How to Play Cribbage
Cribbage is a two-player counting game, and it is genuinely two games stacked on top of each other. First you play your cards out one at a time against a running total — that is pegging. Then you pick the same cards back up and count what they were worth all along — that is the show.
Almost everything confusing about Cribbage comes from one fact: the same card scores more than once, in more than one way. A five in a hand with a ten, a four and a six is part of a fifteen and part of a run, and it counts for both. Once that clicks, the rest is arithmetic.
The setup
Two players, a standard 52-card deck, and a target of 121 points. Whoever gets there first wins immediately — mid-hand, mid-count, it does not matter. That sudden-death ending is why the order of scoring matters so much later on.
Each player is dealt six cards. Both players then throw two cards face down into a four-card pile called the crib. The crib belongs to the dealer, who scores it as a bonus hand at the end of the round. The deal alternates, so the crib alternates too.
Then a starter card is cut from the remaining deck and turned face up. It belongs to everybody: both hands and the crib count it as a fifth card. If the starter is a jack, the dealer immediately takes 2 points — traditionally called his heels.
Card values
For counting to fifteen and thirty-one, aces are 1, and every face card is 10. For pairs and runs, though, rank order matters and the faces are distinct: ace, 2, 3 … 10, jack, queen, king. So jack-queen-king is a run of three, but jack-queen-king is not three of a kind, even though all three count ten toward a fifteen.
The discard: the decision that actually matters
Throwing two cards away is the most skill-heavy moment in the game, because you are making two decisions at once — what you keep, and what you hand over.
If the crib is yours, throwing good cards into it is fine; you get them back. If the crib is your opponent's, you are actively arming them.
The card to be careful with is the five. There are sixteen ten-value cards in the deck, so a five pairs with something to make fifteen more often than any other card. Throwing a five into your opponent's crib is the classic beginner mistake. Low cards (ace, 2, 3) are also better than they look, because they combine into runs and fifteens easily.
Pegging: playing to thirty-one
The non-dealer leads. Players alternate laying one card face up, each announcing the running total, which may never exceed 31.
While the count runs, you score for:
- Fifteen — taking the count to exactly 15: 2 points
- Thirty-one — taking the count to exactly 31: 2 points
- Pair — matching the rank of the card just played: 2 points
- Three of a kind — a third in a row: 6 points
- Four of a kind — a fourth: 12 points
- Run — the last three or more cards forming a consecutive sequence: 1 point per card
Two details trip people up. First, runs during pegging do not need to be played in order: 5, 7, 6 is still a run of three, because those three cards form a consecutive set. Second, pairs and runs only count against a continuous tail — if a card interrupts the sequence, the run is dead.
If you cannot play without going over 31, you say "go". Your opponent keeps playing as long as they can. When neither player can go, whoever laid the last card takes 1 point for the go — or 2 for hitting 31 exactly, which supersedes it. The count then resets to zero and play continues with whatever cards remain.
The show: counting your hand
Now everyone picks their cards back up and counts them together with the starter — five cards in total. The non-dealer counts first, then the dealer, then the dealer counts the crib.
That order is not a formality. At 118 points apiece, the non-dealer counting first is often the whole game.
Every combination below scores, and they all stack:
- Fifteen — any subset of cards summing to exactly 15: 2 points each. Not just pairs of cards — any number of them.
- Pair — each pair of matching ranks: 2 points. Three of a kind is three separate pairs (6), four of a kind is six pairs (12).
- Run — three or more consecutive ranks: 1 point per card. If a rank is duplicated, the run counts twice: 3-4-4-5 is two runs of three, so 6 points.
- Flush — four cards of the same suit in your hand: 4 points, plus 1 more if the starter matches. The crib is stricter: it scores nothing unless all five cards share a suit.
- Nobs — a jack in your hand matching the starter's suit: 1 point.
A worked example
Hand: 4♣ 5♦ 6♥ 9♠, starter 6♠.
- Fifteens: 4+5+6 (twice, once with each six), and 9+6 (twice) — four fifteens, 8 points
- Pair: the two sixes — 2 points
- Runs: 4-5-6 with either six — two runs of three, 6 points
- Total: 16 points
The perfect hand
The maximum possible is 29: three fives and a jack in hand, with the fourth five as the starter, and the jack matching the starter's suit. Eight different ways to make fifteen (16), six pairs among the four fives (12), and nobs (1).
There is no 19-point hand — no combination of five cards scores exactly 19 — which is why players joke about a worthless hand being "a nineteen".
Where beginners lose points
- Undercounting the show. Count in a fixed order every time: fifteens, pairs, runs, flush, nobs. Skipping straight to "that looks like nothing" is how points get left on the table.
- Throwing fives into the opponent's crib. Almost never worth it.
- Leading a five. There are sixteen cards that answer it with fifteen for 2.
- Forgetting the go. That single point decides more games than it should.
- Leaving the count at 21. Anything ten-valued makes 31 for your opponent.
Play Cribbage online
Play Cribbage here against a bot that knows better than to hand you fives, or send a link to one friend. Every hand is scored out loud — fifteens, pairs, runs and all — so you can see exactly where the points came from rather than taking the total on faith.
Last updated 2026-08-22