Cribbage

Peg your way to 121. Count every card.

How to play

Reach 121 points first by scoring card combinations while you play and again when you count your hands.

How a turn works

Each player is dealt six cards and discards two of them face down into the crib.
A starter card is cut from the remaining deck and laid face up where both players see it.
Players alternate playing cards onto a running count. Each card adds its value — aces count 1, face cards count 10 — and the count may never pass 31.
Score as you play: landing the count on exactly 15 or exactly 31 scores 2, a pair of matching ranks scores 2, and laying the last cards of a run scores one point per card.
When neither player can play without pushing the count past 31, the last player to have played scores 1 for a go and the count starts over at zero.
When all eight cards have been played, count each hand for fifteens, pairs, runs and flushes — then the dealer counts the crib the same way. Deal alternates each hand, and the first player to reach 121 points wins.

Key rules

The crib is a bonus hand built from the four discarded cards, scored only by whoever dealt this hand — and the deal alternates, so today’s crib is yours next hand.
Discard with the crib in mind: as dealer you want to feed it high-scoring combinations, as non-dealer you want to starve it.
The starter counts as a fifth card in every hand and in the crib, so it can complete fifteens, pairs, runs and flushes for either side.
Fifteens score 2 points each — any combination of card values adding to 15 counts, and several small combinations often outscore one flashy run.
Pairs score 2, three of a kind 6, four of a kind 12. Runs score one point per card, and doubled ranks multiply a run (a double run of three is worth 8).
A flush — four cards of one suit in your hand — scores 4, or 5 when the starter matches. The crib counts a flush only when all five cards share a suit.
Points are pegged the instant they are earned, even mid-play — a big hand can end the game before the counting phase ever starts.

Glossary

Crib: A second, hidden hand made from the cards both players discarded, counted only by the dealer of the current hand.
Starter: The card cut from the deck after the discards; it counts toward every hand and the crib, and scores heels or nobs when it is a jack.
Pegging: The play phase, where players lay cards one at a time onto the running count and score fifteens, pairs and runs as they go.
Go: What you call when no card in your hand can be played without passing 31 — your opponent plays on alone, and whoever laid the last card scores 1 when the count resets (2 if it lands on exactly 31).
Heels: A 2-point bonus for the dealer when the starter card turns out to be a jack.
Nobs: A 1-point bonus at counting time for holding the jack that matches the starter’s suit.

Click or tap a card in your hand to discard it or play it. During play, cards that would bust 31 dim automatically.

Questions

What does "fifteen two" mean in cribbage?

It’s the call for scoring two points when the running count during play reaches exactly fifteen — one of several small scoring events, alongside pairs and runs, that add up during a hand.

How many points do you need to win cribbage?

121 points, reached over as many hands as it takes.

Can my opponent see my crib before it’s counted?

No — the shared crib stays hidden until it’s counted after play, even though you contributed two cards to it.

Strategy guide

Cribbage Scoring and Strategy Guide — How cribbage scoring works — fifteens, pairs, runs, flushes and his nobs — plus which cards to throw to the crib and how to peg safely.

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