Cribbage has kept its own vocabulary for four hundred years, and a good deal of it
makes no sense until somebody explains it. Here is all of it, in plain language.
A
Ace
Always low in cribbage. It counts 1 toward fifteen and thirty-one, and ranks below
the 2 in runs. Q K A is not a run, and never has been.
B
Board
The wooden scoring track, drilled with two rows of holes per player plus a game
hole at the end. Standard boards hold 120 points per player, so a game of 121 is
twice around plus one.
Box
British term for the crib. "In the box" means in the dealer's crib.
C
Corner
The turn at the end of a street on the board. "Round the corner" means you have
passed 30, 60 or 90 and started a new row.
Count
Two meanings, distinguished by context. During the play, the running total of cards
laid down, which may not exceed 31. After the play, the process of scoring each
hand — also called the show.
Crib
The extra hand formed from the cards each player discards, belonging to the dealer
and counted last. The crib is what gives the game its name and its central tension:
you help it when you deal and you feed it when you do not.
Cut
Splitting the deck. Players cut for first deal (low card deals), and the non-dealer
cuts before the starter is turned.
D
Double pair royal
Four cards of the same rank, worth 12 points. Four cards contain six distinct
pairs, and 6 × 2 = 12.
Double run
A run with one rank duplicated, producing two separate runs plus a pair. A double
run of three is worth 8; a double run of four is worth 10. See the
scoring guide for the full table.
Double skunk
Winning while your opponent has fewer than 61 points — that is, before they get
halfway. Usually scored as four games in match play, though houses differ.
F
Fifteen
Any combination of cards totalling exactly fifteen, worth 2 points. The most
common score in the game, and the source of the traditional counting chant:
"fifteen two, fifteen four, fifteen six…"
First count
The right to count your hand before your opponent. The non-dealer always counts
first, which in a close endgame can win the game before the dealer's hand and crib
are ever scored. Worth playing for.
Flush
Four cards of the same suit in hand, worth 4, or five including the starter,
worth 5. In the crib only a five-card flush counts — four same-suited crib
cards score nothing.
G
Game hole
The final hole on the board, at 121. Getting a peg into it ends the game instantly.
Go
What you say when you cannot play a card without taking the count past 31. Your
opponent then plays what they can, and whoever laid the last card takes 1 point
for the go — or 2 if they hit 31 exactly, never both.
H
His heels
2 points to the dealer when the starter card turns up a Jack. Also called
his nibs. Must be pegged before the play begins.
His nibs
An alternative name for his heels. Confusingly similar to his nobs, which is different.
His nobs
1 point for holding a Jack of the same suit as the starter card. Scored during
the count, by whoever holds the Jack — in hand or in the crib. The traditional
call is "and one for his nobs".
L
Last card
1 point for playing the final card of the deal, after everyone has run out.
Lurch
An older British word for a skunk — losing by a humiliating margin. "Left in the lurch."
M
Match
A series of games played to a target number of game wins, with skunks counting
double. Most tournaments and most kitchen-table rivalries are settled over matches
rather than single games.
Muggins
An optional rule under which points you fail to claim in your own count may be
taken by your opponent, who calls "Muggins!" Standard in tournament play and
traditionally the fastest way to teach a beginner to count carefully. Switched off
by default at Cribbage Den — the server counts every hand automatically.
N
Nineteen hand
A hand worth nothing at all. Nineteen is one of the scores that cannot be made in
cribbage, so "I've got nineteen" is the standard, resigned way of announcing a
zero. See scoring oddities for why 19, 25, 26 and
27 are all impossible.
Non-dealer
The player who did not deal. Leads the play and counts first — two advantages that
partly offset the dealer's ownership of the crib. Also called the pone.
P
Pair
Two cards of the same rank, worth 2 points. Rank, not value: a 10 and a Jack
are not a pair.
Pair royal
Three cards of the same rank, worth 6 points — three distinct pairs at 2 each.
Peg
As a noun, one of the small pins used to mark your score. As a verb, to score points
— especially during the play. Always move your rear peg forward, so the gap
between them records what you just scored.
Pegging
The play phase, in which cards are laid down one at a time toward a running count of
31 and points are scored as they go. See the
pegging strategy guide.
Pegging out
Reaching 121 and winning. The game ends the instant it happens, mid-hand or mid-count.
Pone
The traditional name for the non-dealer, borrowed from older English card games. Not
much heard at kitchen tables, common in books.
R
Run
Three or more cards in consecutive rank order, worth 1 point per card. Suits do
not matter, and during the play the cards need not be laid in order — only
consecutively, with no repeated rank interrupting them.
S
Show
The counting phase after the play, when each player scores their four cards plus the
starter. Order is fixed: non-dealer, then dealer, then the crib.
Skunk
Winning while your opponent has fewer than 91 points — they have not made it
into the final street. Counts as two games in match play.
Starter
The card turned face up after the discard, also called the cut card or
turn-up. It is not played during the play, but it acts as a fifth card in every
hand and in the crib during the count.
Stinkhole
Hole 120 — one short of victory. A player in the stinkhole wins on any single point
at all, which makes them very difficult to play against and, by long tradition, very
annoying to sit opposite.
Street
One row of thirty holes on the board. "Third street" is the stretch from 61 to 90,
and "in the fourth street" means the home run to 121.
T
Ten-card
Any 10, Jack, Queen or King — all count 10 toward fifteen and thirty-one. There are
sixteen of them in the deck, which is why so much pegging strategy is built around
what happens when your opponent plays one.
Thirty-one
The ceiling on the running count during the play, and worth 2 points to whoever
reaches it exactly.
Turn-up
Another name for the starter card.
Twenty-nine hand
The highest possible hand in cribbage: three 5s and a Jack, with the fourth 5
matching the Jack's suit turned as the starter. Worth 29 points and roughly a
once-in-a-lifetime event. See the 29 hand.
Learn the words by using them. Play free against the computer — no account required.