Everything you need to sit down and play a proper game — the deal, the crib, the play to 31, the count, and the road to 121. If you have never played before, read straight through; if you are settling an argument, jump to the section you need.
Cribbage is played by two, three, or four people with a standard 52-card deck. Jokers are removed. Two-handed cribbage is the classic and by far the most common form; four-handed is played in partnerships, with partners sitting opposite each other.
Score is kept on a cribbage board — a length of wood drilled with rows of holes, two rows per player, plus a few extra holes at the end for finishing. Each player has two pegs. You always move the rear peg forward past the front one, which means the gap between your pegs shows what you just scored and there is a permanent record of your previous position. This is not merely decorative: it makes it obvious when someone has pegged the wrong amount.
The standard board has 120 holes per player, laid out as two rows of 30 down and two rows of 30 back, plus a final game hole. A full game is 121 points — twice around the board, plus one.
Pencil and paper work fine, and so does the board on this site. Cribbage Den draws a full animated board and moves the pegs for you — you can play a free game against the computer without signing up.
There are two different things a card can be worth, and beginners frequently mix them up.
So J–Q–K is a run of three, but its cards total 30 for counting purposes. Suits never rank against each other; they matter only for flushes and for the "nobs" point.
Shuffle, then each player cuts the deck and reveals a card. The low card deals first (Ace is low). If two players tie, they cut again. Being the dealer is a genuine advantage — the dealer owns the crib — so the deal alternates every hand thereafter, moving to the left in three- and four-player games.
The dealer shuffles, the opponent to the right cuts, and the dealer deals one card at a time, face down, starting with the player on their left.
| Players | Cards dealt each | Discarded to crib each | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2 | 6 | 2 | Every player keeps 4 |
| 3 | 5 | 1 | One card is dealt directly to the crib to make four |
| 4 | 5 | 1 | Played in partnerships |
Whatever the player count, everyone ends up holding four cards and the crib contains four cards.
Each player chooses cards to lay aside face down. Together these form the crib — a fifth hand that the dealer counts as their own at the end of the deal, after their own hand.
This is the most important decision in cribbage, and it cuts both ways. If you are the dealer, you want to throw cards that combine well, because the crib is yours. If you are not the dealer, you are contributing to your opponent's score, so you want to throw cards that combine badly — while still keeping a strong hand for yourself. That tension is the heart of the game, and we cover it in detail in the discard strategy guide.
Once a card is placed in the crib it cannot be taken back, and the crib is not looked at until the very end of the deal.
After the discards, the non-dealer cuts the remaining deck and the dealer turns the top card of the lower portion face up. This is the starter (also called the cut card or the turn-up). It is placed on top of the deck for everyone to see.
The starter is not played during the play, but it acts as a fifth card in everybody's hand and in the crib when the hands are counted.
If the starter is a Jack, the dealer immediately pegs 2 points. This is called "his heels" or "his nibs". The dealer must peg it before the play begins; under strict rules, a dealer who forgets and then plays their first card forfeits the points. Do not confuse this with "his nobs", which is a different point scored later during the count.
Now the players take turns laying cards face up in front of themselves, announcing a running total as they go. The player to the dealer's left leads — in two-handed cribbage, that is the non-dealer.
Each card played is added to the running count, and the count may never exceed 31. Points are pegged during the play as follows:
| What happens | Points |
|---|---|
| The count reaches exactly 15 | 2 |
| The count reaches exactly 31 | 2 |
| You play a card of the same rank as the previous card (a pair) | 2 |
| A third card of that rank (pair royal) | 6 |
| A fourth card of that rank (double pair royal) | 12 |
| You complete a run of three or more | 1 per card |
| Go — nobody else can play without busting 31 | 1 |
| Playing the last card of the deal | 1 |
A run scores if the last three (or more) cards played form a consecutive sequence, in any order, with no intervening cards of another rank. If the cards played are 5, 7, 6 then the player of the 6 pegs 3 for the run. If a 4 follows, that player pegs 4. If instead an 8 followed the 5–7–6, that would be a run of four as well.
A repeated rank breaks the sequence: 5, 6, 6, 7 does not contain a run for the 7, because 5–6–6–7 is not a set of distinct consecutive ranks.
If you cannot play a card without taking the count past 31, you say "Go". Your opponent then plays as many cards as they legally can. Whoever plays the last card before the count sticks scores 1 for the go — unless they hit exactly 31, in which case they score 2 for the 31 instead (not both).
The count then resets to zero and play continues with the cards still in hand, starting with the player who did not play that final card. When everyone is out of cards, the player of the very last card pegs 1 for last card.
You may not say "Go" if you hold a card that can legally be played. If you can play, you must. This trips up beginners who would rather save a card for later — it is not allowed.
When the play is over, each player picks their four cards back up and counts them together with the starter as a five-card hand. Counting happens in a strict order, and the order matters enormously:
This sequence is why the non-dealer has a real chance in a close game: if both players are near 121, the non-dealer counts out and wins before the dealer ever gets to show. Cribbage players call this "first count", and it is worth playing for.
| Combination | Points |
|---|---|
| Each distinct combination of cards totalling fifteen | 2 |
| Each pair (three of a kind counts as three pairs = 6; four of a kind as six pairs = 12) | 2 |
| Each run of three or more | 1 per card |
| Flush — all four hand cards the same suit | 4 |
| Flush — all four plus the starter the same suit | 5 |
| His nobs — a Jack in hand of the same suit as the starter | 1 |
The crib scores by the same rules with one exception: a crib flush must be all five cards. Four same-suited cards in the crib score nothing unless the starter matches too.
Your hand is 5♥ 5♦ 6♠ 4♣ and the starter is 5♠.
Total: 21 points.
If that felt like work, you are not alone — miscounting is the single most common source of cribbage arguments. Our full scoring guide breaks down each combination with more examples and a reference chart.
The first player (or partnership) to reach 121 points wins immediately. Play stops the instant someone pegs out — mid-play, mid-count, whenever. There is no need to finish the deal, and you do not have to hit 121 exactly.
Two terms describe a lopsided finish:
The hole at 120 is affectionately known as the stinkhole. A player sitting there needs a single point and can no longer be beaten to the finish by anything but a fast count — which is why some groups refuse to shake hands until the peg is actually in the game hole.
Deal five cards each and one card face down directly to the crib; each player then discards one, making a crib of four. Everyone plays for themselves. The deal rotates to the left. Play and counting proceed clockwise starting from the dealer's left, so the player to the dealer's left has "first count". A three-handed board has three tracks; games are still to 121.
Four-handed cribbage is a partnership game, and it is the version most often played in clubs and tournaments. Partners sit opposite one another and share a single score. Deal five cards each, and each player discards one to the dealer's crib. Only one player of each partnership pegs, and partners may not discuss their hands — although by long tradition, everyone does anyway.
Play proceeds clockwise. Because there are four hands in play, the count reaches 31 more often and pegging is sharper; a run can be extended by any of the four players.
Two- and three-player games are every-player-for-themselves, and four-player games are partnerships. You can fill any empty seat with a computer opponent in a local game, or invite friends to a private table with a room code.
Cribbage has fewer disputed rules than most card games, but a handful of optional conventions are worth agreeing on before you start.
A few conventions keep the game civil, and most of them exist because someone once got it wrong:
Playing online removes most of this friction entirely. At Cribbage Den the server deals the cards, validates every play, and counts every hand — nobody's device gets to decide the score, so a hand is never miscounted and a peg is never wrong.
Now put it into practice. Free games against the computer, no account required.
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