Game Essentials

There are numerous point-scoring opportunities. They mostly come in two phases of the game: the play and the count. We'll get all of those opportunities in a moment. We'll start with some basics

Scoring Features

There are three features of cards that are a significant part of scoring:

Two or more cards that add to 15. This is worth 2 points. Face cards count as 10. Ace counts as one. When blogging about hands and scoring, we'll often summarize "any face card or a 10" with a symbol ⨉. (We'll use roman numeral X, for a 10, when the rank actually matters.) ⨉-5, 9-6, 8-7 are some two-card combinations that add to 15. Some three-card combinations: ⨉-4-A, ⨉-3-2, 9-5-A, 9-4-2, 9-3-3, etc., and etc. There are a lot of ways from 2 to 4 cards can add to 15.
Pairs. 2 points. Three of a kind is a "pair royal". In effect, there are three pairs among those three cards. You get 6 points for this. Four of a kind is a "double pair royal"; 6 individual pairs. 12 points. Rejoice and be glad.
Run of 3 or more. This can involve 3, 4, or maybe even 5 cards when counting. During play, runs can get even longer.

Suits rarely matter. We don't often show the suits when talking about a hand.

Here's an important consequence of the above scoring patterns. A double run, something like AA23, has a large number of points. It's two A23 runs (3 points each) and a pair for 2 more points.

A double run with 15's in it is even more. Consider 6778. We'll make this super-explicit by adding suits. Here are the cards: 6♣️, 7♣️, 7♢, 8♡. Here is how these cards are scored.

Cards	Points
7♣️, 8♡	2
7♢, 8♡	2
6♣️, 7♣️, 8♡	3
6♣️, 7♢, 8♡	3
7♣️, 7♢	2
Total	12

We call these out by naming the various combinations. We'll recite the following:

"fifteen two, fifteen four, double run is twelve."

It helps to be consistent. Count the 15's first. "fifteen two, fifteen four, ..." Count any pairs outside double runs. "..., and a pair makes six, ..." Count the runs or double runs. Count the flushes. Count the Right Jack. "... and His Nobs makes seven."

Other Features

There's a minor feature of the cards, also. The suit. Suits matter in a few circumstances.

A flush. If your hand is all one suit, that's 4 points. If the starter card also matches that's 5 points. A flush doesn't matter in play.
The "Right Jack", or "His Nobs" is a Jack in your hand that matches the suit of the starter card. This is one point. It doesn't matter in play.

These are hard to remember. I've overlooked His Nobs more than once. I try to make a point of identifying a wrong Jack, when I have it. This helps make the right Jack apparent those few times that I get one.

The other player can capitalize on my oversight and take the points I forgot to take. This is a "Muggins", and we'll set it aside for now. We'll get to it in a later posting.

The Sequence of Play

The exact rules for scoring cards during the "play" phase and the "count" phase are slightly different. The essential features will appear, plus some other features that are unique to each phase of the game. Have I mentioned that there are a metric ton of special cases?

This seems to be part of the appeal for my partner: keeping track of a wealth of tiny details. They're a birder. They are masters of tiny details.

The deal alternates. One player will be dealer, and the other player, the opponent, is called "pone". Really.

The outline is this:

Deal 6 cards. Dealer and Pone donate 2 cards to the Dealer's crib. This is a profound "gaze into the future" moment. No actual scoring here.
Pone cuts the deck, Dealer turns a card. Scoring can happen here. A detail.
Pone leads in the "play" phase until all 8 cards have been played. Points will rack up quickly for Dealer and Pone.
Pone scores their hand in the "count" phase. Dealer then scores their hand and then their crib.

Yes. Dealer gets both a hand and a crib. Each with four cards. But, Pone counts first. For a single hand, it's utterly unfair. The strict alternation of the deal means the bias averages out over the duration of a game.

(Two hands -- one as Dealer, one as Pone -- often score about 26 points. There will be about 5 pairs of hands played in a typical game. Statistics being what they are, the actual number of hands varies quite a bit.)

Who deals first? Loser from the previous game.

My partner and I call it the shuffle of shame. "You lost last night; start the shuffle of shame, loser," is how some games begin.

We'll look at each of the 4 steps in some detail.

The Deal

And donating to the crib.

First, of course, the dealer shuffles. Pone can taunt the dealer. Or distract them with small talk.

The Pone must cut the deck before the deal. (They can also shuffle if they want.)

Deal six cards to each.

Putting cards into the crib? How does one predict the future with any degree of accuracy?

The dealer can put "good" cards into the crib. They'll be counting them later. Imagine a fabulous hand like 556678. Put the pair of 5's into the crib, and keep the double run.

