Cribbage hand counter and pegboard

How to score cribbage

After the play, hands are counted in turn: the player on the dealer’s left first, the dealer last, then the dealer counts the crib. Every hand borrows the starter (the card cut from the pack) as a fifth card.

• Fifteens, 2 each. Find every different group of cards that adds up to 15. Aces count 1, picture cards 10, the rest their number. Count them aloud: “fifteen two, fifteen four…”.
• Pairs, 2 each. Two of a rank is 2. Three of a rank makes three pairs (6); four makes six pairs (12).
• Runs, 1 per card. Three or more ranks in a row, in any suit. Aces are low, so Q-K-A is not a run. A duplicate rank gives you the run again, as the table shows.
• Flush. Four hand cards of one suit score 4, or 5 if the starter matches. In the crib only a five-card flush counts.
• Nobs, 1. A jack in the hand or crib of the starter’s suit. If the starter itself is a jack, the dealer pegs 2 for his heels as soon as it is cut.

During the play

• Bring the running total to exactly 15 or 31: 2 points.
• Match the card just played: 2 for a pair, 6 for three, 12 for four.
• Complete a run of three or more among the last cards played, in any order: 1 per card.
• Go: if you cannot play without going past 31, say “go”. Your opponent plays on while they can, and whoever plays the last card scores 1 (2 if it makes 31 exactly). The count then starts again from zero.

Winning, skunks and muggins

• The full game is 121 points (twice round a standard board, then into the end hole); a short game is 61.
• A loser under 91 in a game to 121 is skunked; under 61 is a double skunk.
• Muggins (optional house rule, agree it first): if a player under-counts their hand, the opponent may call “muggins” and peg the missed points themselves.
• No hand can score 19, 25, 26 or 27. The best is 29.

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Guide from tools.kwixa.co.uk/cribbage