After talking about eight games that are all relatively new (nothing out of the last fifteen years), I thought I'd take this opportunity to talk about a game that is significantly older.  It's for two players, it involves a deck of cards and a board, it's nearly 400 years old, and it happens to be my favorite game.  The game is Cribbage.


(BGG image by user jellospike)

Cribbage was developed by the poet Sir John Suckling sometime in the early 17th century.  The exact date is unknown, but most scholars put it around 1630.  The game is actually a variant on an old English game called "noddy", which has virtually disappeared from the public eye now.  Cribbage is generally a two player game, though it is playable by one, three, or four.  I'll mostly be talking about the two player version, and will mention the others at the end of this post.


(BGG image by user Erniepaul)

Cribbage is a game played with a standard deck of 52 cards, and that's really all you need.  One of the game's trademarks is a board consisting of two or more tracks of 121 holes.  This is a scoring track, and you use pegs to mark your score throughout the game.  The board, however, is not necessary.  It is simply a convenience to help with keeping track of score, and it just adds a touch of elegance to the game.  However, if you have a deck of cards and some other method of keeping score (pencil and paper, for example), you can play cribbage.  It is important to note that there are many different varieties of board, and some will not have all 121 holes.  Some will have 61, some will have 31.  In this instance, you just go around multiple times.  I'll be sprinkling images of different boards throughout the post.


(BGG image by user pronoblem)

So, how do you play?  Well, first, put your pegs at the start of the track.  Next, decide who goes first by cutting the deck.  One player cuts the deck, and the other cuts what is left.  The player who has the low card is the first dealer.  In cribbage, Ace equals one, and the order from lowest to highest is A-2-3-4-5-6-7-8-9-10-Jack-Queen-King.  I know I generally say to decide the first player on your own, but this is the official way to decide for a game of cribbage, and it's a good method.  It doesn't really matter.

In each hand of cribbage, there are five phases: the deal, the discard, the cut, the pegging, and the count.

THE DEAL: The dealer shuffles and deals six cards to each player, then sets the rest of the deck aside for the cut.
THE DISCARD: Each player chooses two cards to discard into the crib, which is an extra hand for the dealer.  I'll talk about your choices in a bit.
THE CUT: The nondealer cuts the deck, and the dealer flips over the top card.  This is the starter card, and both players can use this to add more points to their hand.  If a Jack is cut, the dealer gets two automatic points.
THE PEGGING: Starting with the nondealer, both players alternate playing cards, trying to score points off of each other while trying to prevent their opponent from scoring.  This critical part of the game will be explained in more detail later.
THE COUNT: Each player counts up the points in their hand (which I will explain in a moment).  The nondealer counts his hand first, then the dealer counts his hand, then the dealer counts the crib.  Deal passes, and we start the process all over.

Keep track of all points by moving your pegs on the board.  You should always move the back peg so you can see where you were, but only the front peg counts for your score.  The game continues until one player reaches 121 points.  The game then ends immediately.


(BGG image by user klellingsong - Disney has their hand in everything)

Let's go back to phase two, the discard.  How do you decide what to send to the crib?  Part of that depends on who is the dealer...if you're the dealer, you want to send good cards.  If not, you want to send bad cards.  How can you tell the difference?  Part of it is guesswork.  Really, you just want to have the best hand possible.  There are five ways to score points in your hand.

1. Fifteens - Any cards that add up to fifteen are worth two points.  This includes 7-8, 5-J, A-2-3-9, etc.  Remember that face cards are all worth 10, and should be counted as such when adding up fifteens.  It is aso important to note that every combination of fifteen should be counted.  For example, if you have 7-7-8 in your hand, that's four points from fifteens, with two combinations of 7-8.
2. Pairs - Two cards of the same face value are counted as a pair and are worth two points.  5-5, 7-7, J-J, it doesn't matter, they're all worth two.  If you have three of a kind, that's a pair royal worth six points.  Those aren't bonus points, it's because you have three pairs.  To illustrate, in a 7H-7S-7D hand, you have 7H-7S, 7H-7D, and 7S-7D.  Four of a kind is a double pair royal, six pairs for 12 points.
3. Runs - Three or more cards in numeric sequence are considered a run, and are worth the same number of points as there are cards in the run.  5-6-7 is a run of 3 for 3 points.  2-3-4-5 is a run of 4 for 4 points.  Remember that Ace is low, and that the face cards go in sequence J-Q-K.  Therefore, A-2-3 is a run, J-Q-K is a run, but Q-K-A is not a run.
4. Flushes - If you know poker, you know that a flush is having all cards in your hand as the same suit.  It's the same in cribbage.  All four cards in your hand must be the same suit, and you'll score 4 points, one for each card.
5. Nobs - If you hold a Jack in your hand that is of the same suit as the starter card, you'll get one point.  That can be significant, so it's usually wise to hold onto a Jack if you have a choice between face cards.

