Cribbage rules: the complete guide

Cribbage at a glance

If you only remember one thing, remember this: points count the moment they’re made, and the game ends the instant someone reaches 121. That’s why the order of scoring can decide a close game.

The cribbage board

You could keep score on paper, but nearly everyone uses a cribbage board: a wooden board with rows of small holes and pegs you move as you score. Each player has their own track, with the holes grouped in fives so they’re easy to count.

On the classic two-player board, each track has two rows of 30 holes. You go up one row and back down the other, then around a second time, for 120 holes. The final hole, the game hole, is 121. Some boards use a single long track of 120 holes instead; the finish line is the same.

Each row of 30 holes is a street, and players talk about which street a peg is in. Many boards mark the line between 90 and 91, because it matters for skunks.

Leapfrogging pegs

Each player has two pegs, both starting in the start holes. Your first score moves one peg forward. After that, you always take your back peg and jump it ahead of the front peg by the points you just scored.

The front peg shows your total, and the gap between your pegs shows your last score. That gap is how your opponent checks your count — so move only the back peg.

Cutting for deal

To choose the first dealer, each player cuts the deck and shows the bottom card of the packet they lifted. The lower card deals first. Aces are low, so an Ace is the best cut you can get. If the ranks tie, cut again. It’s customary to take at least four cards and leave at least four.

After the first hand, the deal alternates. When you play several games in a row, many tables let the loser of the last game deal first in the next.

The player who isn’t dealing is the pone. The dealer has an edge in each hand, because the crib is theirs — which is why the deal alternates.

The deal and the crib

The dealer shuffles, the pone cuts, and the dealer deals six cards to each player, one at a time, starting with the pone. The rest of the deck is set aside face down.

Each player then lays away two cards face down into the crib. You each keep four, and the crib has four. The crib is a bonus hand for the dealer, counted at the end of the hand.

This discard is the biggest decision in Cribbage, and it depends on whose crib it is. In your own crib, throw cards that score together, like a pair or two cards that make 15. In your opponent’s crib, throw cards far apart in rank and in different suits — and avoid giving away a 5, since sixteen cards in the deck are worth 10. Our guide to what to throw in the crib works through real hands from both seats.

The starter and his heels

When both players have laid away, the pone cuts the deck again and the dealer turns up the top card of the lower packet. This is the starter, also called the cut card. It’s never played, but it counts as a fifth card in both hands and the crib at the end.

If the starter is a Jack, the dealer immediately pegs 2 points for his heels. Those points count right away: a dealer on 119 who turns up a Jack wins before a card is played.

The play (pegging)

The play is the back-and-forth heart of the game.

1. The pone plays first, laying one card face up in front of them and saying its value out loud.
2. The dealer plays a card and announces the running total: “four… eleven.”
3. Players keep alternating, adding to the count. The count can never go past 31.
4. Points for the card you just played are pegged right away.

Keep your played cards in front of you, separate from your opponent’s — you’ll pick them up again for the show.

Saying “go”

If every card you hold would take the count past 31, you say “Go.” You may only say go when you truly can’t play — if a card fits, you must play it.

Your opponent then plays as many cards as they can without passing 31. When neither of you can add a card, the last person to play pegs 1 for the go — or 2 if they hit exactly 31, never both.

Then the count goes back to zero. The player who did not play the last card leads the new count. If one player is out of cards, the other plays their remaining cards alone. Whoever plays the very last card of the hand pegs 1 for last card, unless it made 31.

A worked pegging sequence

Ann is the pone. She holds 7♠ 9♦ Q♥ K♣. Bob, the dealer, holds 7♥ 8♣ 9♠ K♦.

1. Ann leads the 7♠: “Seven.”
2. Bob plays the 8♣: “Fifteen for two.” Bob pegs 2.
3. Ann plays the 9♦: “Twenty-four, and a run of three.” The last three cards are 7-8-9. Ann pegs 3.
4. Bob plays the 7♥: “Thirty-one for two, and a run of three for five.” The last three cards, 8-9-7, are a run even though they weren’t played in order. Bob pegs 5, and the count goes back to zero.
5. Bob played last, so Ann leads with the K♣: “Ten.”
6. Bob plays the K♦: “Twenty, and a pair for two.” Bob pegs 2.
7. Ann plays the Q♥: “Thirty.” A Queen doesn’t pair a King, and two Kings can’t be in one run.
8. Bob’s 9♠ would make 39, so he says “Go.” Ann has no cards left, so she pegs 1 for the go. The count goes back to zero.
9. Bob plays the 9♠ alone: “Nine.” It’s the last card, so he pegs 1 for last card.

Ann pegged 4 and Bob pegged 10. Bob’s 7♥ alone was worth 5, because played at 24 it made both 31 and a run.

Runs and pairs during the play

• A run can be in any order, but it must be unbroken. 4, 6, 5 is a run of three; a 3 after it makes a run of four. But 4, 5, 5, 6 scores no run, because the second 5 breaks it, and 6, 4, 9, 5 scores none either.
• Pairs only count back to back. A King, then a 3, then a King is not a pair.
• Nothing carries over. When the count goes back to zero, pairs and runs start fresh.

