So the dealer aims to discard cards into the crib that will give a good chance of a high scoring hand whereas the opponent aims to confound this objective. This crib is effectively an extra hand scored for the dealer. Both players discard two cards face down and these two cards are henceforth referred to as 'the crib' or 'the box'.

The dealer shuffles, asks his opponent to cut and then deals six cards each. After the first hand, players take turns to deal. Players cut for the deal - lowest card wins. Players take turns to deal the first hand of each game. There is no requirement to get exactly 121 - it is simply the first to reach the target score.Ĭompetitions are normally played as the best of 3 games, a game being to either 61 or 121. Note that the game ends immediately either player reaches the final hole even if this is during the play or when the dealer pegs 'two for his heels'. Or put another way, to be the first to score 121 points. The aim of Cribbage is to be the first to move the pegs all the way up and down the board twice and end in the in the game hole. The pegs move up the outside of one side of the board and then back down the inside. Two pegs record the score for each player, the rear peg showing the previous tally, the foremost peg recording the current score. Scoring is normally recorded on a traditionally crafted board with four parallel lines of 30 holes each plus 2 game holes.

Cribbage is played with an ordinary pack of 52 cards without jokers.

Playing cribbage