Cribbage
Full two-player Cribbage with a pegging board, automatic itemised scoring and a credible opponent — free, private and running entirely in your browser.
You do not need to know how to count a hand. Every one is counted out for you — fifteen two, fifteen four, and a pair is six — with the cards that made each item lit up as it is named.
How to play
Six cards each. You each put two into the crib, which belongs to whoever dealt — so half the time you are throwing to your own box and half the time you are feeding theirs. That single decision is most of the skill in Cribbage.
Then a card is cut — the starter, which counts for everybody. If it is a jack, the dealer takes two straight away.
You take turns laying cards face up, calling the running total, and nobody may take it past 31. Then everybody counts their four cards plus the starter, and the dealer counts the crib last.
What scores
- Fifteen — any cards adding to exactly fifteen, two points, every combination separately.
- Pairs — two points. Three of a kind is six, because it contains three pairs; four is twelve.
- Runs — three or more in rank order, one point per card, counted every way they can be made.
- Flush — four of a suit in hand is four; with the cut as well, five.
- His nob — the jack matching the cut’s suit, held in hand, one point.
A card’s value for fifteens is its number, with every court card counting ten. Its rank for pairs and runs is what is printed on it — so a jack, a queen and a king all count ten and are still three different ranks. That distinction is the single most common Cribbage scoring bug and it is silent.
Three rules people get wrong
- The crib flush. Four cards of a suit is a flush of four in your hand and nothing at all in the crib. Only all five, starter included, score a flush in the box.
- A double run is not a special rule. 4-5-5-6 contains two separate runs of three, because there are two ways to pick the five. Six for the runs, two for the pair. Nothing is being doubled — it is just being counted properly, which is also how triple runs and double double runs come out right.
- A run in the play is the last cards in any order. 5-4-6 is a run of three. 5-4-5-6 is not a run of four — there are two fives in it — but the last three still make one.
Modes
- Standard 121
- The full game to a hundred and twenty-one, deal alternating. Finish more than thirty behind and you have been skunked.
- Short 61
- Once round the board instead of twice. Half the length changes the game rather than shortening it — a single bad crib is suddenly most of a match.
- Scoring Tutor
- Every hand is counted out to you item by item, all fifteen ways to keep four of six are ranked before you throw, and the play tells you what each card is worth. Nothing is recorded.
- Daily deal
- Six hands, three cribs each, and everyone gets the same cards and the same cuts today.
The opponent
Before it throws, it works out what each of the fifteen ways to keep four of six is worth — averaged over every card that could be cut, which is exact rather than a guess — and then prices the two it would throw as a gift or a loss depending on whose crib it is. In the play it looks one card ahead and avoids the obvious traps.
- Casual
- Sees the same things as the others and acts on them about half the time. A friendly game to learn the counting on.
- Steady
- Works out what its hand is worth over every possible cut, prices the crib as a gift or a loss depending on whose it is, and mostly plays what it works out.
- Sharp
- The same reading, acted on every single time — and it will not lead you a five.
The levels differ in how consistently they act on what they work out — measured, not asserted. With every deal played twice, sides swapped, same cards and same cut, Steady scores about 0.53 points a hand more than Casual and Sharp about 0.21 more than Steady. Two identical opponents come out level, which is how those numbers are known to mean anything. They never differ in what they are allowed to see.
A few things worth knowing
- Fives are the best cards in the pack. Sixteen cards count ten, so a five makes fifteen with any of them — which is also why leading a five in the play is asking to be scored on.
- When it is not your crib, break up your own hand rather than throw a five, a pair, or two cards adding to fifteen. You are handing those points to the other player.
- The non-dealer counts first, and the game ends the instant somebody reaches 121. Near the end that ordering decides games: a dealer sitting on a huge crib may never get to count it.
- Twenty-nine is the highest hand there is — three fives, the jack of the cut’s suit, and the fourth five cut. Most players never see one.
Privacy and local play
Your hand, your settings and your record are stored on this device and nowhere else. There is no account, no sign-in and no gameplay request to any server. The reset button clears this game’s data and leaves every other Zerdly tool alone.
Questions
- Do I have to know how to count a Cribbage hand?
- No. Every hand is counted out for you item by item — fifteen two, fifteen four, and a pair is six — with the cards that made each item lit up as it is named. That is the whole reason to play Cribbage on a website rather than with a pack of cards: it teaches you the counting while you play.
- What is a nineteen hand?
- Nothing at all. Nineteen is the one total a Cribbage hand cannot possibly score, so it became the traditional joke name for a hand worth zero. If you are ever counted a nineteen, you have scored nothing.
- Why did my four cards of one suit not score in the crib?
- Because it is the crib. A flush of four in your hand is worth four points; in the crib, four of a suit is worth nothing at all, and only all five including the cut score a flush. It is the rule most home games get wrong, and this table plays it properly.
- What is the difference between his nob and his heels?
- Both involve a jack and they are completely different. Holding the jack of the same suit as the cut is one point, to whoever holds it, counted at the show. The cut card itself BEING a jack is two points to the dealer, the instant it is turned over — and it can win a game before a card is laid.
- Why can nobody take the count past 31?
- That is the rule of the play. You take turns laying cards face up, calling the running total, and nobody may exceed 31. If you cannot lay anything you say go, and the other player keeps laying while they can — which is where a surprising number of points come from. Making the count exactly 15 or exactly 31 is two points each time.
- Which house rules does this table use?
- A game runs to 121, or 61 in the short preset. Finishing more than thirty behind is a skunk; more than sixty, a double skunk. MUGGINS IS OFF: in some games an opponent may claim points you failed to count, and against a computer that counts perfectly that is a pure penalty for not knowing the game yet. Every hand here is counted for you anyway, so there is nothing to miss. The deal alternates every hand, so the crib does too.
- Can the computer see my cards?
- No, and the interesting part is the crib. Four cards go face down and two of them are yours — you know exactly what you threw and nothing about the other two. The computer is in the same position, mirrored: it knows its own two and has no idea about yours. The only thing it is ever given is one player's view of the table, and that object has no field for the opponent's hand at all during the play.
- Is anything sent to a server?
- No. The rules, the shuffle, the scoring, the opponent, the sounds and your saved game all run in your browser. There is no account, and clearing this game's data leaves every other Zerdly tool untouched.