My dad, who passed away in January this year, played Cribbage in a local league. My wife taught me how to play only shortly before he died after she taught herself (in order to be able to bond with her own dad (another avid player)). My father and I never had much in common other than a love of tabletop games, albeit very different games. I wish I had had the chance to play this with him but he was too sick by the time I learnt. And here's the lesson I guess; don't miss the chance to learn "someone else's game" and then play it with them. There are some real gems out there but most importantly don't miss the opportunity to actually sit down and play with friends and family.
Yep, my dad taught me this game and we played frequently before he died. His father taught it to him as well. This is a very fun parent-child game, even at a young age, because at first it teaches math, and then later strategy/critical thinking.
In my case it was actually my grandfather and mother who taught me cribbage. We have since passed this knowledge onto my nephew. Part of the fun in crib is knowing the idiosyncratic scorimg phrases. Morgan's orchard (a pair of pears for a hand that has two pairs) or two lots of 15 being "15 2 15 4 and the rest won't score" are memorable to me. Muggins was also mandatory. There's a certain flair to announcing "15 2 15 4 15 6 15 8 2's 10 2's 12 and 4 runs are 24" when you have that sweet 67788 or 77889 hand though. Unlike poker, I've never seen a live 28 or 29, because quad 5s and a ten card is really hard to get. Think of that as a royal flush in crib.
I'm so there with you. My paternal grandpa, and to a lesser extent, grandma, loved it and taught it to me. They've both gone but some of my fondest memories was playing cribbage with them.
A zero point crib is called "19" because a 19 point hand is impossible to get. There is no combination of cards that will result in a 19 point hand, 18 yes, 20 yes, but not 19. Just a fluke of the math. So saying you have 19 points when you flip over a pointless crib is a way of lying about your score that any savy cribbage player knows is certainly untrue.
@@IronSalamander8 "twenty seven, four's eleven" "and there's the four! Now for my hand, a double run makes eight, and that's my fate. You?" "Fifteen-two, plus one for his knob makes three, and that's it for me. Then the crib's nineteen." "Hard luck. Care to cut?" There's a gentle magic to it all
Use Cribbage to determine who starts the Crokinole game. Try playing Crokinole on a dropdown airplane tray. I have a Midway Crokinole board and I wish I could play it more.
@@fuzzythoughts8020My dad fucking loves cribbage, and I have to wonder whether it was popular in the Air Force back then, too, or if he got it from somewhere else.
During the height of the pandemic, my parents and I would start a fire in the pit on the back deck, put on episodes of Whose Line Is It Anyway, and play cribbage. It was the happiest time in my life. Last year, my mother passed away, and when she couldn't move around, we played cribbage every single day until she couldn't stay awake anymore. You will forget a lot of moments in your life. You won't forget playing this with your loved ones. The comebacks. The clever combinations. The points you didn't see. You'll wish you could go back.
My old man play cribbage religiously on the ship during his naval career not just for fun but for keeping up mental capability. I simply didn't get it when I was young but as I've gotten older I've found playing a game like this during a conversation with him or friends is not only enjoyable but a fun way to keep yourself sharp. A couple of drinks and some pleasant conversation with a game like this really makes for an enjoyable weekend. Quinn, you've become my favorite conventional game youtuber not just because of your content, but because I believe you'd completely fit it with the veterans group I play with.
They forgot to mention the Skunk line optional rule! If you're playing multiple games of cribbage and you reach 121 points before your opponent reaches 91 points then you have "skunked" them, and you earn 2 match points instead of 1. It's also just fun to say you've skunked people
You only score a point on a ‘go’ if you are the closest to 31, not anytime the opponent says go. You also must play if you can. So if it’s 23 and they say ‘go’ and you have a 5, you must play that and, assuming you have no cards 3 or less, you score a point. This game is huge in WI, USA and MN, USA.
Huh, my experience was that Sheepshead was the more popular game in WI. Either way, I was the odd man out growing up in MI since Euchre was the game of choice for most people there.
Love this game, glad y'all gave it a proper video! I've always played that the non-dealer is the one who cuts the card, and they're also the one who gets the points for cutting to a Jack. Also of note in scoring, the game ends immediately after someone crosses the 121 point threshold. I've had games where I've won or lost on the play, and not infrequently been in spots where not being the dealer at the end has let one player eke out a win before the dealer crushes in with a 20 point hand.
Cribbage was a big game with my father and grandmother (his mother-in-law). I learned it at an early age of like 7 or 8. I was told that when I was 4, I would say in a sing-song voic, "15 2 15 4 15 6 and a run of three makes 9" apparently scoring the hand 5, J, Q, K. I had no idea what that meant at the time. We called the first phase of the hand (alternate play to score) "pegging". This is where my dad would just clobber me. Thanks for featuring this game, it brought back lots of great memories.
Absolutely love Cribbage. I live in Brazil and had to go through quite a process to import a decent Cribbage set, and it was so worth it! I love introducing people to this game.
Finally you covered my favorite game, and this was an awesome episode! When teaching crib you should always have the LEARNER deal first, not the teacher. This way you play the first card and also score your hand first, so you can show them how it works. To explain a couple details: 1) for the turn up card, non-dealer lifts the top half of the deck and dealer flips the exposed card over, placing it on top of the whole deck after non-dealer replaces it. 2) three-of-a-kind is 6 because there are three different ways to make a pair for 2 in it, and four-of-a-kind is 12 because there are six different ways to make a pair. You can summarize scoring as "15s, pairs, and runs" when teaching the first hand and then add flushes and jacks later. 3) a 0-point hand is called "nineteen" because it's a total score you can't possibly make in one hand. The other impossible hand scores are 25, 26, and 27, and the highest possible hand is 29 (thus lots of boards shaped like the number 29).
My friend and I created a fun chaotic version of the game called "Super Cribbage" where we deal eight cards to each person and we both get a crib, so you discard two to your crib and two to your opponents's crib. It just makes it a lot higher scoring and faster. We'd also do elaborate "cutting the cards" rituals. Robes and candles and incantations would often be involved. Sometimes one of us would cut the cards by actually building an entire house of cards until it fell, sometimes we'd only displace one card in the cut. It was always nerve-wracking and exciting to see what the other person was going to do on their cut. Cutting the cards would sometimes take as long as five minutes. Try it!
As a Canadian girl who grew up on the Prairies, I've been playing this game since I was a wee lass. Eventually, all the cheap plastic pegs would end up broken and we had to use matchsticks. Children. With. Match. Sticks.
My step dad did a 4-year hitch in the navy, and said that in their down time at sea they'd play cribbage literally for hours and hours and hours. Taught it to me as a kid, and I still think it is the absolutely perfect 2-player card game. It's a beautiful thing.
13 bits of errata in this video: 1. Offering non-dealer the cut allows them to steal the deal. 2. Non-dealer always cuts for the dealer to reveal the turn-up card. 3. Forcing a “go” is not always advantageous to the player that does it. 4. When Quinns hit 31 in that first round of hand play, he should have scored 5: 3 for the run, plus 2 for 31. Alternately, Kylie could have called muggins on the run and gotten the three points. 5. The game has changed slightly in the past 400 years. Players were originally only dealt five cards, discard 2 the crib for 3-card hand, and gane was to 61 points. Expanding to a 6-card deal/4-card hand increased the number of points per round and so the game went up to 121 points. People still do play 61- or 31-point variants. 6. Three of a kind in cribbage is called a “pair royale” because it is actually 3 pairs when parsed out as every possible combination of pairs. Similarly, 4 of a kind is a “double pair royale” yielding 6 possible combinations of pairs and therefore scores 12 points. 7. In the example 6-7-8-9 run during handplay the cards have totaled 30. Kylie could therefore not play a 5 or 10 to add to the run because that would exceed the count total past 31. Once reaching or nearing 31 and resetting the count, all cumulative scoring combinations are reset as well. 8.While it tends to produces the greatest number of points in the game, scoring what’s in the hand is not the only “real scoring” of Cribbage. If both players are equally skilled, the key to winning Cribbage (barring luck) is in the interactive handplay. 9. When scoring a hand or the crib, 15’s are always counted first. So Kylie would say, “I’ve got 15 for 2 and a run makes 5,” not the other way round. 10. Discarding to the crib is not pure gambling. while there might be a good bit of chance based on the interactions of both players’ cards (plus the turn-up), it takes skill to assess which duo of cards to discard to the crib. 11. The crib is not “usually bad” and will mostly give the dealer a minimum of 5 points. 12. in explaining “19,” what Quinns probably meant to say is that no hand or crib combination can ever total 19 points. Thus, “I’ve got 19,” means, “I’ve got nothing.” 13. Cribbage is not a dumb game. Thanks for the video and all that you do!
I learned Cribbage from my parents and grandparents as a child and it has been my go to card game for years. Great game. Just a few things for you: Last card is only scored for the very last card played in the hand, i.e. when no one has any cards remaining in their hand, not just for the last card played in a set. Don't know if I missed it, but a flush in the crib requires all 5 cards to be the same suit (unlike the hand, which only requires the 4 cards in the hand and not the cut card). 19 is used for a 0 point hand because no combination of 5 cards can give 19 points (25,26,and 27 are also impossible hands to score). Finally, cribbage can be played with 3 or 4 people as well. For 4 people, it is played in teams, with teammates sitting opposite each other and each person is dealt 5 cards, with one being discarded to the crib. Teammates share points. For 3 player, everyone gets 5 cards and the dealer deals one card to the crib (you can even find cribbage boards with 3 tracks instead of 2 to allow for score keeping of 3 player games).
