Talk:Cribbage

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Highest Possible Score This section is incorrect:

The highest possible score in six-card cribbage is 29, for a holding of 5, 5, 5, J with a starter of a 5 of the same suit as the Jack. This scores:

"fifteen sixteen" - for J-5 four times and 5-5-5 four times,

"and twelve" - for four 5s,

"and one for his nobs makes twenty-nine."

If a player is holding four fives and turns up a jack then one extra point can be awarded (Two points are awarded to the dealer when a jack is turned up as the starter card, while only one point is awarded in the above example. However, this can only be achieved from the dealer position.


Can someone cite the legality of playing cribbage in british pubs for wager?


Well section 6 of the 1968 Gaming Act has dominoes and cribbage as exceptions for licensed premises, however the pub could always apply for a license to hold other games - for example a low stakes poker night.

However with the new Gambling Act 2005, it seems that dominoes and crib have lost their exclusivity.


The new law reads

Sections 279 & 280: Exempt gaming

706.     This section authorises the provision of gaming facilities on alcohol licensed premises, provided the gaming complies with certain conditions. No further authorisation is required to make the gaming lawful, provided the conditions are complied with.

707.     The conditions are as follows:

   * The facilities are limited to equal chance gaming;

   * Stakes and prizes for the gaming must not exceed any limits as to value or amount prescribed by the Secretary of State; 

   * No amount may be deducted or levied from amounts staked or won; 

   * No participation fees may be charged (and this includes membership subscriptions, see section 344(3));

   * The games played may only take place on one set of alcohol-licensed premises, i.e. there may not be any linking of games between premises; and

   * Children and young people must be excluded from the gaming.

Contents

[edit] Question About Statistics Section

This statement seems meanless to me:

The dealer will always peg at least one point in 2 player, 6 card cribbage (unless opponent pegs out before all the cards are played).

It says that the dealer will always peg at least one point, unless there are circumstances that make them score zero points. If there are no objections I will remove it.

meshach 01:37, 26 June 2006 (UTC)

It means that unless the game ends before a round of pegging finishes, the dealer must always peg at least one point - it's impossible for the dealer to score zero in pegging. Not well worded, I'll grant you. So I'll reword it and return it - see what you think. - DavidWBrooks 01:38, 26 June 2006 (UTC)
I Understand now - I had to think about that one for a while. Looks good
meshach 20:09, 1 July 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Dubious variant rules

I have played Cribbage for an awful long while and I've never heard of this (removed from the main article):

"In one (unfriendly, but nevertheless common) variation, the non-dealer does not have the right to cut the deck before the deal. In this variation, the dealer may choose to offer the cut; a naive or inattentive opponent will cut the deck and hand it back, whereupon the dealer immediately pegs one point; a knowledgeable opponent, though, will simply accept the deck, whereupon that player becomes dealer for that hand. Any player can not win the game by "peggin" points into "the hole"."

Cribbage has many optional, local, obsolete and obscure extra rules which I think properly belong on a specialist site - it seems best to me to concentrate here on the basic concepts. Keithlard 16:37, 19 September 2006 (UTC)

I've also been playing Crib most of my life and have never heard of this variation (not to deny it can and is played that way somewhere). I agree with your edit, mainly because there is nothing in the article to verify this variation. Agent 86 17:22, 19 September 2006 (UTC)


It may not be Hoyle, but I (and everyone I know who play) NEVER cut the cards. This is due for nearly the opposite reason it might be a "competitive" (i. e. betting) game. The reason is simple: it symbolically shows you don't believe your opponent has stacked the deck. A gentleman's game--no cheats. The point taken when the offered cut is made is mere gamesmanship. Most people play just a dime a point anyway, so it's usually no real issue, just innocent trickery.

As the author of (most of) the paragraph complained of, I have restored it as I originally wrote it. I have also been playing cribbage for a long time, and I encounter this variation quite often. Other than that, I don't know what manner of direct evidence I can offer that will satisfy you. You may, perhaps, though, take it as indirect evidence, that the ACC website sets out its contrasting official rules upon this same point so emphatically. Clayton D. Jones 09:35, 6 December 2006 (UTC)

Whether any of us has heard of it or plays it or likes it etc is immaterial. What is needed before this variation gets added back in is a verifyable source. Abtract 11:37, 6 December 2006 (UTC)

I'll just mark it down as under the control of a true believer, then, and leave it to your pleasure. Have fun!

Clayton D. Jones 23:31, 6 December 2006 (UTC)

[edit] How the cards are delt and box is formed in different versions of crib

Hi I like the crib wiki. I have played crib for a long while, but have never had the rules formalised for me. It seems that we have been playing all the correct rules with the exception of the flush in the box only counts if it contains the turn up card too, but I don't think it happens often enough to matter.

What I would like to have seen is a better description of how the cards get delt and the number of cards that end up in the crib. I know for 2 players, generally 6 cards are delt and each player puts 2 in the box, giving 4 cards for both players and box. Also in 3 & 4 player crib 5 cards are delt and 1 is put in the box (with 1 delt to the box in 3 player) again giving 4 cards for players and box. But how on earth does it work with 6 player?, or when playing 7 card crib? Does the crib end up with a huge advantage due to the extra cards?

