How to Play Cribbage: Rules for Beginners

What you need

• A standard 52-card deck, jokers removed. Aces are low (worth 1). Kings, queens and jacks are worth 10. Every other card is worth its number.
• A cribbage board and pegs to keep score. No board? Print our free cribbage board, or keep score on paper.
• Two players. Three or four can play too (see 3 and 4 players).

The goal: first to 121

Be the first to score 121 points. On the board, each player has a track of 120 holes plus the game hole. You move your back peg ahead of your front peg for each score, so the gap between the two pegs always shows your last score. That makes mistakes easy to spot.

The game can end at any moment: the instant someone reaches 121, they win, even in the middle of a hand.

The deal and the crib

Cut the deck to decide who deals first: the lower card deals. After that, the deal passes back and forth every hand. The player who doesn't deal is called the pone.

1. The dealer shuffles, the pone cuts, and the dealer deals six cards each, one at a time, starting with the pone.
2. Each player picks two cards to put face down in the crib. The crib is a bonus hand that belongs to the dealer.
3. When it's your crib, throw it cards that score together (two 5s, a 7 and an 8). When it's your opponent's crib, throw cards that don't help them.

The starter card (and his heels)

The pone cuts the remaining deck and the dealer turns over the top card of the bottom half. This is the starter (or “cut card”). It sits face up and counts as a fifth card for both hands and the crib.

His heels: if the starter is a jack, the dealer pegs 2 points right away. The dealer can even win the game this way.

The play (pegging): 15s, 31s, pairs and runs

Now you play your four cards one at a time. The pone goes first. Each player lays a card face up in front of them and says the running total of all cards played so far. The total can never go over 31.

You score as you play:

Runs don't have to be in order. If the cards played are 3, 5, 6, 7, the 7 scores a run of three (5-6-7). If a 4 comes next, it scores a run of five (3-4-5-6-7). A run must be made of the most recent cards played, with no other card breaking it up: 4, 5, king, 6 scores no run.

Every pegging score with examples: cribbage pegging rules.

“Go” and the last card

If every card you hold would push the total over 31, say “go.” Your opponent keeps playing any cards they can without going over 31. Whoever plays the last card scores 1 point for the go, or 2 points if that card makes exactly 31 (never both).

Then the count starts again from zero, and the player who said “go” leads. Keep going until all eight cards are played. The very last card of the hand always scores at least 1.

You must play if you can. You may only say “go” when no card in your hand fits.

Counting your hand (the show)

Pick your four cards back up. Each player now counts their hand together with the starter card, in this order:

1. The pone counts first.
2. The dealer counts their hand.
3. The dealer turns over and counts the crib.

Count fifteens first, then pairs, then runs, then a flush, then nobs. Say it out loud as you go: “Fifteen two, fifteen four, and a pair is six.” The same card can be used in several combinations.

That hand is worth 16. The two 5s each make 15 with the 10 (four points), the 4-5-6 makes 15 twice, once with each 5 (four more), the two 5s are a pair (two), and 4-5-6 is a run of three you can make two ways, a “double run” (six). The full guide to every combination is on our cribbage scoring page, with a calculator for any hand.

Cribbage scoring at a glance

The highest possible hand is 29: three 5s and the jack in your hand, with the fourth 5 as the starter, matching the jack's suit.

Winning: pegging out and skunks

The first player to reach 121 wins. Because the pone counts first, a pone who reaches 121 during the count wins even if the dealer's hand would have got there too. This is called pegging out.

• Skunk: win by 31 points or more (the loser has 90 or fewer). Many boards mark this with a line after hole 90. In casual games a skunk counts as two wins. In American Cribbage Congress tournaments a win is worth 2 game points and a skunk 3.
• Double skunk: a common house rule. The loser has 60 or fewer and the win counts triple. It is not part of the ACC tournament rules.

Short games, skunk lines and a calculator: how many points you need to win cribbage.

Cribbage for 3 and 4 players

• Three players: deal five cards each, plus one card face down straight into the crib. Each player discards one card to the crib, so everyone holds four and the crib has four. Play goes clockwise from the dealer's left; each player scores for themselves.
• Four players: play in two teams of two, partners sitting opposite. Deal five cards each; each player discards one to the crib. Partners add their scores together on one track.

Pegging and counting work the same way. The American Cribbage Congress tournament rules cover only the two-player game. Seating, dealing and the crib for bigger tables: cribbage for 3 and 4 players.

Muggins and other house rules

Muggins is an optional rule: if a player misses points in their count, the opponent can call “muggins” and take those points. The ACC uses muggins only when a tournament announces it in advance, so agree before you start. Many friendly games skip it, and many players help each other find missed points instead.

Another common table rule is playing to 61 (once around the board) for a quick game. In our online game the computer always counts for you and explains every point, so no points get missed.