Short, exact answers to the questions people really ask when they learn cribbage. Each one has its own link, so you can send a friend straight to the answer. For the full story in order, read the step-by-step guide.
Every round has the same five parts: deal, each player puts cards in the crib, the dealer’s opponent cuts and a starter card is turned up, then the play (counting to 31) and finally the show (counting the hands and the crib). The deal then passes to the other player.
With two players, six cards each, dealt one at a time. With three players, five each plus one extra card face down for the crib. With four players, five each. In every version you end up with a four-card hand.
Cut the deck. The player who cuts the lower card deals, and the ace is lowest. That player also gets the first crib. After that the deal alternates.
The crib is an extra four-card hand that belongs to the dealer. In a two-player game each player puts two cards from their six face down into it. It is not looked at until the show, when the dealer counts it last.
Deal six cards each, put two each in the crib, cut a starter card, play your remaining four cards one at a time while counting up to 31, then count your hands and the crib. First to 121 wins.
Deal five cards to each player and one card face down to the crib. Each player then puts one card in the crib, so everyone has four cards and the crib has four. The player to the dealer’s left cuts and leads the first card.
Play in two partnerships, partners sitting opposite. Deal five cards each; every player puts one card in the dealer’s crib, leaving four-card hands. Play passes to the left, and partners score together on one board.
Sixteen of the 52 cards count as ten (the tens and the court cards), so a 5 makes a fifteen with a lot of cards. That is why players happily put fives in their own crib and try not to give one to their opponent’s.
A 5 and any ten-card make fifteen.
After the crib is made, the non-dealer cuts the deck and the dealer turns up the top card of the lower pile. That is the starter. It counts as part of everybody’s hand, and the crib, when you count them in the show.
If the starter card is a jack, the dealer pegs 2 points straight away. It is called “two for his heels” (or “his heels”).
A jack turned up as the starter: 2 points to the dealer.
If you hold a jack of the same suit as the starter in your hand (or in the crib, if it is yours), you score 1 point. It is counted in the show.
With a club as the starter, the jack of clubs in your hand scores 1.
The non-dealer plays the first card. The players then take turns, each putting one card face up and saying the new running total.
Aces count 1, the cards from 2 to 10 count their face value, and jacks, queens and kings count 10. After each card you say the total of all the cards played so far in this count. The total may never go over 31.
If you cannot play a card without going over 31, you say “go” and do not play. Your opponent then plays on, if they can, and carries on playing cards for as long as they fit.
1 point, often called “one for last” or “one for go”. When neither player can add another card without passing 31, the player who played the last card scores it. If that last card made exactly 31, you score 2 for the 31 instead, never both.
Playing a card that makes the total exactly 31 scores 2 points.
2 points, for playing the card that makes the running total exactly 15.
9 and 6: the second card makes 15, 2 points.
Playing a card of the same rank as the one just before it is a pair: 2 points. A third in a row is a pair royal: 6 points. A fourth is a double pair royal: 12 points. Only the same rank pairs: a king and a queen do not, even though both count 10.
Three sevens in a row: a pair royal, 6 points.
If the last three or more cards played make a run, you score 1 point per card. The cards can be played in any order (a 5, then a 3, then a 4 is a run of three), but no other card may come in between. Aces are always low.
Played in the order 5, 3, 4: a run of three, 3 points.
No. The ace is always low. A-2-3 is a run, but Q-K-A is not.
The count starts again from zero. The opponent of the player who played the last card leads the new count, and runs, pairs and fifteens start afresh. The play carries on until all the cards have been played.
The non-dealer counts their hand first, then the dealer counts their hand, and then the dealer counts the crib. The order matters near the end of a game: the player who reaches 121 first wins, which is why the non-dealer has an edge.
Every different combination of cards that adds up to 15 scores 2 points, using the starter as well. A card can be used in more than one fifteen.
King, jack, 5, 5: four fifteens (8 points) and a pair (2) make 10.
A pair is 2 points, three of a kind is 6 and four of a kind is 12.
A run of three cards scores 3, four scores 4 and five scores 5. A run inside a longer run does not score separately, but a pair inside a run makes two runs, and both count.
7, 8, 8, K with a 9 turned up: two fifteens (4) + a pair (2) + two runs of 7-8-9 (6) = 12.
Four cards of one suit in your hand score 4, or 5 if the starter is that suit too. Three hand cards and the starter does not count. In the crib a flush only counts when all four crib cards and the starter share a suit, for 5.
Four hearts in the hand: 4 points (5 if the starter is a heart).
29 points: three fives and the jack of the suit of the fourth five, with the fourth five as the starter. That is 16 for the fifteens, 12 for four fives and 1 for his nobs.
Hand 5-5-5-J, starter the 5 of clubs (same suit as the jack): 16 + 12 + 1 = 29.
A hand or crib can score 0 to 24, then 28 or 29, but never 19, 25, 26 or 27. A “nineteen hand” is the joke name for a hand that scores nothing.
121, the full way round a standard board. Reaching or passing 121 wins on the spot, even in the middle of the play or the show, which is called “pegging out”.
An optional rule. If you count your hand or crib too low, your opponent can call “muggins” and peg the points you missed. Many players leave it out, so agree on it before you start.
Each player has two pegs. You move your back peg ahead of the front one by the number of points you score, so the two pegs always show your last two scores and your running total. First past 121 wins.
Yes. The one-page cribbage rules and a free score sheet are on the cribbage guide, as PDFs you can print for a club or a classroom.
Every answer on this page was checked against the sources below, and against our own step-by-step guide.
