How to play Cribbage

What you need

• A standard 52-card deck, jokers removed.
• A cribbage board with two pegs per player. The ACC uses a 121-hole "long board" for tournaments; most home boards have the same 120 holes plus a game hole. Paper works if you have no board.
• Two players for the standard game.
• About 30 to 45 minutes per game.

Cards rank king high down to ace low, and the ace is always low (it can't follow a king in a run). For counting, face cards are 10, aces 1, and everything else its number.

Set up the game

1. Cut for deal. Each player cuts the deck; the lower card deals first. Equal cards cut again. In later games, Bicycle has the loser of the previous game deal first.
2. Shuffle and cut. The dealer shuffles last; the non-dealer (the "pone") cuts.
3. Deal six cards each, one at a time, starting with the pone.
4. Make the crib. Each player puts two cards face down to the dealer's side. These four cards are the crib, which belongs to the dealer and is scored at the end of the hand. You keep four cards.
5. Turn the starter. The pone cuts the remaining deck; the dealer turns the top card of the lower half face up and places it on the deck. If it is a jack ("his heels"), the dealer pegs 2 at once.

Playing Cribbage

1. The play (pegging). Starting with the pone, players alternate laying one card face up in front of themselves and calling the running total, which may never go above 31.
2. Peg as you play. Score immediately when your card makes: a total of 15 (2 points), exactly 31 (2), a pair with the previous card (2), three of a kind (6), four of a kind (12), or a run of three or more using the most recent cards in any order (1 per card).
3. Go. If you can't play without passing 31, say "go." Your opponent keeps playing any cards they legally can, then pegs 1 for the last card (or 2 if they hit exactly 31, not both). The count resets to zero, and the player who said "go" leads the next series.
4. Last card. When all cards are played, whoever played the very last card pegs 1 if it didn't make 31.
5. The show. Pick your cards back up. Count in this fixed order: pone's hand, then dealer's hand, then the crib. Each counts with the starter as a fifth card.
6. What scores in the show: every combination adding to 15 (2 each), every pair (2), every run (1 per card), a four-card flush in the hand (4, or 5 with the starter), and the jack of the starter's suit ("nobs," 1). The crib only scores a flush if all four crib cards and the starter match (5).
7. Swap deal and repeat. The first player to reach 121 wins immediately, even in the middle of pegging or before the other hands are counted.

Beginner strategy that actually helps

• Discard with the crib's owner in mind. As dealer, it's your crib, so throwing good cards there is fine. As pone, avoid giving the dealer 5s, pairs or cards close in rank. Kings and widely separated cards are safer gifts, as Bicycle advises.
• Lead a 4. Nothing your opponent plays next can make 15. Leading a 5 is risky because any of the sixteen 10-count cards makes 15 for them.
• Avoid leaving the count at 21. Any 10-count card makes 31 for your opponent.
• Save aces and 2s for the end of a series. They squeeze in under 31 and win the go or last-card point.
• When your opponent's card offers a pair or a fifteen, take the fifteen. A pair invites a pair royal (6 points) in reply, while a fifteen is rarely answered as cheaply.
• Count the show the same way every time. Fifteens, then pairs, then runs, then flush, then nobs. Saying it aloud ("fifteen two, fifteen four, and a pair is six") catches mistakes before your opponent does.
• Play to the board near the end. Close to 121, pegging points matter more than hand potential, because the pone counts first and the game can end before the dealer's crib is ever counted.

Common mistakes and rule disputes

• Counting the crib before the pone's hand. The order is always pone, dealer, crib. Under ACC rules, if the dealer counts out of order the points are retracted and recounted in order.
• 31 as a game limit. 31 is the ceiling for each pegging series only. The game is to 121.
• Runs broken by an extra card. In play, 8, 7, 7, 6 is not a run: the second 7 interrupts it. Order doesn't matter, but every card in the last stretch must belong.
• Four-card flush in the crib. Doesn't count. The crib needs all five cards (with starter) in one suit.
• Claiming his heels late. The ACC says the dealer forfeits the 2 for a jack starter if they play a card before pegging it.
• "Muggins!" Taking points your opponent forgot to count is optional. The ACC calls it the only optional rule; Bicycle lists it as a variation. Agree before the game.
• Playing on after someone reaches 121. The game ends the moment 121 is reached, even mid-pegging.

Popular variants and house rules

• 61-point game: once around the board instead of twice, per Bicycle.
• Muggins: call out points your opponent missed and peg them yourself.
• Skunk and double skunk scoring for match play, described above.
• Lurch: an older rule mentioned by Bicycle where winning before the loser reaches 61 counts as two games.
• Three- and four-player Cribbage: played with essentially the same scoring but a different deal and discard; the ACC covers doubles in an appendix.

Teaching it in 5 minutes

1. "Six cards each. Give two to the dealer's crib. That extra hand is the dealer's bonus."
2. "We flip one card from the deck. Everyone shares it at the end."
3. "Now we take turns playing cards and saying the running total. Hit 15 or 31 and you score 2. Match the last card for a pair, or make a run, and you score too."
4. "If you can't play without going over 31, say go. The other player gets a point."
5. "Then we count our hands, plus the shared card: every way to make 15 is 2, pairs are 2, runs are 1 a card."
6. "Non-dealer counts first, then dealer, then the crib. First to 121 wins, and it can end at any moment."

Count the first few hands together out loud. Counting is the skill; the rest is easy.

Ages and group size

The standard game is two players, and that's where Cribbage shines. Children who can add to 15 quickly, usually from about age 8 to 10, can play, and the game is brilliant arithmetic practice. Expect slow counting at first; a printed scoring chart on the table helps. Three- and four-player versions exist (four as two partnerships), but learn the two-player game first.

Frequently asked questions

Check yourself

Sources and edition notes

American Cribbage Congress 2025 two-player rulebook: cut for deal (low card deals), six-card deal starting with the pone, two-card discards to the dealer's crib, starter cut by pone and turned by dealer, scoring chart, go rule and lead after a go, counting order, muggins as the only optional rule, skunk at 31 or more. Bicycle's rules were used for the strategy tips, shortcut counts, the 29 hand, skunk and double skunk, and the 61-point variation. Friendly games may omit the ACC's tournament penalties.

Sources checked October 2026. This records a document check, not a claim of hands-on testing.

• ACC 2025 tournament rules PDF
• Bicycle: Cribbage

Related games