How to Play Cribbage: Mastering the Ancient Art of Pegging and Counting
Somewhere between the clatter of dominoes in a Brooklyn dive bar and the hushed concentration of a chess tournament lies cribbage—a card game that's been quietly captivating players for over four centuries. You might stumble upon it in the corner of an English pub, witness heated matches at senior centers across the Midwest, or discover pristine boards tucked away in antique shops, their pegging holes worn smooth by countless games. This peculiar pastime, with its wooden board and mysterious scoring system, represents something increasingly rare in our digital age: a game that demands both mathematical acuity and psychological warfare, all while maintaining the gentle pace of good conversation.
The Soul of the Game
Cribbage occupies a strange niche in the card game universe. Unlike poker's bluffing theatrics or bridge's partnership dynamics, cribbage rewards those who can spot mathematical patterns while simultaneously reading their opponent's discard strategy. The game emerged from the English countryside in the early 1600s, allegedly invented by Sir John Suckling, a poet with a gambling problem—though honestly, that description probably fit half the English gentry at the time.
What makes cribbage endure isn't just its elegant scoring system or the satisfying click of pegs advancing along the board. There's something almost meditative about tallying points from seemingly random card combinations, finding fifteens where others see chaos. I've watched construction workers play during lunch breaks with the same intensity as retired mathematics professors at the local library. The game transcends class and education because, at its core, it rewards pattern recognition—a fundamentally human skill.
Essential Equipment and Setup
Before diving into gameplay, you'll need a cribbage board—that distinctive piece of wood (or sometimes plastic, though purists scoff) punctured with 121 holes arranged in serpentine tracks. Traditional boards feature two or three tracks, allowing for two-handed or three-handed games. The pegs, usually stored in a compartment at the board's end, come in sets of three per player: two for scoring and one for marking game wins.
A standard 52-card deck completes your arsenal. No jokers, no wild cards, just the honest hierarchy from ace to king. Cards in cribbage possess dual identities: their face value for combinations and their counting value for scoring. Aces always count as one, face cards as ten, and number cards as their printed value. This simplicity masks the game's strategic depth—rather like how a haiku's rigid structure enables profound expression.
Setting up involves each player cutting the deck, with the lowest card determining the first dealer. Here's where cribbage reveals its first quirk: ties don't get re-cut. Instead, you keep cutting until someone wins. The dealer shuffles and offers the cut to their opponent, a ritual that feels almost ceremonial after you've played enough games.
The Architecture of Play
Each hand of cribbage unfolds in distinct phases, like acts in a well-structured play. The dealer distributes six cards to each player (or five in three-handed games, but let's stick to the classic two-player version). Both players then face their first strategic decision: which two cards to discard into the "crib"—a separate hand that belongs to the dealer.
This discard phase separates novices from veterans. Beginners often dump their worst cards, but experienced players think several moves ahead. Sometimes you'll poison the crib with cards that work against each other, especially when your opponent deals. Other times, you'll sacrifice a decent card from your hand to prevent giving away easy points. I once watched my grandfather agonize for three minutes over whether to throw a five into his opponent's crib—fives being the most dangerous cards in cribbage, as they pair with face cards to make fifteen.
After discarding, the non-dealer cuts the remaining deck, and the dealer flips the top card of the bottom portion face-up. This "starter" or "cut card" becomes community property, counting toward both players' hands during scoring. If it's a jack, the dealer immediately pegs two points—"his heels" in cribbage parlance, one of many archaic terms that pepper the game's vocabulary.
The Pegging Phase: A Game Within a Game
Now comes the pegging phase, where cribbage transforms into something entirely different. Players alternate laying down cards face-up, announcing the running total of all cards played. The goal? Reach exactly 15 or 31 for two points, or as close to 31 as possible without exceeding it.
But points flow from multiple sources during pegging. Play a card that matches your opponent's? That's a pair for two points. They play a third matching card? Six points for three of a kind. Create a numerical run (like 5-6-7)? Three points, regardless of the order played. The mental gymnastics required—tracking the count, remembering played cards, calculating probabilities—can be exhausting.