Pone, on the other hand, shouldn't give Dealer anything potentially "good". You only know the 6 cards you can see. The other 46 cards are an opaque mystery. Pone should avoid giving the dealer a pair, or any 5's, or a Jack.

Donating two cards to the crib is a profound strategic decision. I'll write about it later. For now, do the best you can.

The Cut

After creating the crib, Pone cuts the undealt deck to reveal a "cut" or "starter" card.

Dealer flips the card and places it face up on the unused cards. It's a small ritual. The card doesn't matter for play. It only matters for counting.

Except for one small detail. Cribbage is full of these small details.

If Dealer turned up a Jack -- "His Heels" -- Dealer gets two points.

(I know. It's unfair. Pone actually cut the deck. For this service, they get nothing.)

The Play

The players will lay down cards in front of themselves and announce the accumulated total of the points displayed.

Keep your cards on your side of the board. Also, it's polite to make sure they're all visible. We'll get to why below.

Some rules:

The total of points cannot exceed 31.
You must play if you can.
If you cannot play and keep the count under 31, you say "go" and the other player is allowed to play until they're out of cards or blocked because the total can't go over 31.

Say the total is 28. You hold a pair of kings, so you say "Go". They play a 2♣︎ and A♠︎ bringing the total to exactly 31. They peg two points. As you can see, after a "Go", the other player goes until they can't.

Another variation on this situation.

Again, let's say the total so far is 28. You hold a pair of kings, so you say "Go". They can't play, either. They peg a point because they played the last card before a 31.

Play alternates. After you say "Go" and they play and peg, you'll lead for the next round of play.

There may be only one run up to 31 if you both had small denomination cards. There may be several runs up to 31 if you both had hands full of face cards. Eight face cards is 80 points. You'll get to 30, and "go". Then again, you'll get to 30, and "go". Then you'll each drop a face card for 20.

There are several scoring opportunities during play.

Scoring during play

Last Card before a 31 (or the last card when you're both out of cards) gets you one point.
Getting the total to exactly 31 gets you two points.
When your card is the same rank as the last one from the other player, you get 2 points for the pair.
Remember how 3 matching cards is a pair-royal? Consider this. They play some rank, you play the same rank and glory in two points. Then, they play the same rank again and get six points for the pair royal.
Yes. If you both have pairs of the same rank (must be 7 or less), this can turn into a four-of-a-kind, and you'll get 12 more points after the 2 you got for the first pair.
15's. Whoever plays the card that brings the total to 15 gets two points. Hint. Don't lead with a 5. Odds are good the other play has a 10 or a face card.
Runs. These can be anywhere from 3 cards up to as many as 7 cards in a run.

The runs rules are a little confusing at first. The ranks must "touching" -- adjacent numbers -- but they don't have to be played in any specific order.

It can work like this.

You play a 4♠︎, announcing the total of "four".
They play a 6♡, saying "ten" because that's the total.
You drop the bomb: 5♣︎, and try not to shout "fifteen!"

Scoring so far.

2 points for the 15.
3 points for three adjacent numbers forming a run.

If they can play a 3 or a 7, then they've created a run of four cards, and will peg four points. With ranks below 7, you can each add to a run, getting more points.

A non-touching number breaks the run. If they play a J♡, that's not adjacent to any of the other numbers in the run.

The Count

Once you're both out of cards, someone will peg either 1 point for playing the last card with a total under 31, or 2 points if the last card made the total 31.

Now, you'll count your hands.

Pone counts first. Dealer has a crib, they have to wait to count all those cards.

The starter (or "cut" card) is part of each player's hand and part of the crib, too.

Things that score.

All combinations that total 15. 2 points for each combination.
Pairs are two points. A pair royal (three of a kind) is three pairs, 6 points. A double pair royal (four of a kind) is 12 points.
Runs of 3, 4 or 5 are the number of cards in the run. And the combination of a double run (a run of three with a pair of any one of the ranks) is 8 points. And yes, a double-double run is possible because the starter is included. A hand like 67788 is 16 points!
A four-flush for your hand. Or a five-flush for your hand plus the starter. These are 4 and 5 points, respectively.
You have a Jack that's the same suit as the starter. "His Nobs" is a point.

Summary

There are overlaps between scoring combinations in the count phase and scoring events that occur in the play phase. These are important things to bear in mind:

15's.
Pairs.
Runs.
The magical double-run. Better. A double-run that includes a 15 combo. Something with 6, 7, 8, and 9.

For me, this seems to characterize the game.

Look for scoring combinations in play and when counting. 15's. Pairs. Runs.

The crucial decisions, however, are difficult. I've started to gain a small appreciation for some of them. I'll share a few thoughts in subsequent posts.