Cribbage is a classic card-and-peg game of counting, combinations, and strategy. The goal is to be the first player to reach 121 points.

What you’ll need

• A standard 52-card deck (remove jokers)
• A cribbage board and 2 pegs per player
• 3 players

Set up

Each player places two pegs at the start of the board — one peg marks your current score, the other is used to leapfrog as you score.

The game ends immediately when a player reaches 121 points, even if this happens in the middle of a round.

The deal

Choose a dealer (drawing cards works).

The dealer deals:

• 5 cards to each player
• 1 card face-down directly into the crib

The crib

After the deal, each player discards 1 card face-down into the dealer’s crib.

The crib now contains 4 cards total:

• 1 card dealt directly to the crib
• 1 card from each of the 3 players

The cut card

The player to the dealer’s left cuts the deck and reveals the top card, called the cut card.

All players use the cut card as a fifth card when scoring their hands.

If the cut card is a Jack, the dealer immediately scores 2 points (commonly called “his heels”).

Pegging (the play)

Starting with the player to the dealer’s left, players take turns laying down one card at a time, announcing the running total.

Each player keeps their played cards in a separate pile — do not mix them together.

Card values

• Aces count as 1
• Number cards (2–10) count as their face value
• Face cards (Jack, Queen, King) count as 10
• Suits do not matter during pegging

Play continues until no one can play a card without going over 31.

If you cannot play, say “Go.” When the sequence ends (31 is reached or all players say “Go”), the count resets to 0, and play continues with the next player who still has cards.

• Playing the last card in a sequence scores 1 point
• If the last card makes exactly 31, score 2 points total (1 for last card + 1 for reaching 31)

Pegging points you can score

• 15 exactly → 2 points
• 31 exactly → 2 points
• Pairs
  • Pair → 2 points
  • Three of a kind → 6 points
  • Four of a kind → 12 points
• Runs of 3 or more consecutive ranks → 1 point per card

Runs do not need to be played in numerical order — they only need to form consecutive ranks using the most recently played cards.

Counting hands

After all cards have been played, players count points in this order:

1. Player to the dealer’s left
2. Next player
3. Dealer
4. Dealer counts the crib last

Each hand consists of your 4 cards plus the cut card.

Scoring during hand counting

• Any combination totaling 15 → 2 points
• Pairs / three-of-a-kind / four-of-a-kind → 2 / 6 / 12 points
• Runs of 3 or more → 1 point per card
• Flush
  • 4 cards in your hand of the same suit → 4 points
  • Add 1 point if the cut card matches the suit
  • A crib flush scores only if all 5 cards are the same suit
• “His Nobs” → 1 point if you hold the Jack of the same suit as the cut card

Winning the game

The first player to reach 121 points wins.