Your first game of Cribbage

Set up

Two people play, with a standard 52-card deck. The players cut for the first deal, and the lower card deals. Each player gets six cards. You keep four and put two face down in the crib, which is an extra hand that belongs to the dealer and is counted at the end of the round. Then a card is cut from the deck as the starter. A jack as the starter scores the dealer 2 points at once. The score is kept with pegs on a cribbage board, and the first to 121 points wins.

Your first hand

First choose your discards. Keep the four cards that work best together: pairs, runs, and cards that add up to 15. Put the other two in the crib. The crib counts for the dealer, so as dealer put cards in it that work together, and as the other player, put in cards that don’t.

Then the play. Starting with the player who is not the dealer, you take turns laying a card face up and saying the running total. Face cards count 10 and an ace counts 1. The total can’t go past 31. You score as you lay a card: 2 for making 15, 2 for making 31, 2 for a pair (6 for three of a kind, 12 for four), and 1 for each card of a run of three or more. If you can’t play without going past 31, say go. The other player lays any cards they still can, then scores 1 for the last card, or 2 for making 31 exactly, and the count starts again from 0.

How a game ends

After the play, both hands are counted with the starter, the player who is not the dealer first, then the dealer, then the crib. You score 2 for each combination of cards that adds up to 15, 2 for each pair, 1 for each card in a run of three or more, 4 for four cards of one suit in your hand (5 if the starter matches them; the crib needs all five), and 1 for holding the jack of the starter’s suit. Then the deal passes to the other player. The first to 121 wins, even in the middle of a count.

A short example

Your hand is 7 of clubs, 8 of diamonds, 8 of spades and king of hearts. The starter is the 2 of clubs. The 7 and each 8 make 15, which is two fifteens and 4 points. The pair of 8s is 2 more. Your hand is worth 6 points.