How is Cribbage Played?

Cody Gotchall is a student at Chemeketa Community College and a former accounting student at Linn-Benton Community College. His father taught him cribbage in an effort to spark an interest in math, and since then, Cody Gotchall has enjoyed the continuity and pattern recognition needed to win a cribbage match.

Cribbage is usually played by two, using a deck of 52 cards and a cribbage board consisting of several parallel lines and holes. These holes hold different pegs and help players keep score. Individuals without a cribbage board also can keep score using a pencil and paper.

To begin a match, players each cut a shuffled deck and take turns drawing a card. The person with a lowest card is the game’s first dealer and must distribute six face-down cards to each player. Players discard two cards from their hand, sending the cards to the “crib.” This serves as an extra hand that is scored by the dealer. However, the cards in the crib are not used until the other hands have been played.

From there, an opponent lays one of their four cards face up and states the numerical value of the card. Aces count as one and all royal cards count as 10. After this, the dealer lays a card face-up and announces the total of the cards. Each player continues this until no one can place a card without the total of the pile going over 31. 

At this point, the player who placed the last card pegs one point for piles under 31 and two points for piles at 31. Additional points can be earned depending on whether the player created a specific total, such as 15, when the cards in the pile are added together. Play then continues in this way with the player who made the last move serving as the dealer for the next round.

Players move their peg one hole for each point they earn until one person scores 121 points. The player with 121 points then “pegs out,” which means they won the game.