarded as a gentleman's game (naturally, for card-playing purposes, ladies can be gentlemen too). Like most worthwhile things in life, it is surrounded by complicated and often incomprehensible ritual. However, in an important sense the ritual is the game and so you dispense with it at your peril.

Before the game

Determine whether or not Muggins will be played. If you want to play Muggins but your opponent does not, be gracious and honour his wishes. After all, he is doing you a favour by giving up his time to play cards with you. You should also give your opponent his choice of game - five-card, six-card, short game, long game, best of three, best of five, and so forth. The wily pegger never passes up a chance to hone his skills and broaden his experience by playing something different from his usual game.

Some players allow a four-card flush in the crib; though this is not standard, it is a not unreasonable variation and makes for slightly higher scores. However you should determine in advance whether this will be allowed.

Various extra rules are sometimes played, especially in tournaments: for example, that one cannot peg out on a 'Go', or other restrictions on scoring. Unless such rules are specifically mentioned you should assume that you are playing standard Cribbage. Once the game has started it is too late to change the rules.

The cut

Most official rules for Cribbage stipulate a mandatory cut by pone before the deal. It is indeed common practice to make this cut; however, because it is specifically designed to prevent the dealer cheating, some feel it an unnecessary slur on their character. In games like Poker, of course, often played with strangers and for high stakes, such measures are essential. Cribbage is a legacy of a more gentlemanly age (notwithstanding the rumours about Sir John Suckling above). A gentleman does not imply that another gentleman might not be a gentleman.

Similarly, the rules allow for pone to take the deck and shuffle it himself before the deal. While perfectly legal, this would be an unusual thing to do and implies that the dealer is suspect.

My own preference is to skip the cut, if only because it saves a little time. However, if pone requests the cut, of course you must grant it.

Pegging

It is decidedly bad form to peg a score without announcing it verbally. When you play a card, announce the count clearly and follow it by any score you may have made. For example:

Pone: Four.
Dealer: Ten.
Pone: Fifteen five. [pegs]
Dealer: Twenty for two. [pegs]
Pone: Twenty-five for six. [pegs]
Dealer: Go.
Pone: One for the go. [pegs]

Dealer: Seven. And one for last. [pegs]

You should not peg for your opponent unless you have agreed that one of you will peg for both. Conversely, remember to peg your own points!

Showing

Lay your cards face up in front of you so that everyone can see and check your scoring. Announce the combinations in a set order - usually: fifteens, pairs, runs, flushes and nobs. As you announce each combination point out the cards involved. For example:

"Fifteen-two, fifteen-four; a pair is six; and nobs is seven."

Familiar fifteen/pair combinations such as Q-Q-5-5 (12 points) should nonetheless be announced individually: "fifteen-two, fifteen-four, fifteen-six, fifteen-eight, and two pairs is 12". Simply announcing 'I have 12' saves only a few seconds, and tells nothing about how the combinations are formed - possibly confusing your fellow players. You may miss points yourself if you try to count by recognising whole sets of combinations at once. At the worst say 'Fifteen-eight and two pairs is 12'. No-one will rebuke you for counting carefully and methodically, as long as you do not waste time. Similarly, combinations such as a double run of 3 (8 points) should be announced as 'two runs of three is six, and a pair is eight'.

Speed

Cribbage should be played allegro, ma non troppo. In other words, don't dawdle, but don't rush it either. Presumably you are playing the game for the enjoyment of it, in which case it should be treated as something to be savoured rather than rushed through at maximum speed.

This is not to say that one should play slowly. Save as much time as you can on things which don't require any thought - riffling, shuffling, dealing and cutting should all be done quickly and without fuss. The temptation is always to talk while one is shuffling, to analyse the previous hand, and so on. Avoid this. Shuffle smoothly and silently, then deal. Talk about the game after the game.

The time you save here can profitably be re-invested in thinking about your discards and plays. Take as much time as you need, but no longer than that. Pretending to ponder over ones discard, perhaps hoping to imply that you have an excellent hand, is not only against etiquette but boots nothing - unless your opponent is so intimidated that he resigns on the spot!

Strive to avoid the temptation, if you are losing badly, to slow right down, distract your opponent with chatter, and generally delay the inevitable. Apart from being bad sportsmanship, it delays the moment when you can start a new, and perhaps more successful game. On a strategic note, it is never worth giving up on a game. If you are losing, you should be fighting hard for every point, and striving to avoid a skunk. If you have no chance of avoiding the skunk, strive to avoid the double skunk! There is always work to be done. At the worst, you can use the freedom of this situation to try out new ideas and experimental plays which you would not risk in a game-leading position.

Apres-partie

If you won, don't crow about it. If you lost, don't gripe about it. Either way, thank your opponent for the game. Compliment him on his play if you thought it was good; keep quiet if it wasn't. Insincere compliments are worth no more in Cribbage than any other field.

Refrain from long post-mortems. Do not point out your opponent's mistakes or faults unless he specifically asks you for a critique.

Books

• Win at Cribbage (Joe Wergin). Wergin is a well-known Cribbage promoter and one of the founders of the American Cribbage Congress. The book is designed for those who already know the game (though full rules are included) and concentrates on developing strategic and scientific play based on calculation of odds. This fairly hard material is broken up with jokes, anecdotes, rhymes and useful bits of advice, all more or less Cribbage-related. Recommended for beginners to intermediate players.

