How To Play Cribbage

Cribbage is a card game that can be enjoyed by people of all ages. It is a simple game to learn and can be played with just a deck of cards and a cribbage board. The object of the game is to score points by creating combinations of cards, and the first player to reach 121 points wins the game. Keep reading to learn how to play cribbage.

Cribbage Basics

Cribbage involves two to four players. If you have four players, they will be divided into two teams. Scoring is represented by pegs on the cribbage board. Other boards are designed like track fields. You will need a standard deck of cards and a cribbage board in order to play. You can also play a virtual version of the game online at http://cribbage-online.net/.

How to Play Cribbage

In cribbage, players will switch roles throughout the game after every round. For every round, you will need a dealer. To pick the first dealer, each player can select a random card from the deck. Whoever has the lowest card can become the first dealer. To set up the game, you will want to remove the jokers and provide two pegs to each player. The deck must be face-down, and the dealer will shuffle the cards while a non-dealer cuts them. Once the deck is cut, the dealer must deal six cards to each player. Every player can look at their cards and decide which cards to keep. For this step, every player must discard two from their hand. The discarded cards will then be placed faced down to form the “crib.” This step will set up the crib for the remainder of the game.

Next, a non-dealer will need to cut the remaining deck of cards and turn over the top for the starter card. If the starter is a jack of any suit, the dealer gets two points and pegs two holes on the cribbage board. The non-dealer will then play a card from their hand and announce its value. The dealer can then lay their card next to it and announce the total value of the cards combined. Players lay down cards and declare the new totals until the value reaches 31. If the next player can’t play a card without going over 31, they have to say “go.” If none of the players can play a card without going over, then the count goes back to zero. The game continues with the remaining cards until all have been played.

Scoring in Cribbage

When a player has to say “go” because they can’t play a card without exceeding 31, the other player receives one point. Playing the last card in a hand counts as “go” and also earns you one point. Playing a total of 15 or 31 gives the player two points. Creating a sequence of three gives points equal to the number. For example, the combination of three, four, and five would allow the player to score three points. Making a pair with the same face value gives two points, three in a row gives six points, and four in a row gives 12 points.

As you can see, cribbage is a card game that can be enjoyed with friends and family. The game is easy to learn and can be played with two or more players. The player who reaches 121 points first, or has the highest score at the end of the game, wins. Hopefully, the guide above has inspired you and taught you the basics of cribbage. You can start playing this game right now by visiting the website above that allows you to play virtually.