Cribbage

Cribbage

Cribbage is a card game for two players that involves playing cards in combinations which gain points.

Points are tracked with pegs on the cribbage board. The first player to reach 121 points wins the game.

Starting the Round

Players start each round by being dealt 6 cards. The dealer is chosen randomly at the beginning of the game and switches at the end of each round.

Discarding

Players each choose 2 cards to discard into the crib. At the end of the round, the dealer will receive the points scored from the cards in the crib.

When both players have discarded 2 cards the round moves into the Play phase.

Playing

The player that did not deal in the previous phase starts the Play phase. The players take turns playing cards into the center of the table. When no cards remain in either players' hands, the phase ends.

The Count

The cumulative value of the cards that have been laid is called the "count". The value of each card is its rank. Face cards are each worth 10 and aces worth 1.
The count can never exceed 31. If the player with the turn cannot play a card without the count exceeding 31, the turn goes back to the player that just played. If neither player can play, the count is reset to 0.

Scoring

Players score points during play as follows:

• 15 - For causing the count to reach exactly 15, a player scores 2 points.

• 31 - For causing the count to reach exactly 31, a player scores 2 points.

• Pair - Completing a pair scores 2 points. Completing three of a kind scores 6 points. Completing four of a kind scores 12 points.

• Run - A run of three or more cards, consecutively played but not necessarily in order, scores the number of cards in the run.

Starting Show Phase

The Show phase is started with each player turning their cards face up.

Starting with the player on the left of the dealer, players each score points based on the contents of their hand in conjunction with the starter card.

Scoring

Points are scored for the following:

• Each unique combination of cards totaling 15 scores 2 points.

• Pairs (and 3 or 4 of a kind) are scored in the same manner as in the Play phase.

• Each run of cards larger than 2 scores points equal to the number of cards in the run.

• Each flush larger than 3 cards scores points equal to the number of cards in the flush.

The Crib

After each player has finished scoring their hand, the dealer flips the crib cards over and scores them for themselves as an additional hand.
These cards are scored in the same manner as a regular hand is in the Show phase, except that the crib cannot score a 4-card flush. 5-card flushes are scored normally.