How to Score in Cribbage

Cribbage is scored during the play of the hand, as well as at the end. This scoring system applies to two-handed play.

Difficulty: Moderate

Instructions

Things You'll Need:

• 2 Chairs
• Card Tables
• Playing Cards
• Cribbage Board
• Cribbage Pegs

Scoring During Play

1. Peg two and say "fifteen two" if you play a card that brings the total to 15.

2. Peg two if you play cards that bring the total to 31.

3. Peg two for a pair if you play a card that is the same rank as the preceding card.

4. Peg six for a pair royal if you play a third card that is the same rank as the preceding two cards.

5. Peg 12 for a pair royal if you play a fourth card that is the same rank as the preceding three cards.

6. Score for a run if you play the last card in the run.

The Show

7. Score for all possible combinations of cards.

8. Score two points for any combination adding up to 15. Score eight points if you have a king, a queen and two 5's in your hand.

9. Score two points if you have a pair, six points if you have three of a kind and 12 points if you have four of a kind.

10. Score three for a run of three cards in consecutive order (regardless of suit).

11. Score four points if you have a flush or a hand in which all the cards are the same suit.

12. Score five points if you have a flush and the start card was the same suit.

13. Score one point ("one for your knob") if you have a jack in your hand that is the same suit as the start card.

14. Win the game when you score 121 points or more.

Tips & Warnings

• It is impossible to score 19. "Nineteen" is the term used to describe a worthless hand.
• The dealer counts the points from the four cards in the crib (and the starter card) after he counts the points from his hand. He scores pairs, runs, totals of 15 ... The only difference between scoring a hand and scoring the crib is that the crib cannot count a four-card flush. A flush must consist of all five cards of the same suit - for a total of five points.
• Ace is always low, so the sequence must go ace, 3, 2, etc. for the ace to be part of a run.

[mbaraka]

on 10/16/2009 All "4 of a kind" score 12, except for four 5's which score 20.

[dariyan]

on 7/22/2008 I heard having a Jack same suit as the turnup card "one for his nob/s"... as in "his nobs" being a member of the nobility.
Can;t explain "two for his heels" that way though.

[manpalfrey]

on 11/8/2007 four of a kind is only 12, because 3 of a kind is made up of 3 differant pairs @ 2 points each = 12, so 4 of a kind is made up of 6 differant pairs, ie all the pairs with diamonds in, eg. diamond with club, then diamond with heart, then diamond with spade, which only leaves 3 pairs which don't include diamonds, eg. spade with heart, spade with club then club with spade, simple? The mistake made to score it at 14 is when you split '4 of a kind' up firstly into 2 - '3 of kind's which will then actually use the the same pair twice, write it down and work it out. Unless there are 2 bonus points from somewhere.

on 9/9/2006 It's based on how many unique pairs' can be formed from the 4 cards, there are 6 unique pairs. 2 points per pair. This is also why 3 of a kind = 6 points, there are three unique pairs that can be made from 3 objects.

on 8/31/2006 Under Steps, item 2 you state if you have a King, Queen and two fives you score 8 -- I believe the correct score is 10.
You have a --

15 for 2
15 for 4
15 for 6
15 for 8
pair for 10