My dad is an amazing card player. He attributes it to growing up on a farm with a low capacity water heater when he was a kid. He and his siblings would play a game a Cribbage to see who got the hottest shower in the morning. He said that he learned to get good really quickly. Then he picked up bridge and started to hustle it when he was in the military in Vietnam and after he got home. He would act like a rube and go to Bridge clubs that were popular back then and play somewhat poorly, but (full of confidence) asked if the players wanted to play for money (for points). Then, no matter who he was paired with, he'd go on to win again and again and rack up some impressive pots. I wonder if Quinns is going to cover Bridge at any point? I always feel like it is a big accomplishment if I can beat my dad at Cribbage or any card game really. It would also be great if the SUSD crew covered playing Cribbage with four people. It is a really fun way to play as well.
As someone who has played cribbage since I was about 4, this video was a little hard to watch because it's obvious to me that you're both learning to play from a book. But there are a few rule differences between the explaination in the video and how I've always played. Not saying one or the other is wrong, just different, so I'll put my two cents in for anyone interested. It also doesn't have to be only a two player game - I've played with 2, 3 and 4 players before - more on that at the end. We've always called the different phases of time in a hand as follows: *Deal* - The dealer for that hand shuffles and deals 6 cards to each player. *Discard* - Each player discards two cards into the crib. *Cut* - The player to the left of the dealer cuts the remaining cards, taking at least two cards off the top and leaving at least two cards on the bottom (this can be done while the other player is still deciding what to discard, just don't flip the top card yet). *Flip* - The dealer flips the top card, but not before all players have discarded. *Pegging* - The player to the left of the dealer starts the pegging round by laying down one of their cards. Each player keeps verbal tally as they lay down a card. 2:50 Everything in the video is correct here but I've always used this terminology: when the total reaches 15 that player says "Fifteen for two" as they lay the card down and move their peg. Same for a pair, if the previously played card was a 9 and the total is 9, then the players says "Eighteen for two" or, alternatively, "Eighteen for a pair". Same for a run, if it's a run of three, then the player says the current tally then the number of points they pegged "* total * for three". *Count* - The player to the left of the dealer counts and scores his revealed hand first. Dealer should be the last of the players to count, counting his hand and then lastly the crib. Again the video is correct here, but terminology is similar to what I've said about the pegging round. For example, in a hand with K K 5 8 and a 3 flipped over, the player might count K 5 as fifteen, the other K and 5 as another fifteen, and a pair of kings but the player would say aloud while pointing to each of the cards as they are counted "Fifteen two, fifteen four, and a pair is six". The player would then move his back peg to score the hand total, unlike the video at 8:18 where they move the peg for a run of three, then move the peg again for fifteen. Another example, 10 7 6 8 and a 9 flipped over might be counted as "Fifteen two, fifteen four, and a run of five is nine". 10:07 I've also always called a jack of the flipped suit "nibs" not nobs, but I suppose that's of no consequence. As a side note, because all that adds up to a lot of syllables to say and once you play for years you don't have to consult a rulebook to know how many points are in your hand, you end up saying this all in a rush and somewhat slurred together "fideentwo fideenfour fideensix andapairiseight". I imagine this is a game which auctioneers play to practice their auctioneer voice. *Crib* - The crib is counted last and similar to each player's hand at this point, should simply be flipped face up onto the table so all players can see the value of the cards. *Lastly* the cards are gathered by the player to the dealer's left. This player becomes the dealer of the next hand. A couple other things: The game ends immediately when any player reaches 121 points, even if this occurs during the pegging phase and players are still holding cards in their hand. It ends immediately. Any player at 90 points or less at game end has been "skunked" and if a player is at 60 or less points at game end then they have been "double skunked". To play with three players: This is done by dealing each player 5 cards and one card directly to the crib (this card is unknown to any player until the crib is revealed at the end of the hand). Each player discards one card to the crib leaving four cards in the crib and everyone a hand of four. During pegging and counting, play proceeds clockwise. During pegging if the current tally is less than 31, all players must say "go" by being unable to play any cards and then the last player to play a card gets one point. If a jack is cut and flipped face up, then the dealer gets the two points, as stated in the video at 10:28 however I've always scored those points when the jack is first flipped over, not at the end of the hand like in the video. Games have ended before even pegging a hand because of this. Overall I think the game moves slower with three. Not only are there 50% more players and therefore actions than in a two player game, but you only have 5 cards to choose from in your starting hand, not 6 cards in a two player game. With 6 cards to choose from in a two player game you should, on average, end up with a better hand after discarding than you would with 5 cards to choose from. Cribbage boards are available to accommodate playing with three people. These boards have three parallel scoring tracks and three sets of pegs instead of two. You can obviously use a three player board to play a two player game, just leave one set of pegs in the box. To play with four players in two teams of two players: Deal each player five cards, each of them discarding one card into the crib. Teammates sit opposite each other so that the player sitting immediately to your left and right are on the opposing team. You should not sit next to your teammate. Also, what you are discarding is still kept secret and cannot be communicated to your team. Play proceeds clockwise like in a three player game. A game with four suffers a little from the slowness of more player and a more limited starting hand similar to a three player game, but there are twice as many players scoring for each team than in a two player game, so games actually move quite quickly. Any cribbage board can accommodate a game of two teams of two players. Final thoughts: Cribbage is a good card game for kids. It's a good mix of luck and strategy so they have a fighting chance and includes a lot of arithmetic. It's also equally good with 2 or 3 players. 4 players in two teams of two is a little different because you have teammates but is still great. Cribbage is a great filler game to play over lunch with a cheap deck of cards that you don't mind getting messy or as a filler game to start while you wait for more people to arrive to play the featured board game of the night.
Slight correction, the term “19” for a non scoring hand is not because 19 isn’t worth anything, it’s more mathematically interesting, 19 is an impossible score, you can get a hand that scores less, or more, but never 19. Also “proper” cribbage pegs always get lost and broken or are a bit crap...swap them for matches! Centuries of pub based play means missing parts are not a problem. :)
Thanks, SUSD! This is one of my mom’s favourite games. Not even a week ago I was thinking I should really try to remember/figure out the scoring so I can play with her, and here you are to do all the demystifying for me! 👍🏻
Absolutely. Euchre is THE trick-taking game of choice. My wife's family were rabid euchre players. It's the only game that took me a very long time to become even passably good at.
Crib is a simple game and lots of fun. My kids' teachers asked us to intro it to them early (primary school) to help develop math skills. Maybe that's a Canadian thing
I have often thought that "smarter" card games (Hearts, Spades, Euchre, etc. and esp. Cribbage!) should be introduced as early as possible, if the tots want to play with the grown-ups. And they usually do, if they see you're having fun. Don't forget to dismiss out loud that those other mind-numbing kiddie card games (Old Maid, Crazy Eights, Go Fish, etc.), are "just for kids"! But seriously: If taught in the schools, I'd bet that discreetly watching them play games like Cribbage would provide as sure a sign as any, as to their rate of mental development.
We got so bored on a graveyard shift we printed off the rules and learned to play. We used written scores in little note books as no one had a cribbage board at the time. That was 17 years ago and I've played it ever since.
Teaching tip - start with how to score a hand. THEN go to scoring pegging, since then you're just adding the 31/go rule to "things that score in a hand"
I think you have a rule screwed up there. Your opponent does get a point for a "go" but not an additional point for last card unless they scored points such as reaching 31, playing a pair or run. Your scoring counts a "go" twice.
I really love cribbage, used to play it with my dad all the time growing up. I know there are as many different sets of rules as there are cribbage boards but the rules I learnt meant never shuffling the deck. You just put the cards on the bottom and start from there. It means that the cut really determines where those cards are going to end up and you can predict where certain cards are in the deck. If your last hand had all aces you're not getting any this time round probably.
My grandpa who taught me this game as a kid loved it and I spent a lot of time when I was older but still living nearby, driving over there just to play it with him and grandma. They're both gone and I'm rusty but it's a fun game and one of the few things I wanted to keep from the house was the main cribbage board and deck of cards we used to play with. It's great to see you guys talk about this classic game.
I looked through the comments and I haven't seen anyone mention the best crib variant: Black Hole Crib! Take a jiffy marker and draw a black circle around the 5 holes before every multiple of 30 (25-30, 55-60, 85-90, 115-120). If you land in a black hole at the end of pegging, you don't get to count your hand (or your crib). Sounds crazy? Wait 'till you get the hang of it. The first time you see the hole coming, throw away points from your good hand, and land in just front of the hole so you can clear it on the next turn you will feel like a genius. Unless of course, your opponent forces you to take to many points in the pegging round. It adds so much turn to turn variety. Highly recommended for experienced players looking to spice up one of their favorite classic games.
