Six-Card Cribbage is the standard game. It's meant for two players, but easily adapts to three, or four in partnerships. The game is named after the dealer's advantage-- the cards that make up the "crib."
After each player sets one peg in the starting hole-- the left of the two "game holes" at the bottom of the board-- the players cut for the deal; high card wins. The nondealer shuffles. Players will "peg" points as they accumulate them.
Aces are low, worth only 1 point; face cards are worth 10 points; the numbered cards are worth their pip value.
Each player is dealt six cards. After looking at their cards, players each put two aside, facedown, to form the "crib," an extra hand that belongs to the dealer and that will be included in her score at the end of the hand.
The nondealer cuts the remaining cards. The dealer turns over the top card of the lower half and, when the deck is put back together, places it faceup on top of the deck. This top card is called the "starter." If the starter is a jack, the dealer pegs 2 points for it, that is, moves one of his pegs from the starting area forward two holes.
The nondealer leads any card faceup, putting it directly in front of herself, and announces its value (e.g., "two" if it's a deuce, "ten" if it's a ten or a face card). Then the dealer puts a card down and announces the total of the two cards (e.g., "fourteen" if he's played a four after a face card).
Note: The two players' cards don't mix as in other card games-- players need to keep their own cards in front of them for scoring purposes at the end of the hand.
Players continue adding cards in turn until one of them is unable to throw down any more without going over 31. Which brings us to the go."
If, say, the total is 27, and the player whose turn it is doesn't have anything lower than a five, she calls, "Go." If her opponent can't lay down a card within the 31 limit, he also calls, "Go," and the first player pegs a 1-point bonus. But if the second player is holding a card that will keep the score under 31, he has to play that card. If 31 is still not reached and he has another card that will play under 31, he has to play it. When he can't play another card and the sum total is still less than 31, he can peg 1 point. If he brings the total to exactly31, he pegs 2 points.
When 31 is reached-- or neither player can reach it without going over-- the count resets to zero, and the player who said "Go" leads the next card.
Anytime a player has no cards left, he misses his turn.
The "show" takes place after all the cards have been played. The nondealer scores his hand first. If he counts out enough points to "peg the game" (get to the total of 61 or 121 or more), he wins, even though the dealer may have scored an equal or higher total score.
If the nondealer doesn't score enough to win, the dealer scores his hand (including the starter) and then the crib.
The deal alternates with each hand. Play continues until one player "pegs out" (reaches or exceeds 61 or 121 points).
If the starter is a jack, the dealer earns 2 points.
Calling the Go if the opponent can't lay down a card within the 31-point limit earns 1 point.
Playing the last card under 31 earns 1 point.
Playing a card that brings the total to 31 exactly earns 2 points.
Bringing the total of two or more consecutive cards to 15 earns 2 points. For example Player A lays down a ten and says, "ten." Player B lays down a 5 says "fifteen for two," and pegs 2 points immediately. If Player B had played a four, he would have said, "fourteen." Then if the next player had an ace he could have played an ace and said, "fifteen for two," scoring 2 points immediately.
Completing a pair is worth 2 points. If Player A lays down a 7 and Player B plays a 7, he'll say, "Fourteen and a pair for 2." Player B pegs the 2 points immediately.
Playing a third consecutive card of the same value is worth 6 points. Continuing the above example, if the next player plays a 7, he would say "Twenty-one for 6," pegging the 6 points immediately.
Playing a fourth consecutive card of the same value is worth 12 points. If the next player has a 7 he would say, "Twenty-eight for 12," and peg 12 points immediately.
Completing a run of three cards earns 3 points. If Player A plays a 3, Player B plays a 5, and the next player plays a 4, that player would say, "Twelve and a run of 3 for 3."
Completing a run of four cards earns 4 points. Completing a run of five, six, or seven cards scores the corresponding 5, 6, or 7 points. All runs are regardless of the order of play, so if the cards played are 4-2-6-5-3, the player who plays the three will score 5.
The last card played in a hand scores 1 point.
Any combination of cards that totals fifteen (7+8, J+5, 9+6, A+5+9) = 2 points
One pair = 3 points
Three of a kind = 6 points
Four of a kind = 12 points
A run of three or more = point per card
A four-card flush (four cards of the same suit in sequence) = 4 points
A five-card flush = 5 points
A flush that's the same suit as the starter = 1 point
A double run of three (5,6,7,7) = 8 points A double run of four (4,5,6,7,7) = 10 points A triple run (4,5,6,7,7,7) = 15 points A quadruple run (4,4,5,6,6) = 16 points
A jack that's the same suit as the starter = 1 point
In Three-Hand Cabbage, five cards are dealt to each player and one card is dealt to the crib. When a player calls "Go," the others play in turn for as long as they can until 31 is reached.
The point for Go is pegged by the last to play. In scoring, player to dealer's left scores his hand first, then player at his left, then dealer's hand, and finally dealer's crib.
Four-Hand Cribbage is played in two partnerships. Five cards are dealt to players, who each put one in the crib. When a player calls Go, the others play in turn for as long as they can until 31 is reached, and the point for Go is pegged by the last partnership to play. Precedence in showing is: player and partner to dealer's lift first, then dealer and partner, and finally dealer's crib.
Five-Card Cribbage for two players is the original version, and is sometimes called "the old game." Five cards are dealt to the players, who each put two in the crib. The first nondealer is given a 3-point start; play is to 61.
For four players, five cards are dealt to each player; each places one card in the crib, after which play is as in Six-Card. If playing in partnerships, partners sit opposite each other and the scores are combined.
Seven-Card Cribbage is for experts only-- it can get complicated. Seven cards are dealt to the players, who each put two in the crib. The play and the show are conducted with five cards each. Play is to 181 points or three times around the board.
Low-Ball is a variation of Six-Card, in which the first person to score 121 points loses.
You can make a homemade cribbage board with pencil and paper: Sketch out two rows of "dots" for each player, each row consisting of six groups of five dots each (because groups of five are easier to count). At the top of each row draw a single dot for starting the game and finishing the game.
Each time a player scores he marks off the appropriate number of dots.