When neither player can play without exceeding 31, the count resets. The player who couldn't play leads the next series. This continues until all cards are exhausted, with the last player to play earning a point for "last card" or two points for hitting 31 exactly.
I've seen pegging phases that resemble fencing matches, with players probing for weaknesses, setting traps, and occasionally blundering into massive point swings. My uncle once pegged 23 points in a single hand—a feat so rare that we still talk about it at family gatherings, much to his wife's eye-rolling chagrin.
Counting the Hands: Where Mathematics Meets Intuition
After pegging concludes, players retrieve their cards for the counting phase. The non-dealer counts first—a crucial advantage, as games often end during this phase. Using their four cards plus the starter, players identify every possible scoring combination:
- Pairs: Two points per pair
- Runs: One point per card in sequence (minimum three cards)
- Fifteens: Two points for each combination totaling fifteen
- Flush: Four points for four cards of the same suit (five if including the starter)
- Nobs: One point for holding the jack of the starter's suit
The same card can participate in multiple combinations. A hand of 5-5-5-J with a 5 starter yields 29 points—the highest possible hand, so rare that "nineteen" (an impossible score) has become cribbage slang for zero.
Counting requires a systematic approach. Most players develop personal rhythms: "Fifteen-two, fifteen-four, and a pair is six, and three runs of three is fifteen..." This sing-song tallying becomes second nature, though newcomers often miss points. In friendly games, opponents might point out missed scores. In cutthroat matches, those points vanish forever—cribbage's version of natural selection.
The Crib: The Dealer's Reward
After both players count their hands, the dealer reveals and counts the crib. This follows identical scoring rules, with one exception: flushes require all five cards to match suits. The crib represents the dealer's compensation for the non-dealer's advantages (first count and first play in the next hand).
Skilled players track discards obsessively, deducing crib contents from what wasn't played during pegging. This information influences future discard decisions, creating a feedback loop of strategy that deepens with each hand.
The Race to 121
Cribbage typically plays to 121 points, though shorter 61-point games exist for time-constrained situations. The choice of 121 seems arbitrary until you realize it requires exactly twice around a 60-hole track plus one—elegant in its simplicity.
The board itself tells stories through peg positions. A player "skunked" loses when their opponent reaches 121 before they pass 91 (or 61 in short games). A "double skunk" occurs at the 61-point threshold. These thresholds matter in tournament play or when stakes are involved, typically doubling or tripling the game's value.
Some players develop superstitions about pegging. They'll always move their back peg, never leapfrogging. Others insist on specific peg colors or positions when starting. My grandmother swore that moving pegs counterclockwise brought bad luck—nonsense, of course, but she won more games than anyone I knew.
Strategic Depths and Psychological Warfare
Beyond mechanical play lies cribbage's strategic heart. Discard decisions ripple through entire games. Do you break up a promising hand to poison your opponent's crib? Keep cards that work well together for pegging? The starter adds another variable—sometimes transforming garbage hands into point bonanzas or reducing promising holdings to mediocrity.
Pegging strategy varies with board position. When ahead, you might play defensively, avoiding pairs and runs that offer easy points. When trailing, aggressive pegging becomes necessary, even if it means exposing yourself to counters. Near game's end, every decision magnifies. I've seen players count on their fingers under the table, calculating whether their opponent can peg out before the counting phase.
The psychological elements subtle but real. Some players maintain poker faces during discards, while others telegraph their decisions through grimaces or sighs. During pegging, tempo matters—quick plays suggest confidence, while hesitation might indicate a trap or genuine uncertainty. Veterans learn to read these tells while simultaneously managing their own.
Regional Variations and House Rules
Travel enough, and you'll discover cribbage isn't monolithic. Maritime Canadians play "muggins," where opponents can claim points you fail to count. Some American Midwest communities deal five cards initially, then two more after discarding. British pubs might enforce the "no looking at cards while cutting" rule with religious fervor.