This feels like clavin ball of tabletop games. So many random, crazy rules; most of which benefit the dealer (ie. The person most likely to be teaching/making up the game)
When my grandpa was getting old he couldn't see or hear well but his mind was still super sharp. We'd play this with giant old person playing cards. He'd laugh in my face when he won. Good times. I actually think it was a great game to learn as a kid. Pattern recognition, quick math, and a surprising amount of strategy and probability. A skilled player will certainly win.
I am bound and determined to learn this game since I have not opened my cribbage set box that I received last Christmas from my sister...have not even taken the plastic wrapping off and feel so bad about it ! lol My grandfather and uncles would sit all night long drinking and smoking and playing this classy ( difficult looking) old English game of Cribbage ...I know it has to be very fun to play and addicting once you learn! Thanks for this educational video...cheers from Alabama,USA!
I learnt a variant of cribbage where you "warm the deck", meaning you do not shuffle the deck but randomish put the played hands at the bottom. I would recommend because you can somewhat anticipate the cards your opponent might have and play accordingly, which adds another layer of depth, however the frequent cutting gives the deck enough variation to not become properly predicatble or stale.
Learnt this from my granddad, and it is pure nostalgia goodness. There are a lot of rhymes about how to win extra points and stuff that I don't really remember. "27 four is heaven" etc. And the counting of hands at the end is hypnotic. There is a banter to it. "15 two, 15 four. Pair's 2. And one for his knob." And so on. I got pretty good at discarding the right cards at the start, but granddad would always win because he could rack up points on the playing cards phase. It looks like a game of chance at first. But the more you play, the better your 'luck' gets.
My grandfather, a US Navy veteran, learned the game while he was serving, and he taught me cribbage at a young age. It is strange to hear the scoring described as arcane considering that I have been playing cribbage since I was in grade school. It does explain the glazed look on the faces of adult gamers i try to teach it to.
“Dumb but with artistry” is so on brand for me and why I love this game. Also my family has a house rule where you have to rhyme when you score? Like “Fifteen for two, the rest won’t do!” Which I’m starting to think is a rule my father made up...
My grandfather taught me this when I was only 9 years old. He was in the navy and could not bring much on the ship with him so his little cribbage set provided him with endless entertainment. I thank you for sharing with other people how fantastic this game really is.
Made a decision to learn cribbage nearly thirty years ago as an excuse to own a fancy cribbage board, and I made the right choice! It's some sort of living fossil of card games. Lucky enough to play casually but deep enough to reward thought and experience. I also wound up with an enormous Drueke tournament board that you could iron shirts on, and got some giant clown cards to go with it. It's not as practical for a late night with coffee in a diner, but still feels worthwhile.
In case anyone wants to know what the 3-4 player variants are: 3 player: Deal hands of 5 cards each, and deal one card directly into the crib. Each player discards one card into the crib. The rest plays as you'd expect, with dealer's left scoring and pegging first and going clockwise to the dealer. 4 player: Play in teams of 2, sitting across from your teammate. Deal 5 cards to each player, and each player discards 1 into the crib. When players score, they move their team's pegs. Score and peg from the dealer's left clockwise.
I love Cribbage, I play it against my mum and she's waaaay better than me! Another excellent video! The only additional point I felt you missed was the importance of that fact the dealer scores second. Often a close game can come down to the turn order at the end, with the dealer scoring second they can be beaten to the line before they have a chance to add their final score, even more so if they had a strong hand pegging just before. There's a good reason Cribbage has survived a long time, there is a massive element of body-language-esk sorts of play, that kind of reminds me of poker. There's a four player version too, which i don't know so another video would be appreciated! xD
Okay I will hop on a soapbox here and actually rave about cribbage a second. It's a game that doesn't look like it has much strategy. The more you play it, however, the more you realize just how much there is. What you put to the crib matters - should you put that pair in? That combination of 15? These choices are subtle but they make a big impact. Similarly, when you are playing the first "counting" phase of the game, things get really tactical. You start trying to figure out what your opponent kept; you try to set up runs or pairs with 15s. Figuring out if you try to get close to 31 or stay far away. This game is actually absurdly tactical and there is a LOT of strategy behind it.
I was taught cribbage in about 2 minutes, next thing I heard was "15 for 2, 15 for 2, run for 3, I got the nob that's one point"...points were flying all over, my grandmother in law stole points from me and I got skunked. Having a 90 year old woman sit across the table from you stealing your points is very intimidating. I always go back to that memory whenever I see someone struggling with a boardgame on their first play. It took all day to figure out how to play halfway decently for me.
I think this is one of the reasons I was so good at maths as a child. My Grandfather taught this to me when i was quite young, about 7 or 8 and all my cousins too. We would play games and game and games of it over at my grandparents who had 4 crib boards. The harder part was finding a deck of cards that had all the numbers in it. :)
I love cribbage. My grandparents spent evenings playing cribbage because they didn't have cable or anything else to do. My parents played cribbage as a result and I guess that's where I learnt it (they had a little bit more to do, but not enough to not play cribbage). The rules aren't as hard as they make them out to seem; a couple games in and you'll get the hang of it. I remember hearing of one of my grandmother's friends, who got the ever so hard to achieve max of 29, and getting her picture in the local newspaper because of it; good times! I'm sure there were massively sounding high fives and legendary statuses doled out on individuals because of this... Typing all of this out kind of makes me seem like someone who's never seen the internet. Cribbage is good.
My parents used to play Cribbage ALL. THE. TIME. They had their travel board for when we went out to eat, and a big wooden board on the coffee table at home. They tried to teach me and my sister, but we never really liked the game. Cribbage with Grandpa, though, is really, really good. Thank you for the recommendation. I now want to study up on the game so I can destroy my parents when I see them next. (And who do we have to beg for Mahjohng with Grandma?)
I love seeing cribbage mentioned online by others in the UK it seems that it has become almost forgotten here. Also like seeing someone else talk about how difficult actually teaching crib is... "So you deal six cards to each....ok so now you have to understand the scoring to do this properly....but now forget about that but also kind of remember it for scoring this part .... don't play too high to start but also don't play too low"
I've been playing since I was in elementary school and this is my favorite card game. Some of my relatives play cutthroat where if you miscount your points, they take the points you missed.
Great game. I’m from Florida. My wife from Wisconsin. I had never heard of the game until I met her and began playing her and her family. Since they have played for ages, they can score hands in seconds. It’s pretty impressive but after awhile you will get the hang of it. It’s fun game and an awesome way to pass 30-40 mins while socializing and playing. We are usually on vacation when we play and it’s great. Especially when you beat someone that has been playing forever. To help you learn, pick up a cribbage game on your smart phone as it can help you learn the basics and the scoring.
This is a game where the ability to be quick shines through. I'll second that suggestion: If you're new to Cribbage, and know that you'll be facing players already familiar with it, find a computer/smartphone Cribbage app, and practice---esp. the scoring. Do it in your head, even though it's computed for you.
What is this, Card Games that Don't Suck? Oh. Yeah. That's exactly what it is. Enjoying the series. Growing up I played Cribbage with my grandfather. What good memories.
Without a doubt, hands down my favourite card game. I’ve been playing it for about 37 year now. This is a 10/10 game for me - I will always play it no matter what the circumstances. In fact my love of cribbage impacts my ability to play my second favourite card game : Texas hold ‘em. I end up wanting to bet heavy on cards that total 15 :/ thanks for covering it 😊😊😊
I actually love Crib. I used to play with my parents a lot. We used to play a 3 player version where everyone got 5 cards instead and one card from the deck was dealt into the dealers extra hand
Just to add something here, each player is dealt six cards each, whoever got the lowest card first gets to go first. Each player discards two cards into what's called a "crib" (whoever's turn it is, that crib is like a bonus at the end of their turn). Then the deck is cut (not like bugs bunny did that one time, lol) and the card that is on top of the cut deck comes out and goes on the very top of the deck. All cards like in other card games are like this: Royals: all count as ten point(s) Aces: count as one point. If you reveal a Jack (of any suite) after cutting the deck, you score two points on the cribbage board.
3:32 If you look closely, quins would have actually gotten 5 points for that 8, because it also gave him a run of 3 (6-7-8 played in a row) worth 3 points
And thats why you have the optional muggins rule. If you spot points your opponent doesn't score for you can MUG them for those points and add them to your score.
This has been my family’s go to game for like 14 years. Also, you can do teams (deal 5, each person puts one in the crib, opposite players score on same track).
This explanation could have been better. You make it a lot more complicated than it needs to be - I’ve successfully taught cribbage to 5 different people and none of them expressed as much confusion as the comment section here 😅😅
Another great choice for Card Games that don't suck. Also you can definitely play Cribbage with 4 people (in that version I've never played with Go points and you deal 5 cards each)
Cribbage was a right of passage growing up in rural in the Great Lakes region of the United States. Played across generations and passed to the next. I would not call "Muggins" or "Cut-Throat" a variant, you leave points out and your foe catches, that's on you. You can play "Teams" as well. Also some Cribbage boards are works of art. Random Cribbage fact: It is impossible to get point scores of 27, 26, 25 and 19 for a cribbage hand. There is no possible combination of 5 cards that will produce the above point totals. Sometimes a Cribbage player will score zero points for their hand if they claim that they have a "19 hand".
