In Cribbage, the goal is win by being the first to score over 120 points. Cribbage can be played with 2, 3, or 4 players. To get started, enter a name for yourself (ex: "player-100") and a room name. The room name can be anything you like (ex: "joan's room"). Other players can join your game by using the exact same room name, or by copying the room link.
2 Players
Once you start the game, you will see a deck of cards face down. Select a card to draw it. Once both players have done this, the player with the lowest card is the dealer first.
The dealer then deals the cards. Both players receive six cards. Both players then take turns choosing two cards to send to the crib. To send a card to the crib, either double-click it, or drag the card onto "table" in the middle of screen.
The dealer also deals a "starter" card - this card is placed to the left of the table, and is used later during the scoring of the hands and crib.
3 Players
Once you start the game, you will see a deck of cards face down. Select a card to draw it. Once all three players have done this, the player with the lowest card is the dealer first.
The dealer then deals the cards. Each player receives five cards. All players then take turns choosing one card to send to the crib. To send a card to the crib, either double-click it, or drag the card onto "table" in the middle of screen. Since each player only discards one card (3 cards total), one additional card is traditionally "burned" (discarded from the deck) to complete the crib, which needs 4 cards total.
The dealer also deals a "starter" card - this card is placed to the left of the table, and is used later during the scoring of the hands and crib.
4 Players (2 vs 2 Teams)
In 4-player Cribbage, players are automatically paired into teams. Players 1 and 3 are on one team, and players 2 and 4 are on the other team. Teams share a combined score - the first team to reach 121 points wins!
Once you start the game, you will see a deck of cards face down. Select a card to draw it. Once all four players have done this, the player with the lowest card is the dealer first.
The dealer then deals the cards. Each player receives five cards. All players then take turns choosing one card to send to the crib. To send a card to the crib, either double-click it, or drag the card onto "table" in the middle of screen.
The dealer also deals a "starter" card - this card is placed to the left of the table, and is used later during the scoring of the hands and crib.
Once all players have chosen their crib cards, it's time to play your cards. The non-dealer always leads first when pegging begins. Players take turns playing cards one at a time in clockwise order. During this phase, you can gain points for playing certain cards. They are:
| Play |
Points
|
| "Two for his heels" (the dealer gets this for having a Jack) |
2
|
| Fifteens (the cards played so far add up to 15) |
2
|
| Thirty-one (the cards played so far add up to 31) |
2
|
| Go (played the final card when a series ends without reaching 31) |
1
|
| Pairs (ex: two Aces) |
2 |
| Three-of-a-kind (ex: three Aces) |
6 |
| Four-of-a-kind (ex: four Aces) |
12 |
| Runs (ex: 4, 5, 6) |
1 for each card in the run |
You can play cards so long as the running sum of the cards doesn't exceed 31. If you cannot play a card without going over 31, you must call "go" by selecting the button that says "call go." Once a player gets exactly 31, or all players have said go, the running sum is reset back to 0. For the purposes of calculating this running sum, aces count as 1, and all face cards count as 10.
When a series ends (either by reaching 31 or all players saying "go"), the player who did NOT play the last card leads the next series. Also, if a series ends without reaching 31 (a "go"), the player who played the final card scores 1 point - not the player who said "go".
Once all players have played all their cards, each player's hands are scored. In addition, the crib is scored and that score is added to the dealer. Hands are counted in a specific order - non-dealers count first, then the dealer, then the crib. This order matters for determining the winner! For the purposes of scoring, the starter card is counted as being part of every hand and the crib. Scoring happens in the following way:
| Play |
Points
|
| Pairs (ex: two Aces) |
2 |
| Three-of-a-kind (ex: three Aces) - this is counted as having three pairs |
6 |
| Four-of-a-kind (ex: four Aces) - this is counted as having six pairs |
12 |
| Runs (ex: 4, 5, 6) |
1 for each card in the run |
| 4 card Flush (hand only, not for the crib) |
4 |
| 4 card Flush (same suit as the starter card) |
5 |
| Jack the same suit as the starter |
1 |
Once the hands and cribs have been scored, the dealer moves to the next player, and play repeats until someone (or a team in 4-player games) gets to 121 points! The first player to reach 121 points wins the game - this is called "pegging out". The game stops immediately when someone reaches 121, even if other players would have scored more points in that round.