The starter card will be an extra card that you can use in counting up your points at the end of the hand, so don't forget it.  It's important to note that with flushes, if the starter card is the same suit as the rest of your hand, you have a flush of 5, worth 5 points.  In the crib, you must have a flush of 5 to score the flush.  If only the crib cards are the same suit, you score nothing.


(BGG image by user Erniepaul - a custom board)

On to pegging, which is the part of the game where players can actually play against each other for points.  As I said, the nondealer begins and the players alternate from there.  Here are the rules.

1. The count builds numerically with each card played.  If the nondealer leads with a 4, then the dealer plays an 8, the count is 12.
2. The count may not go higher than 31.  If a player reaches that total exactly, they score 2 points, then the count resets and play continues.  If a player can not play without going over 31, they must pass (called a "go").  The other player gets one point for the go, but also must play any cards they have that will result in the count being 31 or less.
3. Players may score fifteens, pairs, and runs using the standard scoring methods outlined above.  If the count is 12, and the nondealer plays a 3, the count is now 15 and the nondealer scores two points.  If the dealer then pairs the 3, they score two points for the pair.  If the nondealer next plays a two, and the dealer plays an Ace, the count is 21, but there is a run of three (3-2-A), and the dealer scores three points.
4. Pegging continues until both players are out of cards.  The last player scores one for the last card (unless that last card resulted in a 31, then they just get the two points).  In our example, the nondealer may play a Jack to bring the count to 31 and score two points.  He's now out of cards, having played all four in his hand.  The dealer plays whatever he has left and scores one for the last card.

(BGG image by user wookie1- a cribbage board in a latrine on the Appalachian trail)

I'm not going to go into a whole lot of strategy, that tends to develop over time.  I will say that cards worth 10 are the most common in the deck - 16 out of the 52 cards.  Therefore, it's statistically a bad move in pegging to lead with a five, or to bring the count to 21.  Odds are good that your opponent will be able to make a fifteen or a 31.  Likewise, you shouldn't throw a five into your opponent's crib.  That's like giving them free points.

Another thing worth mentioning is the concept of skunks.  If you beat your opponent by more than 30 points, it's called a skunk, and that counts as two games.  This is significant if you're playing a best-of-five match, or something.  A skunk means you're already down two games instead of just one.  A double skunk occurs if you win (or lose) by more than 60 points, and that's worth four games.  You'll almost never see one of those.


(BGG image by user kanoe)

A few facts for you...it's impossible to score 19 in a hand.  There's no way it can be done.  Usually, players who score zero in their hand will say that they scored nineteen, just know that this is slang for nothing.  You also cannot score 25, 26, or 27, but 19 just seems like it should be possible.  Another fact is that the best possible score you can have, the perfect hand, is 29.  You see the cards needs on the board in the image above.  You need three fives and a Jack in your hand.  You need to cut a five, and you need that five to be the same suit as the Jack.  It's very very rare.

One other rule that I haven't mentioned, since it's terribly unfriendly, is muggins.  If you don't score as many points as you should, or too many, your opponent can call "muggins" and take the balance for themselves.  I don't personally play with this rule, and you usually won't see it unless you're in competitive play.

There are some other ways to play.  For a three player game, make sure you have a board with at least three tracks.  During the deal, pass five cards to each player, and deal one blind card to the crib.  Each player now only discards one.  Play is otherwise exactly the same.  For a four player game, only deal each player five, then everyone puts one in the crib (no blind cards).  This can be played as an individual game, but also as a team game, with players sitting across from one another moving the same set of pegs.  There's a solitaire variant as well, which you can find, along with other discussions, on BGG.

I highly encourage you to check out this great game.  You can buy a board almost anywhere that sells games, so I won't bother to put up online prices.

That concludes series #3, the two player series.  Our next series will involve short games known as fillers, but first, we'll be talking about some of the people who make games.  Until then, happy gaming!
-Jesse