I use the muggins rule for all kinds of other competitive games. My favourite is using it for D&D when the players get ultra competitive with the DM (forgotten damage becomes healing)- quite quickly stops people interrupting future players turns when they finally realise they got the maths wrong. Wouldn’t do it for all games, but it’s useful if you’re trying to get players to keep the flow of a game going in maths heavy games
Love Crib. BTW its called the Box or Crib, not the "dealers additional hand" 😂. Also you can quite easily play with 3 and 4 players. Great vid. Spread the word of Cribbage! 👍👍👍
My playgroup and I at our LGS play this all the time. Worth noting that it can be played with 3 or 4 players as well. In those cases, you deal everyone 5 cards instead of 6, and in a 3p game, the dealer deals the last card into the crib face down so it still has 4 cards in it after each player discards a card into it. Also, there must be some scoring variants out there because: 1) We don’t play where making a player pass gives you points, but being the last person to play a card in a round that doesn’t hit 31 exactly is still worth 1 point. 2) The crib can only score a flush if all four cards in the crib PLUS the community card all are the same suit. No 4-pt flushes in the crib; 5 or nothin’. :)
This is the game that will always remind me of my father-in-law who passed away about 8 1/2 years ago of complications due to Alzheimer's. One of the last times we played this together, he and my mother-in-law were on one team and my wife and I were the other team. He was still in the very earliest stages of the onset of dementia/Alzheimer's, so just about every hand, he'd ask, "How do we play this again?" My mother-in-law would reply, "We're trying to make 15s, pairs, we count to 31..." He'd reply, "Oh yeah, yeah, yeah..." and then start picking through his cards. ... They beat us, 121-77! It wasn't even close! Just about every hand, I'd get 4 or 6 points (I think once I got double-digits), and he'd have 12 or 14 pts... once he almost got 20 pts. After the 3 hand, I started pulling a Ron Burgundy: "Scotch, scotch, scotch... I love scotch..." Even though we suffered a crushing (and demoralizing) defeat, it's one of my favorite memories of the man.
Love cribbage, my grandpa taught me when I was bored one day, and I used to make him play every time I saw him after. Me and my friends play it as well, there’s a 4 player variant, you play in teams of 2 where you face your team mate, you only deal 5 cards each so you only discard one and you have to go round the board twice, also you can’t tell your teammate what cards you have it’s a lot of fun. 2 facts for fun: it’s the only game you can legally gamble on in a pub (supposedly) Also it was invented by sailors who used pegs and notches in the ship to keep score, a moving boat would cause issues and rather than a board they used to cut notches into the wooden ship (at least that’s what my grandpa told me)
Played it a lot in my childhood, including 4-player (2 teams of 2) where each player gets 5 cards and puts 1 in the dealer's crib. Now I'm going to have to find my board, then find someone to play.
I have a set of Cribbage from my Great Grandfather. I never could be bothered to figure out the rules but this video has inspired me to dig it out and give it a go!
I have wanted to learn Cribbage for years. This is a great start, but good gravy that's rough to learn. I would love to see a playthrough, even if it was only a few rounds. I'm going to look into the app you suggested, that is what I did with Gin Rummy :)
You can play for free in your browser here: cribbageclassic.com/ there's also a free android app by the same name as that site which I play regularly on my phone.
Yay! Shut Up finally covered my absolute favourite card game. I've been playing this with my family (especially my grandfather) for as long as I can remember 🙂 On thing Quinns forgot to mention is that there are also 3 and 4 player variants for cribbage. I personally don't care for the 3 player variant but 4 players (the team game) is a lot of fun
I've played cribbage with my dad my whole life and he played it with his, so has a very special place in my heart. My dad taught me rhyming language which we always use if we play a card to make the total 31. Is this familiar to anyone else: Twenty two, nine'll do Twenty three, eight's a spree Twenty four, seven's a lore Twenty five, sixes alive Twenty six, five's a fix Twenty seven, four's eleven Twenty eight, three's awake Twenty nine, two's in time There's no rhyme for playing an ace or a ten card. And yes, it's nonsense. But it feels wrong if we don't say it! One other bit of cribbage slang we use is "Morgan's orchard" for a hand that contains only 4 points for 2 pairs. Because, so I've been told, two pears is all the fruit in Morgan's orchard.....
Cribbage is a phenomenal game that absolutely has a ton of depth both tactically and strategically. Assessing whether your hand is good for pegging or for points is key. How to balance those things while suckering your opponent into giving you extra points while pegging. Truly great game. And yes, buy a good cribbage board. It's not cribbage without one.
For combinations of cards, you score points based on how many cards are used. So a run of 3 is 3, a pair is 2, and a triple, composed of 3 pairs, is 6.
I think the best part of double runs is that they don't have a crazy rule attached to them, they are simply a shorthand of the rules for runs and pairs. A A 2 3 hand? 2 for the pair of aces, 3 for one of the A 2 3 runs, and 3 for the other run. Boom, 8 points. It's a great way of doing combinations!
Another nuance: When counting your hand after a round, runs can use interchanging cards as well. Example: You have a 5, 6, 7, K and the upcard is a 6. You can count the run in your hand for 3 points then swap the 6's and score the run for a total of 6 points. Also Muggins is lots of fun once you have the game under your belt!
This is the first real game I learned to play. I used to spend weekends with my dad and pepere playing games for hours, and still manage to get a game or two in when visiting home. This is my "lifestyle" card game.
My dad, who passed away in January this year, played Cribbage in a local league. My wife taught me how to play only shortly before he died after she taught herself (in order to be able to bond with her own dad (another avid player)). My father and I never had much in common other than a love of tabletop games, albeit very different games. I wish I had had the chance to play this with him but he was too sick by the time I learnt. And here's the lesson I guess; don't miss the chance to learn "someone else's game" and then play it with them. There are some real gems out there but most importantly don't miss the opportunity to actually sit down and play with friends and family.
same with my mom who passed away in October. sorry for your loss, sir.
@@dorkjedi Ditto man
Yep, my dad taught me this game and we played frequently before he died. His father taught it to him as well. This is a very fun parent-child game, even at a young age, because at first it teaches math, and then later strategy/critical thinking.
In my case it was actually my grandfather and mother who taught me cribbage. We have since passed this knowledge onto my nephew.
Part of the fun in crib is knowing the idiosyncratic scorimg phrases. Morgan's orchard (a pair of pears for a hand that has two pairs) or two lots of 15 being "15 2 15 4 and the rest won't score" are memorable to me. Muggins was also mandatory.
There's a certain flair to announcing "15 2 15 4 15 6 15 8 2's 10 2's 12 and 4 runs are 24" when you have that sweet 67788 or 77889 hand though.
Unlike poker, I've never seen a live 28 or 29, because quad 5s and a ten card is really hard to get. Think of that as a royal flush in crib.
I'm so there with you. My paternal grandpa, and to a lesser extent, grandma, loved it and taught it to me. They've both gone but some of my fondest memories was playing cribbage with them.
A cribbage reference card, or crib sheet if you will.
I will.
A zero point crib is called "19" because a 19 point hand is impossible to get. There is no combination of cards that will result in a 19 point hand, 18 yes, 20 yes, but not 19. Just a fluke of the math. So saying you have 19 points when you flip over a pointless crib is a way of lying about your score that any savy cribbage player knows is certainly untrue.
came here to say this!
can't you just get 3 sixes and an Ace for 19 points? or 19 points refers to your score?
@@pacman88 it refers to the points the hand is worth.
I learned that from grandpa, one of his favorite sayings. Along with stuff like '15-two, a pair is four, and the rest don't score!'
@@IronSalamander8 "twenty seven, four's eleven" "and there's the four! Now for my hand, a double run makes eight, and that's my fate. You?"
"Fifteen-two, plus one for his knob makes three, and that's it for me. Then the crib's nineteen."
"Hard luck. Care to cut?"
There's a gentle magic to it all
It’s good, but it’s no crokinole
true... but it is easily portable and can be played on a plane.
@@Terabiel oh my God it's clearly a joke
Use Cribbage to determine who starts the Crokinole game. Try playing Crokinole on a dropdown airplane tray. I have a Midway Crokinole board and I wish I could play it more.
@@Terabiel interestingly, and a ship.
Cribbage is a extremely popular game in the Navy
@@fuzzythoughts8020My dad fucking loves cribbage, and I have to wonder whether it was popular in the Air Force back then, too, or if he got it from somewhere else.
I was given a notification for this which listed the title as “Cribbage 2” and I got strangely excited.
YES, I'm a little disappointed.
Cribbage Legacy
Cribbage 2: Electric Boogaloo
3D Cribbage
Don't get too excited: the sequels always suck.
During the height of the pandemic, my parents and I would start a fire in the pit on the back deck, put on episodes of Whose Line Is It Anyway, and play cribbage. It was the happiest time in my life.
Last year, my mother passed away, and when she couldn't move around, we played cribbage every single day until she couldn't stay awake anymore.
You will forget a lot of moments in your life. You won't forget playing this with your loved ones. The comebacks. The clever combinations. The points you didn't see. You'll wish you could go back.
Cribbage is the Mario Party of card games. It's like 15 different mini-games, each scored differently.
Actual "lol"
Might be. Mario Party bores me to death, too.
Does it also tend to nuke friendships?
@@DystopianCreativity no, Mao is good for that though.
He's not wearing the shirt!
Samson outrage!!!!!
