Cribbage

How to play Cribbage

Make fifteens, pairs and runs in the play and the show, and be first to peg round the board.

Goal

Be the first to peg 121 points — twice round the board — or 61 in a short game. The game ends the moment someone gets there, even in the middle of a hand.

The deal

Two players. Each hand the dealer deals six cards to each player; the deal passes to the other player every hand. Who deals first is drawn at random.

The crib

Both players choose two cards to lay away to the crib at the same time: tap two cards, then Lay away. The crib belongs to the dealer and is counted as an extra hand at the end, so feed your own crib good cards and starve your opponent’s.

The starter

Once the crib is complete a starter card is cut and turned face up. It counts as part of both hands and the crib in the show. If it is a jack, the dealer scores 2 “for his heels”.

The play

The non-dealer leads. Players take turns laying one card face up and adding it to the running count, which may never pass 31. Ace counts 1, number cards their value, and tens, jacks, queens and kings 10. Only the cards you can lay without passing 31 are lit.

Pegging

In the play you score 2 for making the count exactly 15 or 31, 2 for a pair (a card of the same rank as the one just laid), 6 for three of a kind and 12 for four, and one point per card for a run of three or more among the most recent cards, in any order.

Go

If you cannot lay a card without passing 31, you say “go” automatically and your opponent lays as many cards as they can. Whoever laid the last card before the count restarts scores 1 for the go (a 31 already scores 2, and earns nothing more). The count then starts again from zero with the other player. The very last card of the play scores 1 as well.

The show

After the play the hands are counted with the starter: first the non-dealer’s, then the dealer’s, then the crib. Every combination adding to 15 scores 2; every pair 2; every run of three or more one per card (a double run counts twice); four cards of one suit in the hand score 4, or 5 with the starter (a crib flush needs all five); and the jack of the starter’s suit scores 1 “for his nob”. The app does all the counting and shows you the breakdown.

Skunks

A player who wins while the loser is still short of 91 (31 short of home) has skunked them; below 61 in a 121-point game is a double skunk.

Resigning

Resigning ends the game and gives your opponent the win. Leaving a game in progress does the same.

These are the rules Piece of Cake plays, word for word: the same rulesheet is in the app under Help → Cribbage. Every roll, deal and move is checked on our servers, so nobody can bend them.

Other card games in the same subscription: Switch (2–14 players, about 10–25 minutes); Gin Rummy (2–14 players, about 15–30 minutes).