CRIBBAGE Rev. 1.1.18

Objective

The goal is to be the first player to score 121 points (or 61 points, depending on your settings).

Rules of Play

• The Deal & Crib: Each player is dealt 6 cards. Both players choose 2 cards to discard face-down to form the "crib," which belongs to the dealer.
• The Cut: A card is cut from the deck to serve as the starter card. If it is a Jack, the dealer immediately scores 2 points ("Two for His Heels").
• Pegging: Players take turns playing one card at a time, keeping a running total that cannot exceed 31. Points are scored during this phase for making the total exactly 15 or 31, or for playing cards that form pairs or consecutive runs. If a player cannot play without exceeding 31, they say "Go," and the opponent scores 1 point (or 2 points if they hit 31 exactly). The count then resets to 0.
• Counting Hands: After all cards are played, players score the cards in their hands plus the cut card. The non-dealer counts first, followed by the dealer's hand, and finally the dealer's crib.

Scoring Reference

• Fifteen Two: 2 points for any combination of cards adding to exactly 15.
• Pair: 2 points for two cards of the same rank.
• Pair Royal: 6 points for three cards of the same rank.
• Double Pair Royal: 12 points for four cards of the same rank.
• Run: 1 point per card for a sequence of 3 or more consecutive cards.
• Flush: 4 points for four cards of the same suit in hand (5 points if the cut card also matches). The crib only scores a flush if all 5 cards match.
• His Nobs: 1 point for holding the Jack of the same suit as the cut card in your hand.
• Muggins: Claiming points that your opponent failed to score (if enabled in settings).
• Skunk: Winning by 31 or more points (Double Skunk: 61+ points).

The Computer Player

When discarding, the computer keeps the four cards that score best on their own, adjusted by a simple estimate of what its two discards are worth in the crib (a fifteen, a pair, a five, or two touching cards). When pegging, it plays the card that scores the most right now; with nothing to score it avoids leaving the count at 5, 10 or 21.

The Oracle

An advisor, not a boss; the decision stays yours. Press the 🔮 ORACLE button:

• Discarding: it compares all 15 ways to send two cards to the crib. Each is scored 50,000 times with the cut card and the computer's two crib cards dealt at random from the 46 cards you cannot see (the computer discards by its own rule above). The figure shown is your hand plus your crib when you deal, or your hand minus the computer's crib when it deals. Pegging prospects are not included.
• Pegging: it compares each card you could legally play by the pegging points you would score minus the computer's, from now to the end of the play, over 50,000 play-outs. The computer's unplayed cards are dealt from the cards you have not seen. Every time the computer said "Go" it held nothing that fit, and every card it played was the best its rule allowed; deals that contradict either are thrown out and re-dealt. The rest of the play is made by the computer's own pegging rule for both sides.
• During the count: the Oracle stays quiet while you are claiming points, so Muggins stays honest.

It runs on the shared Monte Carlo engine used across tedponderings.com. Every figure carries a 95% confidence margin, shown in the panel; two options within their margins are statistically tied.

Strategy Tips

When you are the dealer (your crib): feed the crib with pairs, touching cards, or cards that add to 15; a spare 5 belongs in your crib, since sixteen ten-value cards can make a fifteen with it; breaking up a mediocre hand is often worth a guaranteed 2 or 4 points in your own crib.

When the computer deals (its crib): never throw a 5; throw "balking" cards that are far apart and do not add to 5 or 15 (a King and a 2, a Queen and a 7, a 10 and a 4); never give it a pair or two touching cards.

Pegging: leading a 5 invites an easy fifteen; leaving the count at 21 invites thirty-one for two; pairing the opponent's card scores 2 but risks 6 if it holds a third.