House rules proliferate like folklore. Some groups award three points for a 19-hand (zero points), calling it a "blessing in disguise." Others penalize excessive celebration or complaint with point deductions. My favorite local variant involves the "Murphy rule"—named after a legendarily unlucky player—where cutting a five as starter earns the dealer an extra point, compensation for the dangerous card they must incorporate.
The Digital Age Meets Ancient Pegging
Cribbage has adapted surprisingly well to digital platforms. Online versions handle scoring automatically, eliminating counting errors but also removing part of the game's charm. Video game adaptations often include tutorials and AI opponents of varying skill levels, though they can't replicate the satisfaction of physically moving pegs or the social dynamics of face-to-face play.
Mobile apps have introduced speed cribbage variants, with timer pressure adding a new dimension. Some purists argue this destroys the game's contemplative nature. Others embrace the evolution, pointing out that any game surviving four centuries must adapt or fossilize.
Learning Curves and Teaching Moments
Teaching cribbage requires patience and strategy. Start with scoring combinations before introducing pegging—let new players experience the satisfaction of counting hands without the pressure of real-time decisions. Use a teaching board with built-in scoring guides, or keep a reference card handy.
The most common beginner mistakes involve missing scores (especially multiple runs or fifteen combinations) and poor discard choices. Encourage systematic counting and explain discard reasoning aloud. Most importantly, resist the urge to optimize their every decision. Learning requires making mistakes, and cribbage offers plenty of opportunities.
Children can learn cribbage younger than you'd expect. The counting to 31 reinforces addition skills, while identifying combinations develops pattern recognition. I taught my nephew at age seven; by eight, he was beating adults and learning valuable lessons about probability and strategic thinking.
The Culture of Cribbage
Cribbage occupies a unique cultural space. It's simultaneously a pub game and a family tradition, a gambling vehicle and an educational tool. Cribbage boards become heirlooms, passed through generations along with playing styles and favorite expressions. The American Cribbage Congress maintains official rules and sanctions tournaments, but most games unfold in kitchens and coffee shops, governed by tradition rather than authority.
The game attracts interesting demographics. Military personnel play during deployments—cribbage boards being more portable than most entertainment options. Retirees form leagues that become social lifelines. Prison inmates fashion boards from cardboard and toothpicks, finding mental escape in mathematical combinations.
Why Cribbage Endures
In an era of constant stimulation and instant gratification, cribbage offers something different: a game that rewards patience, pattern recognition, and strategic thinking while maintaining a social, conversational pace. It's complex enough to engage for a lifetime yet simple enough to teach in an afternoon.
Perhaps cribbage endures because it mirrors life's mixture of skill and chance. You can't control what cards you're dealt, but you can optimize their potential. Sometimes the starter transforms everything; other times, you must salvage what you can from poor holdings. The pegging phase rewards both aggression and caution, depending on circumstances. These aren't just gaming lessons—they're life lessons, dealt six cards at a time.
Playing cribbage connects you to centuries of players who've pegged their way around similar boards, counted similar hands, and felt similar frustrations and triumphs. There's comfort in that continuity, in knowing that your great-grandchildren might someday pick up your worn board and continue the tradition.
So find a board, grab a deck, and discover why this quirky English card game continues captivating players four centuries after its invention. Just remember: when someone claims they've never seen a 29-hand, they're either lying or haven't played enough. Keep pegging, keep counting, and eventually, probability rewards persistence.
After all, in cribbage as in life, it's not just about the cards you're dealt—it's about making the most of every hand, one peg at a time.
Authoritative Sources:
Wergin, Joseph. Win at Cribbage. Oldcastle Books, 2001.
Anderson, Douglas. All About Cribbage. Winchester Press, 1971.
DeLynn, Colbert. Play Winning Cribbage. Sterling Publishing, 2000.
American Cribbage Congress. "Official Tournament Rules." acc.cribbage.org, 2023.
Parlett, David. The Oxford History of Board Games. Oxford University Press, 1999.