The complete guide: how to lay cards away into the crib, play the table up to 31, count fifteens, pairs and runs, and be the first to peg your way to 121. Controls on muta.pro and tips for beginners.
Cribbage is a points duel, tracked with pegs on a scoring board. Points come from card combinations: sums of 15, pairs, runs and flushes. The game is a race along the track: whoever first advances their pegs to 121 points wins. You count constantly — when discarding, during the play, and when revealing the hand.
Each player is dealt six cards. From them you keep four and lay two away into the crib — it counts for the dealer at the end of the hand. Then the top starter card is cut from the deck: if it's a jack, the dealer immediately scores 2 points. The starter card takes part in counting every hand and the crib.
Choose two cards from your six and set them aside in the dealer's crib. A good discard is a compromise: don't hand your opponent extra points and keep a strong hand for yourself.
The top card of the deck is cut. It is shared and added to every hand at the final count.
Players lay down cards in turn, building up a running total but never going over 31. Bringing the total to 15 or 31, and pairs and runs made right on the table, score points immediately.
If you can't play a card without exceeding 31, you say "go". When neither player can play, the total resets and the play starts again from zero.
The non-dealer reveals and counts their hand first, then the dealer, and finally the dealer's crib. Each card of the hand is combined with the starter.
Every point scored is marked at once by moving a peg along the track. Hands repeat until someone reaches the finish.
Points come from card combinations: a fifteen (any set of cards totalling 15) — 2 points, a pair — 2, three of a kind — 6, four of a kind — 12, a run of three or more cards in sequence — a point per card, a flush (all cards of one suit) and "his nobs" (a jack of the same suit as the starter card) — extra points. During the play, 2 points are scored separately for a total of 15 and 2 for 31. The winner is whoever first reaches 121 points along the track.
Into your own crib freely put promising cards, and into your opponent's — try to throw "junk" that forms no combinations.
Most points are born from sums of 15. Keep cards in hand that easily add up to fifteen.
In the play, catch your opponent's pairs and runs: a reply card of the same run or pair scores points.
Aces and twos help you carefully bring the total up to 31 without giving your opponent easy points.
Discarding two cards from six is a decision you make twice a hand and dozens of times a game. This is exactly where the gap between beginner and master builds up. The main guideline: count points in both directions — what stays in your hand and what you're giving to the crib. Add the crib's value when you deal; subtract it when your opponent deals.
The five is the currency of cribbage: every five makes a fifteen with any of the sixteen tens and face cards in the deck. Keep your fives in hand and almost never give them to your opponent's crib.
A five plus any face card or ten makes a total of 15 — that's 2 points.
A five combines into a fifteen with sixteen cards in the deck. You must not give it to your opponent's crib, and you should aim to keep it in your own hand.
Into your opponent's crib put cards far apart in rank and of different suits: an ace and a nine. Neither a run nor an easy fifteen can be built from them.
Into your own crib put "seeds": two cards of the same suit for a flush, pairs that make 15 (5+10, 7+8, 9+6) or cards adjacent in rank for a run.
Two cards totalling 11 (5+6, 4+7, 3+8) give two fifteens at once with any ten as the starter. Great seeds for your own crib and a dangerous gift into the opponent's.
Fives and face cards produce the most fifteens. Aces, twos and threes into the opponent's crib are safer — it's harder to build points from them.
The play phase seems mechanical, but points are stolen here one card at a time. Besides 2 for a fifteen and 2 for 31, you rack up pairs, runs and a point for the "last card". The classic trap is opening the play with a five: the opponent adds a face card, calls fifteen and takes 2 points. Never lead with a five — lead with a four or an ace.
A pair on the table scores 2 points, and a third seven (pair royal) scores 6 at once — don't be afraid to offer a pair if you're covered on top.
Watch the runs too. Your opponent played a 6 and a 7 (total 13); your eight invites them to make a run with a five or a nine. Sometimes it's better to play "past" and break the threat.
Three cards in sequence laid on the table — a run of 6-7-8 for 3 points to whoever closed it.
Starting with a four or an ace is safer: your opponent can't take an easy fifteen in reply, and the initiative stays with you.
When the opponent has said go and you play a card, you take the point for go. Hold back an ace or a two to stretch the total or hit exactly 31.
The ace is the ideal "last add" card: it's often exactly what lets you take go or reach exactly 31 for 2 points.
When revealing, the hand is counted together with the starter card. To avoid losing points, always count in the same rhythm: first all the fifteens, then pairs, then runs, then the flush and finally his nobs — a jack of the same suit as the starter card (1 point). Separately there's "his heels": if the starter card turned up is a jack, the dealer takes 2 points before the play.
His nobs: a jack ♠ in hand with a starter card of the same suit ♠ scores 1 point.
"His heels" is easy to confuse with his nobs, but it's different: the dealer scores the points immediately when the starter card is cut, if it's a jack of any suit.
His heels: a jack was cut as the starter card — the dealer immediately moves the peg 2 points.
The only holding: three fives and a jack in hand, with a starter five of the same suit as the jack. Eight fifteens (16) + four of a kind (12) + his nobs (1). Hands of 28 or 30+ do not exist.
Four hand cards of one suit — 4 points; with the starter of the same suit — 5. In the crib, a flush counts only if all five cards are the same suit.
Check the jack's suit against the starter card at the very end — it's that "plus one point" that decides the finish of the race.
Cribbage forgives little: the game is a peg race, and a single miscount or careless discard shifts the outcome. Below are the slips that trip up even those who already understand the rules.
A 5+6 pairing into the opponent's crib is a gift: it pulls toward a run and two fifteens with any ten.
15 → pairs → runs → flush → nobs. The ritual saves you from a miscount on tricky hands — it's the missed points that most often cost the game.
Closer to the finish, choose your discard and play not "for maximum points" but "for minimum gifts to the opponent": taking a point away in the race to 121 is sometimes worth more than grabbing your own.