The show: counting the hands

After the play, each player picks up the four cards they kept and counts them with the starter. This is the show, and the order never changes:

1. The pone counts their hand.
2. The dealer counts their hand.
3. The dealer counts the crib.

Most players count aloud in that order with a running total. For double runs, tricky fifteens and the famous 29, see how to count a cribbage hand. To check a count, try our cribbage hand calculator.

Hand: 3♠ 4♦ 5♣ J♥ · Starter: 5♥

“Fifteen two, fifteen four” — the Jack with each 5. “A pair is six” — the two 5s. “A run of three is nine, another run is twelve” — 3-4-5 once with each 5. “And his nobs is thirteen” — the J♥ matches the heart starter. Total: 13.

The crib is counted the same way, with one exception: it only scores a flush when all five cards, crib and starter, are one suit.

How the game ends

The first player to reach 121 wins, and you don’t need an exact count. The moment a front peg reaches the game hole, the game is over, and any points still to come are never scored.

That’s why the order matters near the finish:

• His heels is scored first, when the starter is cut.
• Pegging points come next. You can win in the middle of the play.
• In the show, the pone counts first. If the pone reaches 121 with their hand, they win — even if the dealer’s hand and crib would have scored more.

Reaching 121 is called pegging out. A pone close to the finish often plays it safe in the pegging and lets their hand carry them home. A dealer close to the finish knows they count second, so pegging points matter more to them.

Skunks

If you win before your opponent reaches 91, they’ve been skunked. If they haven’t reached 61, it’s a double skunk. In a short game to 61, the skunk line is usually 31.

Many players who keep a running tally count a skunk as two games won, and a double skunk for even more. Some groups also play a triple skunk, for winning before the loser reaches 31. Agree on it before you start.

Edge cases and rule disputes

Muggins. Some tables play that if you miss points in your count, your opponent may call “muggins” and peg them for themselves. It’s optional and makes everyone count carefully. Decide before the first deal.

Misdeals. If a card is exposed during the deal or someone gets the wrong number of cards, the same dealer reshuffles and deals again. Tournament rules add point penalties for some of these mistakes; most home games just redeal.

Pegging too many points. If your opponent pegs more than they earned, point it out and have them move the peg back.

Can you pair your own card? Yes. After your opponent says go and you play two cards in a row, a pair or run among your own cards still counts.

Flushes in the crib. Four hearts in the crib with a spade starter score no flush. The same four hearts in your hand score 4. Three hand cards plus a matching starter are never a flush.

Heels or nobs? A Jack turned as the starter is his heels, 2 for the dealer, scored at once. A Jack in a hand or crib that matches the starter’s suit is his nobs, 1 point, scored in the show.

Variations

Three-player cribbage

Each player gets five cards, and one card is dealt face down to the crib. Everyone lays away one card, so each player keeps four and the crib has four. The player to the dealer’s left leads, and the deal moves left each hand.

If one player says go, the next player continues if they can, and the last to play pegs the go. Hands are counted clockwise from the dealer’s left, with the dealer counting their hand and the crib last. Everyone plays for themselves to 121, usually on a three-track board.

Four-player cribbage (partners)

Partners sit across from each other. Each player gets five cards and lays away one, so everyone keeps four. Play and counting both go clockwise from the dealer’s left, with the dealer’s hand and crib counted last. Partners combine their points and race to 121, usually on a two-track board.

Five-card cribbage

The older form of the game. Each player gets five cards and lays away two, so you play and count only three cards plus the starter, while the crib still gets four. With smaller hands, the game goes to 61.

The 61-point game

Many people play the ordinary six-card game to 61 when they want something quicker. Everything else stays the same.

Cribbage terms

• Pone — the player who isn’t dealing.
• Crib — the four laid-away cards that belong to the dealer.
• Starter or cut card — the card turned up after the cut, shared by every hand.
• His heels — a Jack turned as the starter; 2 to the dealer.
• His nobs — the Jack of the starter’s suit in a hand or crib; 1 point.
• Go — what you say when you can’t play without passing 31.
• The show — counting the hands and the crib after the play.
• Pair royal — three of a kind; double pair royal — four of a kind.
• Street — a row of 30 holes on the board.
• Game hole — hole 121, the finish.
• Peg out — reach 121 and win.
• Skunk — win before your opponent reaches 91; double skunk — before 61.
• Muggins — claiming points your opponent missed.
• Nineteen — slang for a hand worth zero, since 19 is impossible to score.

Quick questions about the rules

How many cards do you deal in Cribbage? Six each with two players, who each lay two away. With three or four players, five each, and everyone lays away one.

Who plays first? The pone — the player who didn’t deal — leads the first card and counts first in the show.

Do a Jack and a Queen make a pair? No. They’re both worth 10, but a pair needs the same rank.

Can you win in the middle of a hand? Yes. The game ends the moment someone reaches 121, whether from his heels, pegging or the show.

Is Cribbage good for two players? It’s one of the best. See how it stacks up in our list of the best 2-player card games, and if you like it, try Gin Rummy next.

Playing Cribbage on BieGames

You can play Cribbage free against June, the computer opponent, using the standard two-player, six-card rules on this page. In Settings you can choose a full game to 121 or a short game to 61 (still six cards, with 31 as the skunk line), and set June to Easy, Normal or Hard.

Every hand is counted out loud for you, so there’s no muggins to worry about. Press Hint for a suggestion, or Daily to play the same deal as everyone else today.