Booooooooo shirtless cribbage blows!
Foul play!
My old man play cribbage religiously on the ship during his naval career not just for fun but for keeping up mental capability. I simply didn't get it when I was young but as I've gotten older I've found playing a game like this during a conversation with him or friends is not only enjoyable but a fun way to keep yourself sharp. A couple of drinks and some pleasant conversation with a game like this really makes for an enjoyable weekend.
Quinn, you've become my favorite conventional game youtuber not just because of your content, but because I believe you'd completely fit it with the veterans group I play with.
You got a run of three on that first 31. Extra points, baby!
Why do so many people not see those extra 3 points for having 3 cards that are a run laid down in a row.
I came here looking for this comment.
Ditto, Terabiel
Don't you mean muggins?
@@LakeVermilionDreams Haha, so I guess I get the points.
In Canada, Kylie's abbreviated rule page is literally called a crib note.
They forgot to mention the Skunk line optional rule! If you're playing multiple games of cribbage and you reach 121 points before your opponent reaches 91 points then you have "skunked" them, and you earn 2 match points instead of 1. It's also just fun to say you've skunked people
Or the dreaded double skunk where you beat them while they have less than 61 points, which is worth THREE ENTIRE VICTORIES.
Me and my friends will also use the skunk line if we're playing for money. Say a quarter a peg you lose by...but double if you get skunked
You only score a point on a ‘go’ if you are the closest to 31, not anytime the opponent says go. You also must play if you can.
So if it’s 23 and they say ‘go’ and you have a 5, you must play that and, assuming you have no cards 3 or less, you score a point.
This game is huge in WI, USA and MN, USA.
Huh, my experience was that Sheepshead was the more popular game in WI. Either way, I was the odd man out growing up in MI since Euchre was the game of choice for most people there.
As a Minnesotan, I learned cribbage when I was 5. Pretty sure this was the first game I learned and own 3 different cribbage boards (2 I made myself).
West central Wisconsinite here, first learned cribbage around the age of 4 or 5.
Euchre, Sheepshead, Cribbage. The Midwesterners' Card Trifecta.
Jesse I am from MN and agree. It is one of the only card games I will play instead of a board game (the other being euchre or canasta)
I've played cribbage my entire life and never realized how utterly strange it is until this moment.
Love this game, glad y'all gave it a proper video! I've always played that the non-dealer is the one who cuts the card, and they're also the one who gets the points for cutting to a Jack. Also of note in scoring, the game ends immediately after someone crosses the 121 point threshold. I've had games where I've won or lost on the play, and not infrequently been in spots where not being the dealer at the end has let one player eke out a win before the dealer crushes in with a 20 point hand.
Cribbage was a big game with my father and grandmother (his mother-in-law). I learned it at an early age of like 7 or 8. I was told that when I was 4, I would say in a sing-song voic, "15 2 15 4 15 6 and a run of three makes 9" apparently scoring the hand 5, J, Q, K. I had no idea what that meant at the time.
We called the first phase of the hand (alternate play to score) "pegging". This is where my dad would just clobber me.
Thanks for featuring this game, it brought back lots of great memories.
Absolutely love Cribbage. I live in Brazil and had to go through quite a process to import a decent Cribbage set, and it was so worth it! I love introducing people to this game.
Finally you covered my favorite game, and this was an awesome episode! When teaching crib you should always have the LEARNER deal first, not the teacher. This way you play the first card and also score your hand first, so you can show them how it works. To explain a couple details: 1) for the turn up card, non-dealer lifts the top half of the deck and dealer flips the exposed card over, placing it on top of the whole deck after non-dealer replaces it. 2) three-of-a-kind is 6 because there are three different ways to make a pair for 2 in it, and four-of-a-kind is 12 because there are six different ways to make a pair. You can summarize scoring as "15s, pairs, and runs" when teaching the first hand and then add flushes and jacks later. 3) a 0-point hand is called "nineteen" because it's a total score you can't possibly make in one hand. The other impossible hand scores are 25, 26, and 27, and the highest possible hand is 29 (thus lots of boards shaped like the number 29).
My friend and I created a fun chaotic version of the game called "Super Cribbage" where we deal eight cards to each person and we both get a crib, so you discard two to your crib and two to your opponents's crib. It just makes it a lot higher scoring and faster. We'd also do elaborate "cutting the cards" rituals. Robes and candles and incantations would often be involved. Sometimes one of us would cut the cards by actually building an entire house of cards until it fell, sometimes we'd only displace one card in the cut. It was always nerve-wracking and exciting to see what the other person was going to do on their cut. Cutting the cards would sometimes take as long as five minutes. Try it!
This sounds so fun 😂😂😂
As a Canadian girl who grew up on the Prairies, I've been playing this game since I was a wee lass. Eventually, all the cheap plastic pegs would end up broken and we had to use matchsticks. Children. With. Match. Sticks.
yep - new matchsticks for red, burnt ones for black. It was years before I realised that the boards actually come with pegs.
The grandparent's board just used cut off nails for pegs.
Minnesota here. Can confirm, also matchsticks.
whoa so scary and dangerous
I can only imagine how insane this game must sound to someone who didn’t grow up with it.
I learned last summer for the first time. Game play itself isn't hard but scoring is tricky
th-cam.com/video/WtSvaSZ-xLU/w-d-xo.html
Not as weird as Euchre.
My step dad did a 4-year hitch in the navy, and said that in their down time at sea they'd play cribbage literally for hours and hours and hours. Taught it to me as a kid, and I still think it is the absolutely perfect 2-player card game. It's a beautiful thing.
13 bits of errata in this video:
1. Offering non-dealer the cut allows them to steal the deal.
2. Non-dealer always cuts for the dealer to reveal the turn-up card.
3. Forcing a “go” is not always advantageous to the player that does it.
4. When Quinns hit 31 in that first round of hand play, he should have scored 5: 3 for the run, plus 2 for 31. Alternately, Kylie could have called muggins on the run and gotten the three points.
5. The game has changed slightly in the past 400 years. Players were originally only dealt five cards, discard 2 the crib for 3-card hand, and gane was to 61 points. Expanding to a 6-card deal/4-card hand increased the number of points per round and so the game went up to 121 points. People still do play 61- or 31-point variants.
6. Three of a kind in cribbage is called a “pair royale” because it is actually 3 pairs when parsed out as every possible combination of pairs. Similarly, 4 of a kind is a “double pair royale” yielding 6 possible combinations of pairs and therefore scores 12 points.
7. In the example 6-7-8-9 run during handplay the cards have totaled 30. Kylie could therefore not play a 5 or 10 to add to the run because that would exceed the count total past 31. Once reaching or nearing 31 and resetting the count, all cumulative scoring combinations are reset as well.
8.While it tends to produces the greatest number of points in the game, scoring what’s in the hand is not the only “real scoring” of Cribbage. If both players are equally skilled, the key to winning Cribbage (barring luck) is in the interactive handplay.
9. When scoring a hand or the crib, 15’s are always counted first. So Kylie would say, “I’ve got 15 for 2 and a run makes 5,” not the other way round.
10. Discarding to the crib is not pure gambling. while there might be a good bit of chance based on the interactions of both players’ cards (plus the turn-up), it takes skill to assess which duo of cards to discard to the crib.
11. The crib is not “usually bad” and will mostly give the dealer a minimum of 5 points.
12. in explaining “19,” what Quinns probably meant to say is that no hand or crib combination can ever total 19 points. Thus, “I’ve got 19,” means, “I’ve got nothing.”
13. Cribbage is not a dumb game.
Thanks for the video and all that you do!
I learned Cribbage from my parents and grandparents as a child and it has been my go to card game for years. Great game. Just a few things for you: Last card is only scored for the very last card played in the hand, i.e. when no one has any cards remaining in their hand, not just for the last card played in a set. Don't know if I missed it, but a flush in the crib requires all 5 cards to be the same suit (unlike the hand, which only requires the 4 cards in the hand and not the cut card). 19 is used for a 0 point hand because no combination of 5 cards can give 19 points (25,26,and 27 are also impossible hands to score). Finally, cribbage can be played with 3 or 4 people as well. For 4 people, it is played in teams, with teammates sitting opposite each other and each person is dealt 5 cards, with one being discarded to the crib. Teammates share points. For 3 player, everyone gets 5 cards and the dealer deals one card to the crib (you can even find cribbage boards with 3 tracks instead of 2 to allow for score keeping of 3 player games).
You can also play 4 player cutthroat. It is...chaotic. In a good way. Usually results after too much wine at Christmas dinner. 😅
BRING THIS SERIES BACK!
My dad is an amazing card player. He attributes it to growing up on a farm with a low capacity water heater when he was a kid. He and his siblings would play a game a Cribbage to see who got the hottest shower in the morning. He said that he learned to get good really quickly.
Then he picked up bridge and started to hustle it when he was in the military in Vietnam and after he got home. He would act like a rube and go to Bridge clubs that were popular back then and play somewhat poorly, but (full of confidence) asked if the players wanted to play for money (for points). Then, no matter who he was paired with, he'd go on to win again and again and rack up some impressive pots.
I wonder if Quinns is going to cover Bridge at any point?
I always feel like it is a big accomplishment if I can beat my dad at Cribbage or any card game really.
