Players use the Cribbage board to record points.

In addition to Go, pegs may be scored through runs or pairs. If a player cannot lay down a card without exceeding 31, he/she says “go” and the opponent scores one peg. The running total of the cards may not exceed 31. When a player lays a card on the table, he/she announces the running total reached with the addition of the card. The ranks of the cards are from highest to lowest: King, Queen, Jack, 10, 9, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, Ace.Īfter the starter is played, the pone lays a card face up on the table and then the dealer, alternating until a Go (each player’s cards are kept separately from his/her opponent’s). The object is to score points by pegging. If the upcard is a jack, the dealer then scores two pegs (two for his heels) - the dealer must claim and record these before any cards can be played. This card is part of all three hands, the dealer’s, the pone’s, and the crib. The dealer turns over the top card to reveal the starter.

The dealer, pone, and crib will each have four cards.Īfter the players decide which cards to keep, the pone has to cut the remaining cards of the stock. The dealer has to offer the cards to the pone to cut and then put the rest of the deck (or the stock in Cribbage) into the middle of the table.įrom that point, each player picks up their six cards (five for games of three or four players) and discards two of them facedown to form the crib. To start, each player cuts the deck and the player with the lowest card is the first dealer the other is the pone or non-dealer.

Cribbage board (or a pencil and piece of paper).

In order to play Cribbage, you need the following: But there are a lot of rules and vocabulary to learn, so you may be slow at first. If both players do know that, you can complete a game in less than 15 minutes. You have to know which is the right card to play is and which is the wrong card to play. The math is simple, but you do need to know some tactics and strategies. You collect points by scoring combinations or putting cards together to make runs. At its simplest, it is a game of numbers. Cribbage is a card game that utilizes a Cribbage board for easy score keeping and a standard 52-card deck.

How to play cribbage with 2