How to Play Cribbage: Rules, Pegging, and Strategy

Cribbage is a 17th-century English card game where two players race to 121 points by scoring combinations during card play and then re-scoring those same cards in the hand and crib at the end of each deal. The signature accessory is the cribbage board — a wooden plank with two parallel tracks of holes you peg your score along. The game is unusual: scoring happens in real time during play, with the board’s clack-clack of moving pegs as the running commentary. Here’s how it actually works.

What you need

A standard 52-card deck and a cribbage board with pegs (two pegs per player). The board has two rows of 30 holes per side — twice down and back equals 121 points (the back row going up, the front row coming back). You move two pegs leapfrog-style so the trailing peg shows where you were before your most recent score.

If you don’t have a board, pen and paper work fine. The board is traditional but not required.

Card values for adding: Ace = 1. Numbered cards 2-10 = face value. Face cards (J, Q, K) = 10 each. Cards retain their face-card identity for runs and pairs (a Jack and a Queen don’t pair, even though they have the same value for addition).

The deal

Cut for the first deal; lowest card deals. After the first hand, the deal alternates between players. The dealer shuffles, the non-dealer cuts, and the dealer distributes 6 cards to each player, one at a time.

The crib

Each player looks at their 6 cards and discards 2 face-down into a separate pile called the “crib.” The crib belongs to the dealer this hand — it becomes a second hand the dealer scores after pegging. Each player keeps 4 cards in hand.

The crib is the strategic decision that defines Cribbage. As the dealer, you want to keep good cards for your hand and “throw” good cards to your crib (because you’ll score it). As the non-dealer, you want to keep good cards for your hand and throw garbage to the crib (because your opponent gets it).

The cut

After both players have discarded to the crib, the non-dealer cuts the deck and the dealer turns over the top card. This card is the “starter” or “cut card” and stays face up beside the crib.

If the cut card is a Jack, the dealer immediately scores 2 points (“his heels” or “his nibs”). This is a small windfall and the most arbitrary scoring moment in the game.

Pegging

Now both players play their 4-card hands one card at a time, alternating starting with the non-dealer. Each player plays one card face-up into a shared row in front of them, and announces the running total of all played cards.

The running total cannot exceed 31. If you can’t play without going over 31, you say “Go” — the opponent then plays any remaining cards they can without exceeding 31, and earns 1 point for the last card before the total resets. If the opponent hits exactly 31, they earn 2 points. After the reset, the played cards stay where they are but the running total restarts at 0.

Scoring during pegging

You score points as your cards create combinations with the cards just played: reaching 15 exactly = 2; reaching 31 exactly = 2; pair = 2; triple (“pair royal”) = 6; quadruple = 12; run of 3+ cards (any order, using the most recently played cards) = 1 per card; last card before a “Go” or before 31 = 1. Pegging continues until both players have played all four cards.

Showing the hands

After pegging, each player counts their hand for score using the original 4 cards plus the starter card (5 cards total for scoring purposes). The non-dealer counts first, then the dealer, then the dealer counts the crib (also with the starter card).

Scoring combinations in the hand

• 15s: 2 points for every combination of cards totaling 15. Multiple combinations count separately.
• Pairs: 2 per pair. Three of a kind = 6 (three pairs); four of a kind = 12 (six pairs).
• Runs: 1 per card, minimum 3. Double runs (e.g., 5-6-7-7) score as two runs plus the pair.
• Flush: 4 if all four hand cards share a suit; 5 if the starter shares it too. The crib needs all five cards same-suited.
• Nobs: 1 if the hand contains the Jack of the same suit as the starter card.

The maximum possible hand is 29: three 5s plus a Jack, with the fourth 5 as the starter and the Jack of the matching suit. Average hands score 4-8 points.

Game length

First to 121 points wins (“once around” the board twice). Some shorter variants finish at 61 (“once around”). If a player passes the 121 hole, they win immediately — even mid-pegging.

“Skunk”: if the loser’s score is less than 91 (less than 3/4 of the way around), they’re “skunked” and the loss counts double in some scoring systems. Less than 61 is a “double skunk.”

Strategy basics

The crib discard

As dealer, keep good combinations in your hand but feel free to throw good cards to your crib — you score it. The 5 is Cribbage’s most powerful card (it makes 15 with any 10-value card), so 5s to your own crib are excellent. As non-dealer (“the pone”), throw garbage to the opponent’s crib and avoid two cards that form known combinations.

Pegging and counting

Don’t play a card that hands the opponent points — if they played a 6, don’t play another 6 (pair = 2 for them); if the running total is 8 and you have a 7, don’t play it (15 = 2). Beginners miscount their hands; always count 15s first, then pairs/runs, then flush, then nobs. The mnemonic is “fifteen-two, fifteen-four, and a pair makes six.”

Where to play Cribbage online

Cribbage Pro and Cribbage Classic (mobile and web) are the most polished digital cribbage clients. Cribbage.online offers free browser play against bots or humans. The American Cribbage Congress runs tournament play in the US.

For a brain break between hands, the Chrome Dino game at the top of this site is the reflex-only counterpart to all this counting and combination tracking.

Frequently asked questions

Why is it called the crib?

“Crib” is an old English term for a small enclosure or holding place. The crib in cribbage is the side pile each player contributes to during the deal — a “holding” hand the dealer scores at the end. The name dates back to the game’s origins in the 1630s.

Can you play cribbage with more than two players?

Yes. Three-player cribbage deals 5 cards each (each discards 1 to the crib, plus one card dealt directly to the crib). Four-player partnership cribbage uses two pairs and deals 5 cards each, discarding 1 to the crib. Two-player is the standard.

What’s the highest possible cribbage hand?

29 points. The hand is three 5s plus the Jack of the suit that becomes the starter card (the fourth 5). The combination scores 12 (four 5s = six pairs), 16 (four 15s using the Jack and any combination of three 5s), and 1 (nobs) for 29.

What’s “muggins” in cribbage?

An optional rule where the opponent can claim points you missed when counting your own hand. If you say “ten” and your hand is actually worth twelve, the opponent calls “muggins” and scores the two points you missed. Most casual games skip this rule.

How long does a game of cribbage take?

15-30 minutes for a full game to 121. Faster games to 61 take 10-15 minutes. Cribbage is one of the quicker card games for the amount of depth it offers.

The bottom line

Cribbage is a four-hundred-year-old game that’s somehow still one of the best two-player card games ever designed. The pegging board, the unusual crib mechanic, the satisfying click of moving pegs after a 12-point hand — none of it has aged. Learn the scoring patterns, practice the count, and you’ll have a game you can play for the rest of your life with anyone who knows the rules.