It would also be great if the SUSD crew covered playing Cribbage with four people. It is a really fun way to play as well.
This series has confirmed for me that I should never try to get into card games, but I sure do enjoy seeing you guys enjoying them.
But but this is THE ONLY card game you need if you only ever get into one card game THIS is the one!
As someone who has played cribbage since I was about 4, this video was a little hard to watch because it's obvious to me that you're both learning to play from a book. But there are a few rule differences between the explaination in the video and how I've always played. Not saying one or the other is wrong, just different, so I'll put my two cents in for anyone interested. It also doesn't have to be only a two player game - I've played with 2, 3 and 4 players before - more on that at the end.
We've always called the different phases of time in a hand as follows:
*Deal* - The dealer for that hand shuffles and deals 6 cards to each player.
*Discard* - Each player discards two cards into the crib.
*Cut* - The player to the left of the dealer cuts the remaining cards, taking at least two cards off the top and leaving at least two cards on the bottom (this can be done while the other player is still deciding what to discard, just don't flip the top card yet).
*Flip* - The dealer flips the top card, but not before all players have discarded.
*Pegging* - The player to the left of the dealer starts the pegging round by laying down one of their cards. Each player keeps verbal tally as they lay down a card. 2:50 Everything in the video is correct here but I've always used this terminology: when the total reaches 15 that player says "Fifteen for two" as they lay the card down and move their peg. Same for a pair, if the previously played card was a 9 and the total is 9, then the players says "Eighteen for two" or, alternatively, "Eighteen for a pair". Same for a run, if it's a run of three, then the player says the current tally then the number of points they pegged "* total * for three".
*Count* - The player to the left of the dealer counts and scores his revealed hand first. Dealer should be the last of the players to count, counting his hand and then lastly the crib. Again the video is correct here, but terminology is similar to what I've said about the pegging round. For example, in a hand with K K 5 8 and a 3 flipped over, the player might count K 5 as fifteen, the other K and 5 as another fifteen, and a pair of kings but the player would say aloud while pointing to each of the cards as they are counted "Fifteen two, fifteen four, and a pair is six". The player would then move his back peg to score the hand total, unlike the video at 8:18 where they move the peg for a run of three, then move the peg again for fifteen. Another example, 10 7 6 8 and a 9 flipped over might be counted as "Fifteen two, fifteen four, and a run of five is nine". 10:07 I've also always called a jack of the flipped suit "nibs" not nobs, but I suppose that's of no consequence. As a side note, because all that adds up to a lot of syllables to say and once you play for years you don't have to consult a rulebook to know how many points are in your hand, you end up saying this all in a rush and somewhat slurred together "fideentwo fideenfour fideensix andapairiseight". I imagine this is a game which auctioneers play to practice their auctioneer voice.
*Crib* - The crib is counted last and similar to each player's hand at this point, should simply be flipped face up onto the table so all players can see the value of the cards.
*Lastly* the cards are gathered by the player to the dealer's left. This player becomes the dealer of the next hand.
A couple other things: The game ends immediately when any player reaches 121 points, even if this occurs during the pegging phase and players are still holding cards in their hand. It ends immediately. Any player at 90 points or less at game end has been "skunked" and if a player is at 60 or less points at game end then they have been "double skunked".
To play with three players: This is done by dealing each player 5 cards and one card directly to the crib (this card is unknown to any player until the crib is revealed at the end of the hand). Each player discards one card to the crib leaving four cards in the crib and everyone a hand of four. During pegging and counting, play proceeds clockwise. During pegging if the current tally is less than 31, all players must say "go" by being unable to play any cards and then the last player to play a card gets one point. If a jack is cut and flipped face up, then the dealer gets the two points, as stated in the video at 10:28 however I've always scored those points when the jack is first flipped over, not at the end of the hand like in the video. Games have ended before even pegging a hand because of this. Overall I think the game moves slower with three. Not only are there 50% more players and therefore actions than in a two player game, but you only have 5 cards to choose from in your starting hand, not 6 cards in a two player game. With 6 cards to choose from in a two player game you should, on average, end up with a better hand after discarding than you would with 5 cards to choose from. Cribbage boards are available to accommodate playing with three people. These boards have three parallel scoring tracks and three sets of pegs instead of two. You can obviously use a three player board to play a two player game, just leave one set of pegs in the box.
To play with four players in two teams of two players: Deal each player five cards, each of them discarding one card into the crib. Teammates sit opposite each other so that the player sitting immediately to your left and right are on the opposing team. You should not sit next to your teammate. Also, what you are discarding is still kept secret and cannot be communicated to your team. Play proceeds clockwise like in a three player game. A game with four suffers a little from the slowness of more player and a more limited starting hand similar to a three player game, but there are twice as many players scoring for each team than in a two player game, so games actually move quite quickly. Any cribbage board can accommodate a game of two teams of two players.
Final thoughts: Cribbage is a good card game for kids. It's a good mix of luck and strategy so they have a fighting chance and includes a lot of arithmetic. It's also equally good with 2 or 3 players. 4 players in two teams of two is a little different because you have teammates but is still great. Cribbage is a great filler game to play over lunch with a cheap deck of cards that you don't mind getting messy or as a filler game to start while you wait for more people to arrive to play the featured board game of the night.
Slight correction, the term “19” for a non scoring hand is not because 19 isn’t worth anything, it’s more mathematically interesting, 19 is an impossible score, you can get a hand that scores less, or more, but never 19.
Also “proper” cribbage pegs always get lost and broken or are a bit crap...swap them for matches! Centuries of pub based play means missing parts are not a problem. :)
I use metal pegs I got on Amazon, they won't break.
Or just get some metal pegs.
Thanks, SUSD! This is one of my mom’s favourite games. Not even a week ago I was thinking I should really try to remember/figure out the scoring so I can play with her, and here you are to do all the demystifying for me! 👍🏻
That is absolutely not enough shuffling, what are you doing Quinns
Would really love to see Euchre on here. Honestly one of my all time favourite tabletop games of any kind.
I absolutely second this motion!
Despite being from Michigan, I've never understood why Euchre stands out compared to other trick taking games.
Absolutely. Euchre is THE trick-taking game of choice. My wife's family were rabid euchre players. It's the only game that took me a very long time to become even passably good at.
Euchre was the game of choice on my dad's side of the family and cribbage on my mum's... I was always terrible at both x'D
Probably should do Pinochle too if they are going to do weird trick taking card games.
Crib is a simple game and lots of fun. My kids' teachers asked us to intro it to them early (primary school) to help develop math skills. Maybe that's a Canadian thing
I have often thought that "smarter" card games (Hearts, Spades, Euchre, etc. and esp. Cribbage!) should be introduced as early as possible, if the tots want to play with the grown-ups. And they usually do, if they see you're having fun. Don't forget to dismiss out loud that those other mind-numbing kiddie card games (Old Maid, Crazy Eights, Go Fish, etc.), are "just for kids"!
But seriously: If taught in the schools, I'd bet that discreetly watching them play games like Cribbage would provide as sure a sign as any, as to their rate of mental development.
@@richdawes66people sleep on rummy and gin.
We got so bored on a graveyard shift we printed off the rules and learned to play. We used written scores in little note books as no one had a cribbage board at the time. That was 17 years ago and I've played it ever since.
Teaching tip - start with how to score a hand. THEN go to scoring pegging, since then you're just adding the 31/go rule to "things that score in a hand"
I think you have a rule screwed up there.
Your opponent does get a point for a "go" but not an additional point for last card unless they scored points such as reaching 31, playing a pair or run.
Your scoring counts a "go" twice.
'.. fifteen two, fifteen four, pair for six and one for his nob ..' ah, takes me back to when I used to play with friends centuries ago
yes that rhythm. They are missing that rhythm.
Fifteen two, fifteen four... And I see no more.
(Or if you only have a two point hand) Fifteen two... And the rest won't do.
I really love cribbage, used to play it with my dad all the time growing up.
I know there are as many different sets of rules as there are cribbage boards but the rules I learnt meant never shuffling the deck. You just put the cards on the bottom and start from there. It means that the cut really determines where those cards are going to end up and you can predict where certain cards are in the deck. If your last hand had all aces you're not getting any this time round probably.
My grandpa who taught me this game as a kid loved it and I spent a lot of time when I was older but still living nearby, driving over there just to play it with him and grandma. They're both gone and I'm rusty but it's a fun game and one of the few things I wanted to keep from the house was the main cribbage board and deck of cards we used to play with.
It's great to see you guys talk about this classic game.
I looked through the comments and I haven't seen anyone mention the best crib variant: Black Hole Crib!
Take a jiffy marker and draw a black circle around the 5 holes before every multiple of 30 (25-30, 55-60, 85-90, 115-120). If you land in a black hole at the end of pegging, you don't get to count your hand (or your crib).
Sounds crazy? Wait 'till you get the hang of it. The first time you see the hole coming, throw away points from your good hand, and land in just front of the hole so you can clear it on the next turn you will feel like a genius. Unless of course, your opponent forces you to take to many points in the pegging round.
It adds so much turn to turn variety. Highly recommended for experienced players looking to spice up one of their favorite classic games.
It does sound crazy at first, but I can see how it could make an interesting twist on things. I'll try it!
