How to Play Cribbage for Beginners

To play Cribbage, you'll need a Cribbage board, pegs, and a deck of cards. The goal of Cribbage is to score 121 points before your opponent by creating different card combinations. To start the game, shuffle the deck and have each player take half of it. Whoever has the lowest card on the bottom of their half deals first. Deal 6 cards to each player. Then, each player looks at their hand and chooses 2 cards to remove from the game. Place these cards off to the side face-down. These cards are called the "crib." Next, cut the deck and reveal the top card on the bottom half. This card is the starter card. The starter card is used to help calculate points at the end of play. If the starter card is a Jack, the dealer starts the game with 2 points automatically. After the starter card is revealed, the non-dealing player reveals a card from their hand. Then, the dealer reveals a card on their side of the table. Each card’s numeric value is added to the previous card’s numeric value to track the score up to a total of 31, with kings, queens, and jacks counting for 10, and aces counting as 1. Each player announces the running total as they play their card. For example, the non-dealing player may put a 6 down and say, “6.” The dealer then may play an 8 and say, “14.” The running total can never exceed 31. If a player cannot play a card from their hand without exceeding 31, they say, “Go,” and the other player scores 1 point. The scoring player may then play another card without exceeding 31. If a player reaches exactly 31, they get 2 points. After reaching 31 or “Go,” the running total resets to 0 and the player that failed to score plays their next card. Keep track of the score by moving your peg into the corresponding slot on the board. Move it every time you score and add your points together. You can also score points by creating combinations of cards while playing your hand out, which is called “pegging.” These points are calculated at the end of the round after all of the cards have been played. When both players have played all of the cards in their hands, the cards are counted for points in the following order: non-dealer’s hand, dealer’s hand, then the crib. The starter card is assumed to be a part of both player’s hands while they’re scoring points. If you have any 2 cards that add up to 15, you score 2 points. If you played 2 cards of the same rank, you get 2 points. You get 6 points for playing 3 of the same card in a row, and 12 points for playing 4 of the same cards in a row. You also score 1 point for every card played in an ascending or descending order. For example, if the dealing player plays a 3, followed by another 3 and a 4, they’ve earned 3 points. The dealer counts their hand first, followed by the non-dealing player. Then, the crib is counted by the dealing player. Any combinations in the crib are scored for the dealer. Scoring for the crib is counted the same way as regular play, with one adjustment. If the face-up card on top of the deck shares a suit with a jack in the crib, the dealing player is awarded an additional point. When you're finished scoring a round, the non-dealing player from the previous round shuffles the cards and deals out a new hand. Keep playing until one player reaches 121 points and wins! For more tips, including how to score each hand and end the round, read on!