Cribbage Rules — How to Play and Keep Score

Setup

Two players, one standard deck, no jokers. Cut for the deal; low card deals first. Deal six cards each. Both players discard two face down to form the crib, which belongs to the dealer. The non-dealer cuts, the dealer turns the top card of the lower half, and that card is the starter. If the starter is a jack, the dealer immediately pegs two.

How to play

The non-dealer lays a card face up, calling its value. The dealer follows, and so on, each player adding to a running count that may not pass 31. Face cards count ten, aces count one. A player who cannot play without exceeding 31 says "go" and the other continues until they too are stuck. The count then resets to zero and play continues with the remaining cards.

Once all cards are played, hands are counted in a fixed order: non-dealer first, then dealer's hand, then the crib. That order is the reason the non-dealer can win a game they were losing on paper.

Scoring

During play (pegging). Bringing the count to exactly 15 scores 2. Bringing it to exactly 31 scores 2. Playing a card matching the previous one scores 2, a third of the same rank scores 6, a fourth scores 12. Completing a run of three or more with the most recent cards, in any order, scores one point per card in the run. The last card played in each sequence scores 1 unless it made exactly 31, which already paid 2.

Counting a hand. Take the four cards plus the starter and score:

• 2 points for every distinct combination of cards adding to fifteen, face cards counting ten.
• 2 points for every pair; a triple is three pairs and scores 6, four of a kind is six pairs and scores 12.
• 1 point per card for every distinct run of three, four or five.
• 4 points for four cards of the same suit in hand, or 5 if the starter matches too. A crib only scores a flush if all five cards share a suit.
• 1 point for holding the jack of the starter's suit.

The best possible hand is 29: three fives and the jack of the fourth suit, with the starter being the fifth of that jack's suit. That is eight fifteens for 16, four of a kind for 12, and one for the jack. There is no hand worth 19, which is why "nineteen" is the traditional joke for a worthless hand.

Enter one number per deal per side: pegging plus hand, and for the dealer plus the crib.

Ending the game

The first side to reach 121 wins the moment they get there, even in the middle of counting a hand. Nothing after that counts. If the loser is still under 91 it is a skunk; under 61 is a double skunk.

Common variations

Muggins is the most commonly argued-about option and should be settled before dealing. Five-card crib shortens everything and gives the non-dealer three points for last. Some clubs play a fixed number of deals instead of a target and simply compare totals.