This feels like clavin ball of tabletop games. So many random, crazy rules; most of which benefit the dealer (ie. The person most likely to be teaching/making up the game)
dealer changes each hand.
When my grandpa was getting old he couldn't see or hear well but his mind was still super sharp. We'd play this with giant old person playing cards. He'd laugh in my face when he won. Good times. I actually think it was a great game to learn as a kid. Pattern recognition, quick math, and a surprising amount of strategy and probability. A skilled player will certainly win.
"It's not enormously important in Cribbage etiquette" You're killing me.
xD im ded
I am bound and determined to learn this game since I have not opened my cribbage set box that I received last Christmas from my sister...have not even taken the plastic wrapping off and feel so bad about it ! lol
My grandfather and uncles would sit all night long drinking and smoking and playing this classy ( difficult looking) old English game of Cribbage ...I know it has to be very fun to play and addicting once you learn!
Thanks for this educational video...cheers from Alabama,USA!
I learnt a variant of cribbage where you "warm the deck", meaning you do not shuffle the deck but randomish put the played hands at the bottom. I would recommend because you can somewhat anticipate the cards your opponent might have and play accordingly, which adds another layer of depth, however the frequent cutting gives the deck enough variation to not become properly predicatble or stale.
I love Cribbage, and it regularly drives me crazy. It is one of several games that is guaranteed to hit our game table multiple times a month.
Learnt this from my granddad, and it is pure nostalgia goodness.
There are a lot of rhymes about how to win extra points and stuff that I don't really remember. "27 four is heaven" etc.
And the counting of hands at the end is hypnotic. There is a banter to it. "15 two, 15 four. Pair's 2. And one for his knob." And so on.
I got pretty good at discarding the right cards at the start, but granddad would always win because he could rack up points on the playing cards phase.
It looks like a game of chance at first. But the more you play, the better your 'luck' gets.
My grandfather, a US Navy veteran, learned the game while he was serving, and he taught me cribbage at a young age.
It is strange to hear the scoring described as arcane considering that I have been playing cribbage since I was in grade school.
It does explain the glazed look on the faces of adult gamers i try to teach it to.
“Dumb but with artistry” is so on brand for me and why I love this game. Also my family has a house rule where you have to rhyme when you score? Like “Fifteen for two, the rest won’t do!” Which I’m starting to think is a rule my father made up...
Or, "Two pair for four, and the rest don't score". Didn't always have to rhyme for us, but it would be a chance to show your wit.
My grandpa had similar rhymes he taught my Mom and me: "Fifteen-two, and that'll do", "Fifteen-two, fifteen-four, and no more" :D
My grandfather taught me this when I was only 9 years old. He was in the navy and could not bring much on the ship with him so his little cribbage set provided him with endless entertainment. I thank you for sharing with other people how fantastic this game really is.
Made a decision to learn cribbage nearly thirty years ago as an excuse to own a fancy cribbage board, and I made the right choice! It's some sort of living fossil of card games. Lucky enough to play casually but deep enough to reward thought and experience. I also wound up with an enormous Drueke tournament board that you could iron shirts on, and got some giant clown cards to go with it. It's not as practical for a late night with coffee in a diner, but still feels worthwhile.
I adore Cribbage, it has 3 and 4 player variants both are fun. I think I have 3 or 4 different cribbage boards in my house.
In case anyone wants to know what the 3-4 player variants are:
3 player: Deal hands of 5 cards each, and deal one card directly into the crib. Each player discards one card into the crib. The rest plays as you'd expect, with dealer's left scoring and pegging first and going clockwise to the dealer.
4 player: Play in teams of 2, sitting across from your teammate. Deal 5 cards to each player, and each player discards 1 into the crib. When players score, they move their team's pegs. Score and peg from the dealer's left clockwise.
@@nakorbluerider Thank you for mentioning this!
I ran through the comments to make sure someone said it cause it deserved a mention! :D
I love Cribbage, I play it against my mum and she's waaaay better than me! Another excellent video!
The only additional point I felt you missed was the importance of that fact the dealer scores second. Often a close game can come down to the turn order at the end, with the dealer scoring second they can be beaten to the line before they have a chance to add their final score, even more so if they had a strong hand pegging just before. There's a good reason Cribbage has survived a long time, there is a massive element of body-language-esk sorts of play, that kind of reminds me of poker. There's a four player version too, which i don't know so another video would be appreciated! xD
Okay I will hop on a soapbox here and actually rave about cribbage a second. It's a game that doesn't look like it has much strategy. The more you play it, however, the more you realize just how much there is. What you put to the crib matters - should you put that pair in? That combination of 15? These choices are subtle but they make a big impact. Similarly, when you are playing the first "counting" phase of the game, things get really tactical. You start trying to figure out what your opponent kept; you try to set up runs or pairs with 15s. Figuring out if you try to get close to 31 or stay far away.
This game is actually absurdly tactical and there is a LOT of strategy behind it.
Not to mention the endgame, where you might keep a hand specifically for pegging if you are close to going out.
I was taught cribbage in about 2 minutes, next thing I heard was "15 for 2, 15 for 2, run for 3, I got the nob that's one point"...points were flying all over, my grandmother in law stole points from me and I got skunked. Having a 90 year old woman sit across the table from you stealing your points is very intimidating.
I always go back to that memory whenever I see someone struggling with a boardgame on their first play. It took all day to figure out how to play halfway decently for me.
As a side note - if you play Cribbage a lot, you will also gain an instinct to know what numbers combine with any given number to make 15.
I think this is one of the reasons I was so good at maths as a child. My Grandfather taught this to me when i was quite young, about 7 or 8 and all my cousins too. We would play games and game and games of it over at my grandparents who had 4 crib boards. The harder part was finding a deck of cards that had all the numbers in it. :)
@@crystalheath6510 As a side note - 7 & 8 make 15 and set you up for a run with a 9, a 6 would set someone up for an easy 31.
I love cribbage. My grandparents spent evenings playing cribbage because they didn't have cable or anything else to do. My parents played cribbage as a result and I guess that's where I learnt it (they had a little bit more to do, but not enough to not play cribbage). The rules aren't as hard as they make them out to seem; a couple games in and you'll get the hang of it. I remember hearing of one of my grandmother's friends, who got the ever so hard to achieve max of 29, and getting her picture in the local newspaper because of it; good times! I'm sure there were massively sounding high fives and legendary statuses doled out on individuals because of this... Typing all of this out kind of makes me seem like someone who's never seen the internet. Cribbage is good.
My parents used to play Cribbage ALL. THE. TIME. They had their travel board for when we went out to eat, and a big wooden board on the coffee table at home. They tried to teach me and my sister, but we never really liked the game. Cribbage with Grandpa, though, is really, really good. Thank you for the recommendation. I now want to study up on the game so I can destroy my parents when I see them next. (And who do we have to beg for Mahjohng with Grandma?)
I have played this game in restaurants, on trains, on a plane, at work, basically everywhere I can. It’s the perfect two player game
QUINNS, you threw away a double run??? Shame!! Throw 9-6 and keep that juicy 10-10-9-8
The 10-10-9-8 and 7-8-8-9(gasp!) both made my cribbage brain happy.
I love seeing cribbage mentioned online by others in the UK it seems that it has become almost forgotten here.
Also like seeing someone else talk about how difficult actually teaching crib is... "So you deal six cards to each....ok so now you have to understand the scoring to do this properly....but now forget about that but also kind of remember it for scoring this part .... don't play too high to start but also don't play too low"
1:57 literally has a double run
3:33 didn’t realize the 3 pt run
Yeah, the 31 for 5... I guess he was trying to condense his words to fit in this video. His explanantion is too long, man! 😅
I've been playing since I was in elementary school and this is my favorite card game. Some of my relatives play cutthroat where if you miscount your points, they take the points you missed.
Zexstrow My father would always threaten to do this.
Great game. I’m from Florida. My wife from Wisconsin. I had never heard of the game until I met her and began playing her and her family. Since they have played for ages, they can score hands in seconds. It’s pretty impressive but after awhile you will get the hang of it. It’s fun game and an awesome way to pass 30-40 mins while socializing and playing. We are usually on vacation when we play and it’s great. Especially when you beat someone that has been playing forever. To help you learn, pick up a cribbage game on your smart phone as it can help you learn the basics and the scoring.
This is a game where the ability to be quick shines through. I'll second that suggestion: If you're new to Cribbage, and know that you'll be facing players already familiar with it, find a computer/smartphone Cribbage app, and practice---esp. the scoring. Do it in your head, even though it's computed for you.
Worth noting that to make a flush in the crib, the cut card must also match whereas in your regular hand you can score just the 4 cards.
What is this, Card Games that Don't Suck? Oh. Yeah. That's exactly what it is. Enjoying the series. Growing up I played Cribbage with my grandfather. What good memories.