Also I have been told that in crib you should only shuffle the deck at the beginning of the game and should NOT shuffle between rounds. The collecting of the cards however is not strict they are simply all placed to the bottom of the deck (obviously you do not then cut the pack or you would end up playing with the same cards again) and the next round is delt. The reason I was given is that it helps improve the hands over time, but I suspect it might have more to do with the elderly people that tend to play the game.

Don't shuffle between hands? That's a new one to this life-long cribbage player. But regional variations exist, of course - as well they should. Uniformity is so dull!
This article is dangerously close to violating (if not already in violation of) one of the rules of What wikipedia isn't - we're not a "how-to" guide. The idea isn't that you can print out this article and use it as your sole guide to learning and playing cribbage; doing that creates such a huge morass of information that it's of no use to the casual reader. So let's not try to explain every nuance of crib size or dealing patterns in all the variations - there are a zillion Web sites for that. - DavidWBrooks 16:16, 4 October 2006 (UTC)

[edit] a Flush or not

I've been playing cribbage round English pubs in Oxford and the South East (mostly country pubs) since the 1960s and in 40 years have never come across any game where a flush scored anything. My hunch is that somebody's been trying to humour a poker player who couldn't get the hang of crib! Does anyone have a source for flushes scoring? Cuirmichael 00:51, 16 October 2006 (UTC)

Wow - you're kidding, right? A flush is definitely part of standard scoring here in the U.S., where I've played it in a half-dozen states since the '60s. For older reference, it is part of the scoring in "Games for Two," by Mrs. Prescott Warren published in the U.S. in 1930 by Harcort, Brace. Perhaps this is an across-the-pond difference that should be mentioned in the article. - DavidWBrooks 01:23, 16 October 2006 (UTC)
No it is not a pond difference I was taught by my grandmother, a cockney, and a flush was counted even if it didn't include the starter and I can cite "The Penguin Book of Card Games", as British as you can get, edition 1987 page 338 and others.Abtract 23:11, 22 November 2006 (UTC)

[edit] eight card cribbage

A friend and I have developed an 8 card cribbage game for 2 players at present. Each player is dealt 8 cards. Two are put in a crib to yourself and 2 are given to the opponent's crib, thus giving each player a 4 card hand and a 4 card crib. Everything else is played the same as 6 card. The scores are higher and the game is faster.69.144.224.101 02:13, 21 October 2006 (UTC)R.J. Wilson

[edit] Latest edits

Let's work together on this.

  1. check this before you change my 'their' to avoid the awkward 'his or her'
  2. heels is when the jack is exposed on the deal but knibs and knobs refers to a jack of trumps exposed some other time (not on the deal turn up). Abtract 22:23, 4 December 2006 (UTC)
  • Please be cautious with the "revert" edit summary - it implies vandalism, which is incivil. As for checking, it works both ways. Agent 86 22:47, 4 December 2006 (UTC)
what would you like me to check?Abtract 22:50, 4 December 2006 (UTC)
I have checked nibs nobs and have corrected accordingly :) Abtract 09:06, 5 December 2006 (UTC)
I don't want to make a big point about this but according to the [1] American Cribbage Congress, Heels and Nibs are interchangehttp://www.compendia.co.uk/cribbage.htmable for the starter but nobs is unique for other Jacks of trumps ... site is quite clear, and it makes semse otherwise if nobs meant both how would we know which it was?. Your site seems to be a fairly rough commercial site with back of envelope rules ......... Abtract 18:02, 6 December 2006 (UTC)
We don't all live in America, but in 30 years of play throughout western Canada I can tell you the interchangeable use of the term is pretty common. However, you're quite correct that verification is important, but I'm not about to go out and check out every book I can on the game so that link had to suffice for now. Agent 86 19:31, 6 December 2006 (UTC)
The problem with that,as I'm sure you well know, is that it is immaterial what you tell me about interchangeabilty or indeed how many years you have played crib, or indeed where you played it ... what is important is what has been published by reputable sources. The ACC is clearly a reputable source, whereas the site quoted to support nobs as an alternative to heels strikes me as being a little amateurish. Here is a professional looking site which only mentions heels http://www.compendia.co.uk/cribbage.htm and this here is another http://www.pagat.com//adders/crib6.html, the Penguin Book of Card Games 1987 also makes no mention of nobs for heels and neither does Card Games by Hubert Phillips 1953. Incidentally I have played crib in western Canada (Edmonton) and I have never heard this usage of nob. I intend to make an edit that reflects this weight of opinion Abtract 23:45, 6 December 2006 (UTC)
Feel free to do so, despite "weight of opinion" not making the interchangeability of the term untrue. I have never denied that there are organized associations that have an agreed set of rules that do not include the alternate terminology referred to. However, unless players are members of these associations they are not beholden to their lock-step rules. I simply provided evidence for the edit and to show that there is a basis in fact that the term has been and can be used interchangeably. If you re-read my comment it is clear my edit was not based on personal experience. I proffered the comment about variations anecdotally, not in support of the edit or as a source. That all said, I have to agree with Clayton D. Jones and will leave the article to your pleasure. Agent 86 00:12, 7 December 2006 (UTC)
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