Cribbage

The single hardest part of learning cribbage is not the rules, it is the counting, which is exactly why this page writes out its full working every single hand, for both players. Under each hand you will see the traditional recitation, something like "fifteen two, fifteen four, and a pair is six," followed by a plain list of which cards made each fifteen, which two cards paired, and which cards formed a run. The number spoken after each phrase is the running total once that item is counted, not the value of that one item by itself, which is the detail that trips newcomers up the most.

The other common mix-up is the crib flush. A flush in your own hand only needs the four cards you are holding to share a suit, worth four points even if the starter is a different suit (five if it happens to match). A flush in the crib is stricter: it needs all five cards, hand and starter together, to match, or it scores nothing at all. This page applies that rule automatically, so you never have to remember it, but it explains why a crib sometimes looks like it should flush and does not.

During the play itself, the most common beginner slip is not noticing a run forming out of order. A run does not need to be played in sequence: if the last three cards laid down are, say, a six, a four and a five, in any order, that is a run of three for three points, because a run only cares that the ranks are consecutive, not that they arrived that way. The computer will play sensibly rather than randomly, so it is worth watching what it lays down and why, and pressing Hint on your own turn if you want the same reasoning explained for your hand.

Every card here is drawn extra large with a bold rank and a clear suit symbol, so color is never the only way to tell a heart from a spade. Cards you cannot legally play during a turn are dimmed rather than hidden, and tapping one still tells you why it will not go down, so you are never left guessing. Hint is completely free and has no limit: press it during a discard to see which two cards it would send to the crib and why, or during play to see which card it would lay next, always with a short, honest reason attached rather than just an answer. There is no timer anywhere in this game, and nothing about your score is kept once you leave the page or press New Game.

If you enjoy this, you may also like our large-card Klondike Solitaire or Golf Solitaire, or browse all of our card games and the full collection of free games.

How do I play Cribbage against the computer?

You are dealt six cards and so is the computer. You each choose two cards to send face down to the crib, then the starter card is cut. During play you and the computer take turns tapping a card, and the running count is scored as it goes. Once all the cards are played, hands are counted in order: the non-dealer first, then the dealer, then the crib. First to 121 wins.

What does "fifteen two, fifteen four, a pair is six" mean?

That is the traditional way of counting a cribbage hand out loud, and it is exactly what the scoring breakdown on this page writes out for you. Each phrase names one thing you found (a fifteen, a pair, a run) and the number after it is the running total once that thing is added in, not the value of that thing alone. The breakdown also lists every card combination underneath, so you can check each one against the cards in front of you.

What are "his heels" and "his nob"?

Both are jack bonuses, and they work differently. "His heels" happens the moment the starter card is cut: if it is a jack, the dealer pegs two points immediately, before any cards are played. "His nob" is worth one point and is counted later, inside a hand: it means you are holding the jack that matches the starter card's suit.

What happens when I say "Go"?

During play, if none of your remaining cards can be added without pushing the running count past 31, you say Go and the turn passes to the computer, which keeps playing if it can. If neither of you can play another card, whoever played the last card scores a point for Go (two, instead, if that last card brought the count to exactly 31), the count resets to zero, and that same player leads the next cards.

Is there a timer, and is my score kept between games?

No timer, ever, and Hint is free and unlimited. The 0 to 121 score is only for the game in progress: press New Game and both sides go straight back to zero. Nothing about how you played is stored or shown to anyone else.

Cribbage was invented in England in the seventeenth century, credited to the poet and courtier Sir John Suckling, who is said to have built it out of an older card game called Noddy by adding the crib, an extra hand made from cards each player sets aside before play begins, and by scoring points as the hand is played rather than only at the end.

The peg board that gives the game its distinctive look has been part of cribbage for centuries, and pegging your score along two rows of holes is still how the game is kept today, on wood or on a screen. Cribbage caught on quickly enough to be described in the card-game guides of its own century, and its rules have stayed close to that original shape ever since. It sits alongside our other card games.