• Play Cribbage to Win (Dan Barlow).

• Cribbage: A New Concept (John Chambers).

• Play Winning Cribbage (De Lynn Colvert).

Computer Cribbage

Windows

The two main contenders here are:

• MVP Cribbage (MVP Software). This is an attractive and playable game with excellent graphics and animation, plus a range of nine AI opponents of varying strengths (six only in the shareware version). It includes Internet, modem and direct connect multiplayer options, including Kali support. The simulation is so good that the computerised opponents sometimes fail to count all their points (Muggins aplenty for the sharp-eyed).

  Download - Homepage

• Ultimate Cribbage (Keith Westley). While not as graphically slick as MVP Cribbage, it has the advantage of being free, and plays a strong game. It also supports online play. This is certainly the finest available free Cribbage game that I know of, and Keith deserves your support. I am sure he would not refuse any donations you might care to make. See also Michael Schell's detailed analysis of a game against UC.

  Download - Homepage

Keith Westley has put together a comparison chart of available computer Cribbage games with links to the games themselves and a matrix showing which features are supported in each.

The ACC also has a page of computer Cribbage games for various platforms.

Mac

• Classic Cribbage (Freeverse Software). I do not own a Mac so I can offer no opinion about this game. Mac owners may care to send me a review.

  Download - Homepage

• Cribbage for Macintosh (Chris Christensen). I haven't played this one either.

  Download - Homepage

Unix

• cribbage. This console-mode game ships with most Linux distributions as part of the 'BSD games' package and may be found on some commercial Unixes. It is hard to play as there is no graphical display of the hands, and the interface is less than friendly. In the absence of any competition, however, it is the undisputed champion of its platform ;-)

As far as I know there are no graphical Cribbage games available for Unix. This is a startling omission which I trust will soon be remedied (are you listening, GNOME?)

Other systems

• Cribbage for PalmPilot (Dave Mayes). I am looking forward to trying this out when I get a Palm, but from the screenshot it looks rather attractive.

  Download - Homepage

• Cribbage/400. Craig Rutledge Jr has written a version of Cribbage for the IBM AS/400 minicomputer (the source code (195K) is available on his web site). According to Craig, it began life as control software for an automated factory system and just evolved into Cribbage. Whether you believe that or not, Craig has added extensive commentary to the code, which makes interesting reading. His notes on design of the AI routines for working out the optimum discards, selecting a card to play and so on, might well inspire a hacker out there to construct a generic 'Cribbage engine' which could be used to drive a variety of user interfaces, rather like GNU Chess. Which would be nice.

Online play

Several sites allow you to play Cribbage online. For me the main difference between these sites is the number and the quality of opponents they offer; some also require extra client software or drivers to be installed before you can play.

• Yahoo! Cribbage. This requires only a Java-capable browser and is extremely popular, offering you a wide choice of opponents. There is a rating system and a separate ladder system, and you can also kibitz on other games if you haven't the mental energy to play. You need to register with Yahoo, which is free.

  Yahoo! Cribbage entry page

Links

• Cribbage Forum - Many articles on advanced play by Cribbage master Michael Schell, one of the USA's top players. Well worth a read for the serious student, especially his detailed analysis of the discard. Highly recommended.

• American Cribbage Congress - by virtue of being the largest organised Cribbage body, it tends to have a fair amount of influence over the way the game is played. This site includes the latest tournament news, plus a small collection of articles by more or less well-known players.

• The Cribbage Board Web Page includes rules, for the two, three and four-handed versions of the game, some notes on the history of the game, and links to computer Cribbage games.

• Cribbage, Inc. Cribbage Glossary. An amusing glossary of terms, some common, some original, none of which any self-respecting pegger should be without. Includes such gems as presque points (the points you nearly got), Mega Hand O'Doom, and Psycho Cribbage. The Cribbage scoring innovations of corners and honour points are also interesting.

• Cribbage 29 Webring - various Cribbage-related pages, personal, commercial or otherwise.

• The House of Cards (Cribbage section) - a beautifully designed link farm with a wealth of information on popular card games (including of course Cribbage) and quite a lot more.

• www.pagat.com - simply the finest Web resource available for the card fanatic. John McLeod's impressive collection includes hundreds of games from Asshole to Zwickern, as well as some invented games and variations sent in by visitors. The rules are well written and indexed so you can find the game you want by name, type or country of origin. Superb!

• PaidtoPlayCribbage - 'earn $$$', as these sorts of things always say, while you play Cribbage online. "What's the business model?" I hear vulture capitalists crying. You have to watch banner ads. Doesn't seem too onerous.

Cribbage is also discussed in the Usenet newsgroup rec.games.playing-cards.

Answers

Example Hand 2: 13 points. The J-2 makes 15 with both 3s, that's 4; a pair of 3s adds 2 to make 6; two runs A-2-3 add 6 to make 12; the Jack of nobs adds 1 point to make 13.

Example Hand 3: 6 points. The 3-3-4-4-A adds up to 15, that's 2; two pairs add 4 to make 6. Did you miss the 15?

29 Hand: 29 points. The J makes 15 with each of the 5s, that's 8; the 4 5s also make 15 four different ways, that's 16; double pair royal (four of a kind) adds 12 to make 28; the Jack of nobs makes 29. You will not find yourself called upon to count this hand very often.