Start with the shape of a hand, then the scoring, then the hands people argue about. Everything here is the same ruleset the table and the scorer use.
How a hand runs
Every hand is the same three acts, in the same order. Learn the shape first and the scoring stops feeling arbitrary.
1
The deal
Six cards each become two four-card hands and one extra hand for the dealer.
Both players cut. The lower card deals the first hand, and after that the deal alternates every hand.
The dealer gives six cards to each player, one at a time, starting with the opponent.
Each player pushes two cards face down into the crib. Those four cards are a third hand that the dealer counts last — so you feed your own crib and starve your opponent's.
The pone cuts and the dealer turns up the starter. It counts as a fifth card for both hands and for the crib. A jack turned here pays the dealer 2 at once.
2
The play
The kept cards go down one at a time while the running total climbs toward 31.
The pone lays a card face up and says its value. The dealer adds one and says the new total, and so on alternately.
Aces count 1 and jack, queen and king each count 10. No card may take the total past 31.
Points are pegged the moment they happen: 15 for 2, 31 for 2, pairs for 2 / 6 / 12, and runs of three or more for one point per card.
If you cannot play without passing 31, say Go. Your opponent keeps playing while able and takes 1 for the last card — or 2 if it lands exactly on 31, which never pays both.
The count then resets to zero and the other player leads. Repeat until all eight cards are on the table.
3
The show
The same cards are counted again, this time together with the starter.
The pone counts first, then the dealer's hand, then the dealer's crib. That order is what keeps a close game alive for the pone.
Every hand is its four cards plus the shared starter — five cards in all.
Count fifteens, then pairs, then runs, then flush, then nobs. The same card may be reused in as many combinations as it fits.
The instant a peg reaches 121 the game stops, mid-count if necessary. Nobody finishes counting.
Every way to score
These are all of them. Nothing else in cribbage is worth a point.
15
Fifteens
Every different combination of cards totalling 15 scores 2 points.
9♠+6♦ · K♣+5♥ · 7♦+5♠+3♣ — each one is 2 points, and one card can join several of them.2
Pairs
A pair scores 2. Three of a kind scores 6; four of a kind scores 12.
Three eights hold three different pairs, which is where the 6 comes from — not from adding 2 and calling it a triple.3+
Runs
Three or more consecutive ranks score their length. Duplicate ranks can create several runs.
4♣ 5♦ 6♠ is a run for 3. Add a second five and you hold that run twice, for 6.4/5
Flush
Four cards of one suit score 4; include the starter for 5. In the crib, all five must match.
4♠ 5♠ 9♠ J♠ scores 4 in your hand and nothing at all in the crib.1
Nobs
A jack in the hand matching the starter's suit scores 1.
Starter ♥ and J♥ in hand: one for his nob. Any other jack scores nothing for this.2
His heels
If the starter is a jack, the dealer immediately scores 2.
This is pegged before a single card is played, and it can win the game on the spot at 119.31
During the play
Play without taking the count above 31. Score pairs, runs, 15 and 31 as they are made. The last card before a reset scores 1, unless it made 31 and already scored 2.
Play 7♥ onto A♦ 7♣: 1+7+7 makes fifteen for 2 and the sevens make a pair for 2 — announced as “fifteen for four”. A run may also arrive out of order: 8, then 6, then 7 scores three for whoever played the 7.121
Order of counting
The non-dealer counts first, then the dealer's hand, then the dealer's crib. The game ends the instant anyone reaches 121.
A pone on 118 with 4 points in hand wins before the dealer counts a 20-point hand and crib.
Counted examples
Real hands, scored by the same engine that runs the table. Try them yourself in the scorer.
Hand
Thirteen in the hand
Four spades, a run, and three separate fifteens.
13
Starter
Fifteens × 36
Runs3
Flush4
Fifteens are 4+5+6, 9+6 and 5+J. The run is 4-5-6. The four spades add 4 — the starter is a heart, so the flush stops at four cards.
Crib
The same cards as a crib
Nothing changed except whose pile it is.
9
Starter
Fifteens × 36
Runs3
A crib flush needs all five cards in one suit, so the 4 points for four spades simply disappear. This is the single most argued-about rule in cribbage.
Hand
Why a duplicate doubles a run
One extra seven turns a four-card run into two of them.
14
Starter
Fifteens × 24
Pairs2
Runs × 28
5-6-7-8 counts once with each seven, so the run is worth 8 rather than 4. The pair adds 2, and 7+8 makes fifteen twice for 4.
Hand
The perfect 29
The highest hand in cribbage, and the rarest.
29
Starter
Fifteens × 816
Pairs × 612
Nobs1
Each five pairs with the jack and with every other pair of fives: eight fifteens for 16. Four fives are 12, and the jack matches the starter's suit for one more.
What players say
Cribbage is scored out loud. These are the phrases you will hear, and the ones this table uses for its own score breakdowns.
Fifteen two
The count reached exactly 15 — peg 2.
Fifteen four
Fifteen plus another 2, almost always a pair.
Go
I have no card that keeps the count at 31 or below.
One for the go
I laid the last card of this sequence, under 31.
Thirty-one for two
My card landed the count exactly on 31.
Two for his heels
The dealer turned a jack as the starter.
One for his nob
I hold the jack of the starter's suit.
Muggins
House rule: I am claiming points you forgot to count.
Skunk
The loser finished under 91 — a double skunk is under 61.
Disputes & house rules
The questions that actually stop a game, and what this table does about each one.
My crib had four cards of one suit. Why no flush?
Because a crib flush needs all five cards, starter included. In your hand four is enough. This table follows the American Cribbage Congress wording, which is also what the major apps use.
Is a king with a queen a pair?
No. Both count ten toward fifteens and toward the running total, but pairs, triples and runs all go by rank, so only queen with queen scores.
Can I run king, ace, two?
No. The ace is always low in cribbage and a sequence never wraps from king back to ace. A-2-3 is a run; Q-K-A is not.
Does 31 also pay the point for the last card?
No. Thirty-one is worth 2 and resets the count; it never pays the extra Go point on top.
Do you play muggins, skunks or the stinkhole?
No. Muggins (taking points your opponent overlooked), skunk stakes and the stinkhole at hole 120 are widespread house rules, and this table deliberately leaves all three off. Agree on them before a real game starts, not after someone misses a count.
Ruleset: mainstream two-player cribbage, scored to the American Cribbage Congress definitions.