The Perfect 29 Hand

Twenty-nine is the highest possible score in cribbage. It happens exactly one way: you hold three fives and a jack, and the starter is the fourth five — in the jack’s suit.

Where the 29 Points Come From

• fifteen 22
• fifteen 42
• fifteen 62
• fifteen 82
• fifteen 102
• fifteen 122
• fifteen 142
• fifteen 162
• pair for 22
• pair for 22
• pair for 22
• pair for 22
• pair for 22
• pair for 22
• nobs for 11

Eight different fifteens (every five with the jack, and every trio of fives), six pairs from the four fives, and one point for his nobs — the jack matching the starter’s suit. Twenty-four plus four plus one.

How Rare Is It?

Roughly one hand in 216,580. You must be dealt three specific fives and the one jack that matches the missing five’s suit, keep all four, and then have that exact five turn up as the starter. Lifelong players go their whole lives without one; cribbage clubs hand out certificates for it.

The next best hands are 28 (the same four cards, but the jack’s suit does not match the starter) and 24, which is far more common and comes in several shapes — 4-4-5-5 with a 6 starter, or a double double run.

And Why 19 Is Impossible

Try to build a hand worth exactly 19 and you cannot: the ways points combine leave a gap. There is no arrangement of five cards scoring 19, and the same is true of 25, 26 and 27. Because of that, cribbage players call a hand worth nothing a “nineteen hand” — a joke as old as the game. You will hear our AI say it too.

Score your own hands with the hand calculator, read the full rules, or play a game and hunt for your own 29.