Cribbage Rules: How to Play

Cribbage is a two-player card game played with a standard 52-card deck and a pegging board. It blends luck and skill: you score points by making card combinations during the play and in the show, racing your opponent to 121 points. These are the complete rules, in the order they come up in a game.

Card Values

Aces count as 1 (always low).
2–10 count as their face value.
Jacks, Queens and Kings count as 10 — but they rank J < Q < K for runs, so Q-K-A is not a run.

The Cut for Deal

Each player cuts a card from the shuffled deck — the low card deals first. Ties are cut again. Dealing alternates every hand, and it matters: the dealer owns the crib, but the non-dealer counts their hand first at the end.

The Deal and the Crib

The dealer gives each player six cards. Both players choose two cards to discard face-down into the crib — an extra four-card hand that belongs to the dealer and is scored at the end of the hand. Choose carefully: good cards tossed to your own crib come back to you, but cards tossed to your opponent’s crib may score for them.

The Starter

After the discards, a card is cut from the remaining deck: the starter(or “cut card”). It is used by both hands and the crib during the show. If the starter is a Jack, the dealer immediately scores 2 points — called his heels or nibs.

The Play (Pegging)

Starting with the non-dealer, players alternate laying cards face-up, announcing the running total of card values. The total may never exceed 31. If you cannot play without exceeding 31 you say “Go”, and your opponent keeps playing while able — earning 1 point for the go. The count then resets to zero and play continues until all eight cards are played.

Points during the play:

Fifteen — making the count exactly 15: 2 points
Thirty-one — making the count exactly 31: 2 points
Pair — matching the previous card’s rank: 2 points (three of a kind 6, four of a kind 12)
Run — the last 3+ cards form a sequence in any order: 1 point per card
Go / last card — playing the final card of a count: 1 point

The Show (Counting Hands)

Hands are counted in strict order — non-dealer first, then the dealer’s hand, then the crib. That order decides close games: the non-dealer can peg out and win before the dealer ever counts. Each hand is four cards plus the starter:

Fifteens — every combination of cards totalling 15: 2 points each
Pairs — every pair of same-rank cards: 2 points each
Runs — sequences of 3+ consecutive ranks: 1 point per card (duplicated ranks multiply the runs)
Flush — four hand cards of one suit: 4 points, or 5 if the starter matches. A crib flush needs all five to match.
His nobs — holding the Jack of the starter’s suit: 1 point

Not sure what a hand is worth? Our cribbage hand calculator scores any four cards plus a starter and shows every combination it found.

Winning, Skunks and Muggins

First to 121 points wins instantly — even mid-count or mid-play.
Win before your opponent reaches 91 and you have skunked them; before 61 is a double skunk. In tournament play a skunk is worth two games.
Muggins: if you undercount your own hand, your opponent may call “muggins” and take the points you missed. It is optional — and you can switch it on in our game if you want the pressure of counting your own hands.

Cribbage Trivia

The best possible hand is 29 points: three fives and the Jack whose suit matches the starter — a five of the same suit as the Jack. Famously, 19 is impossible, so a zero-point hand is jokingly called a “nineteen hand.”

Ready to play? Start a free game against the AI — the coach will rate your discards as you go, or read the strategy guide first.