Without a doubt, hands down my favourite card game. I’ve been playing it for about 37 year now. This is a 10/10 game for me - I will always play it no matter what the circumstances. In fact my love of cribbage impacts my ability to play my second favourite card game : Texas hold ‘em. I end up wanting to bet heavy on cards that total 15 :/ thanks for covering it 😊😊😊
I get the same thing playing Omaha … look down at a TJK5 flush and have to remind myself that it’s a rubbish hand
I actually love Crib. I used to play with my parents a lot. We used to play a 3 player version where everyone got 5 cards instead and one card from the deck was dealt into the dealers extra hand
Just to add something here, each player is dealt six cards each, whoever got the lowest card first gets to go first. Each player discards two cards into what's called a "crib" (whoever's turn it is, that crib is like a bonus at the end of their turn). Then the deck is cut (not like bugs bunny did that one time, lol) and the card that is on top of the cut deck comes out and goes on the very top of the deck. All cards like in other card games are like this:
Royals: all count as ten point(s)
Aces: count as one point.
If you reveal a Jack (of any suite) after cutting the deck, you score two points on the cribbage board.
"You don't need a cribbage board to play."
Yes. Yes you do. You need it. I tried playing without one once. I don't like talking about it.
I've played it by scribbling points on a piece of paper many times, it works fine.
The one time I played I just used my generic score keeping app. Worked much better then the cribbage score keeping app I tried.
@@FosukeLordOfError Nah. That wasn't Cribbage. I don't know what it was, but it's not Cribbage without the board.
You know that's 31 for 5 there... right? The run of 3 gets 3 points, 2 points for getting 31
Yeah, that made me twitch, too. That and his capable assistant tossing away one of the 7s from a double run.
THANK YOU!
Always wanted to learn how to play Cribbage thank you!
3:32 If you look closely, quins would have actually gotten 5 points for that 8, because it also gave him a run of 3 (6-7-8 played in a row) worth 3 points
Absolutely. I caught that as well and I was thinking "B-but, the run though...!"
And thats why you have the optional muggins rule. If you spot points your opponent doesn't score for you can MUG them for those points and add them to your score.
Grew up with Cribbage, thanks to my uncle and cousins who learnt it during their time in Greece. It's a fun intermission between other games.
Did anyone else cringe when Kylee threw away a 12 point hand?
I died a little inside. (They're new though. They'll learn)
Yeah I mean no disrespect to her. I also realize it wasn't a real game of cribbage, but it would help show the intricacies of cribbage scoring.
Oh my god, yes!
When you look down at your cards at 1:50 and get excited, then realize how badly you messed up at 2:59.
This has been my family’s go to game for like 14 years. Also, you can do teams (deal 5, each person puts one in the crib, opposite players score on same track).
This explanation could have been better. You make it a lot more complicated than it needs to be - I’ve successfully taught cribbage to 5 different people and none of them expressed as much confusion as the comment section here 😅😅
Another great choice for Card Games that don't suck. Also you can definitely play Cribbage with 4 people
(in that version I've never played with Go points and you deal 5 cards each)
Ben there’s also a version of 3 player cribbage.. you deal 5 cards each and then place one in the crib
@@shawnmonahan7833 also 6 player, three teams of 2.
And 5 player where the person getting the crib only gets 4 cards, or 6 where person with crib and dealer get 4.
Cribbage was a right of passage growing up in rural in the Great Lakes region of the United States. Played across generations and passed to the next. I would not call "Muggins" or "Cut-Throat" a variant, you leave points out and your foe catches, that's on you. You can play "Teams" as well. Also some Cribbage boards are works of art.
Random Cribbage fact: It is impossible to get point scores of 27, 26, 25 and 19 for a cribbage hand. There is no possible combination of 5 cards that will produce the above point totals. Sometimes a Cribbage player will score zero points for their hand if they claim that they have a "19 hand".
"Two for his heels and one for his knob..."
Never had either a good cribbage app or a granpa, now I have both. Awesome!
I use the muggins rule for all kinds of other competitive games. My favourite is using it for D&D when the players get ultra competitive with the DM (forgotten damage becomes healing)- quite quickly stops people interrupting future players turns when they finally realise they got the maths wrong. Wouldn’t do it for all games, but it’s useful if you’re trying to get players to keep the flow of a game going in maths heavy games
Love Crib. BTW its called the Box or Crib, not the "dealers additional hand" 😂. Also you can quite easily play with 3 and 4 players. Great vid. Spread the word of Cribbage! 👍👍👍
My playgroup and I at our LGS play this all the time. Worth noting that it can be played with 3 or 4 players as well. In those cases, you deal everyone 5 cards instead of 6, and in a 3p game, the dealer deals the last card into the crib face down so it still has 4 cards in it after each player discards a card into it.
Also, there must be some scoring variants out there because:
1) We don’t play where making a player pass gives you points, but being the last person to play a card in a round that doesn’t hit 31 exactly is still worth 1 point.
2) The crib can only score a flush if all four cards in the crib PLUS the community card all are the same suit. No 4-pt flushes in the crib; 5 or nothin’. :)
This is the game that will always remind me of my father-in-law who passed away about 8 1/2 years ago of complications due to Alzheimer's.
One of the last times we played this together, he and my mother-in-law were on one team and my wife and I were the other team. He was still in the very earliest stages of the onset of dementia/Alzheimer's, so just about every hand, he'd ask, "How do we play this again?"
My mother-in-law would reply, "We're trying to make 15s, pairs, we count to 31..."
He'd reply, "Oh yeah, yeah, yeah..." and then start picking through his cards.
...
They beat us, 121-77! It wasn't even close! Just about every hand, I'd get 4 or 6 points (I think once I got double-digits), and he'd have 12 or 14 pts... once he almost got 20 pts. After the 3 hand, I started pulling a Ron Burgundy: "Scotch, scotch, scotch... I love scotch..."
Even though we suffered a crushing (and demoralizing) defeat, it's one of my favorite memories of the man.
Love cribbage, my grandpa taught me when I was bored one day, and I used to make him play every time I saw him after. Me and my friends play it as well, there’s a 4 player variant, you play in teams of 2 where you face your team mate, you only deal 5 cards each so you only discard one and you have to go round the board twice, also you can’t tell your teammate what cards you have it’s a lot of fun.
2 facts for fun: it’s the only game you can legally gamble on in a pub (supposedly)
Also it was invented by sailors who used pegs and notches in the ship to keep score, a moving boat would cause issues and rather than a board they used to cut notches into the wooden ship (at least that’s what my grandpa told me)
If you're in Seattle, Quinns, I will school you at cribbage. I love the game and am glad that you shared it.
Played it a lot in my childhood, including 4-player (2 teams of 2) where each player gets 5 cards and puts 1 in the dealer's crib. Now I'm going to have to find my board, then find someone to play.
I have a set of Cribbage from my Great Grandfather. I never could be bothered to figure out the rules but this video has inspired me to dig it out and give it a go!
I have wanted to learn Cribbage for years. This is a great start, but good gravy that's rough to learn. I would love to see a playthrough, even if it was only a few rounds.
I'm going to look into the app you suggested, that is what I did with Gin Rummy :)
You can play for free in your browser here: cribbageclassic.com/ there's also a free android app by the same name as that site which I play regularly on my phone.
I've been playing cribbage so long I actually forget how to teach it to people. This video will be handy.
Yay! Shut Up finally covered my absolute favourite card game. I've been playing this with my family (especially my grandfather) for as long as I can remember 🙂
On thing Quinns forgot to mention is that there are also 3 and 4 player variants for cribbage. I personally don't care for the 3 player variant but 4 players (the team game) is a lot of fun
I've played cribbage with my dad my whole life and he played it with his, so has a very special place in my heart. My dad taught me rhyming language which we always use if we play a card to make the total 31. Is this familiar to anyone else:
Twenty two, nine'll do
Twenty three, eight's a spree
Twenty four, seven's a lore
Twenty five, sixes alive
Twenty six, five's a fix
Twenty seven, four's eleven
Twenty eight, three's awake
Twenty nine, two's in time
There's no rhyme for playing an ace or a ten card. And yes, it's nonsense. But it feels wrong if we don't say it!
One other bit of cribbage slang we use is "Morgan's orchard" for a hand that contains only 4 points for 2 pairs. Because, so I've been told, two pears is all the fruit in Morgan's orchard.....
I played cribbage a lot growing up with my parents, I think it was a way of them teaching me quick addition
Cribbage is a phenomenal game that absolutely has a ton of depth both tactically and strategically. Assessing whether your hand is good for pegging or for points is key. How to balance those things while suckering your opponent into giving you extra points while pegging. Truly great game. And yes, buy a good cribbage board. It's not cribbage without one.
For combinations of cards, you score points based on how many cards are used. So a run of 3 is 3, a pair is 2, and a triple, composed of 3 pairs, is 6.
You missed a great opportunity to cover the rules for double runs when you had the 7,8,8,9 hand :)
I think the best part of double runs is that they don't have a crazy rule attached to them, they are simply a shorthand of the rules for runs and pairs. A A 2 3 hand? 2 for the pair of aces, 3 for one of the A 2 3 runs, and 3 for the other run. Boom, 8 points. It's a great way of doing combinations!
Another nuance: When counting your hand after a round, runs can use interchanging cards as well.
Example: You have a 5, 6, 7, K and the upcard is a 6. You can count the run in your hand for 3 points then swap the 6's and score the run for a total of 6 points.
Also Muggins is lots of fun once you have the game under your belt!
This is the first real game I learned to play. I used to spend weekends with my dad and pepere playing games for hours, and still manage to get a game or two in when visiting home. This is my "lifestyle" card game.