Discard to the crib, peg to 31, and count every fifteen.
Play a fast Cribbage round against AI with a custom peg board, starter card, pegging line, crib scoring, and hand-count breakdowns. Two points for every fifteen, pegs racing along a 121-hole track, and a crib waiting at the end of each deal — the full tabletop rhythm, no setup required.
Cribbage is a two-player card game about making points in several different ways: choosing which cards to give the crib, pegging cards without passing 31, and counting hand combinations after a starter card is cut. The peg board is the scoreboard. Every fifteen, pair, run, go, and hand count moves a peg closer to 121.
This guide covers the standard two-player cribbage rules used by our online game. You will learn the deal, the crib discard, the starter card, the pegging phase, hand scoring, crib scoring, common edge cases, and practical examples for counting hands correctly.
If you want the point values in one place, use the dedicated cribbage scoring guide, and once the mechanics feel familiar, the strategy guide covers crib discards, pegging tactics, and board-position play.
Use one standard 52-card deck with no jokers. Two players sit across from each other. One player is the dealer for the hand. Deal six cards face down to each player. The remaining deck stays face down until the starter card is cut.
Each player chooses two cards from hand and discards them face down to form the crib. The crib belongs to the dealer. That means discarding is strategic: when you are the dealer you want to feed the crib useful combinations; when your opponent deals you want to avoid giving them easy points.
After both players discard, cut one starter card from the remaining deck and place it face up. The starter is used later when counting both hands and the crib. If the starter is a jack, the dealer immediately scores two points for "his heels."
When the crib is yours, discard cards that create extra ways to score with unknown help from the starter. Fives are powerful because any ten-value card makes fifteen. Connected cards such as 6-7 or 7-8 can become runs. Pairs can grow into three or four of a kind if matching ranks arrive. The dealer can take more risk because the crib points come back to them after both hands are counted.
When the crib belongs to your opponent, avoid giving easy combinations. Tossing a 5 is dangerous. Tossing connected cards can feed runs. Tossing a pair can feed pair points. Sometimes you must give away something useful to preserve a strong hand, but the discard decision should compare hand points against likely crib points, not just hand points in isolation.
Pegging is the play phase. Non-dealer plays first. Players alternate placing one card face up and announcing the running total. Aces count 1. Number cards count face value. Jacks, queens, and kings count 10. The running total may never go above 31.
Making exactly 15 during pegging scores two points. Making exactly 31 scores two points. If a player says go and the opponent cannot continue to 31, the player who made the last legal play scores one point for go or last card.
Pegging also scores pairs and runs from the most recent cards played in the current sequence. A pair scores two points. Three of a kind scores six because it contains three different pairs. Four of a kind scores twelve because it contains six pairs.
Runs score by length when the latest cards can be rearranged into consecutive ranks. For example, if the recent cards are 7, 9, 8, the player of the 8 scores three for a run of 7-8-9. The cards do not need to be played in sorted order, but they must form an unbroken sequence with no duplicate rank inside that run.
You play a 5 for total 5. Opponent plays a 10 for total 15 and scores two. You play another 5 for total 20 and score two for the pair of fives. Opponent plays a 6 for 26. If you cannot play without exceeding 31, you say go. If opponent also cannot play, they score one for last card and the total resets.
After all eight hand cards have been pegged, players count hands with the starter. The non-dealer counts first, then the dealer counts, then the dealer counts the crib. Each count uses five cards: the four cards in that hand plus the starter.
Every unique combination totaling 15 scores two points. A hand can contain several fifteens. For example, 5-5-5-J with a 10 starter has many separate fifteen combinations because each 5 can pair with either 10-value card.
Pairs count the same way as pegging: two points per pair. Runs count by length, and duplicate ranks can create double runs. A hand of 7-8-8-9 with any non-run starter has two separate three-card runs: 7-8-9 using the first 8 and 7-8-9 using the second 8.
Four cards of the same suit in your hand score four for a flush. If the starter matches that suit too, the flush scores five. In the crib, a flush usually scores only if all five cards, including the starter, share the same suit. One for nobs means a jack in your hand matches the starter suit.
Example 1: Your hand is 5, 5, 10, K and the starter is Q. Each 5 with each 10-value card makes fifteen. There are six fifteens for twelve points, plus one pair of fives for two points, for a total of fourteen.
Example 2: Your hand is 7, 8, 8, 9 and the starter is 2. You score two separate runs of three because either 8 can complete 7-8-9. You also score two for the pair of eights, for a total of eight points.
Example 3: Your hand has the jack of hearts and the starter is the 4 of hearts. That jack scores one for nobs. If your other four hand cards are all hearts, the same hand also scores a five-card flush.
Traditional cribbage is a race to 121 points. Many quick online rounds summarize one hand at a time, but the scoring logic is the same. Pegging points happen immediately. Hand and crib points are scored after play. The crib always belongs to the dealer, so the deal alternates between players across hands.
You cannot peg a card that would take the running total above 31. Saying go is not a penalty; it simply means you have no legal card. Aces are always worth one in pegging and counting. Face cards are worth ten for fifteens, but their ranks remain jack, queen, and king for runs.
Pegging runs are checked from the latest card backward within the current count. The most recent cards must be rearrangeable into consecutive ranks, and no rank can repeat inside the run. A sequence of 4, 6, 5 scores three when the 5 is played. If the next card is another 5, it may score a pair with the previous 5, but it does not extend the run because duplicate fives break the consecutive set.
In traditional cribbage, pegging points can win before hand counting begins. If neither player reaches the finish during pegging, the non-dealer counts hand first, then dealer counts hand, then dealer counts crib. That order matters in close games. A non-dealer at 118 can win by counting three points before the dealer ever reaches a larger hand or crib.
The cleanest way to count a cribbage hand is to use the same order every time. First count every fifteen. Then count pairs, including three-of-a-kind and four-of-a-kind as multiple pairs. Then count runs, watching for double runs created by duplicate ranks. Finally count flush and nobs. Using a fixed order prevents the common beginner mistake of counting the same run twice while missing a fifteen.
A useful practice hand is 5-6-7-8 with a 9 starter. The run of five scores five, but the hand also contains fifteens: 6+9 and 7+8. That makes nine points before any flush or nobs. Another useful hand is 4-4-5-6 with a 6 starter. It has pairs, double runs, and fifteens, which makes it a good test of whether you are counting combinations rather than just spotting the first obvious pattern.
To drill this checklist with instant feedback, try the interactive hand scorer: pick any four cards and a starter, count the hand yourself, then compare your total against its itemized breakdown.
Cribbage is one of the rare classic card games where the scoreboard is part of the experience. The cribbage board is not decoration. It changes how players feel the race, because every pair, fifteen, run, go, and hand count moves a peg toward 121. That tactile scoring loop is why cribbage online searches are so durable.
This Cribbage game focuses on the essential two-player rhythm. You discard two cards to the crib, cut a starter, peg cards without passing 31, and then count hands using the familiar cribbage categories: fifteens, pairs, runs, flushes, and nobs. The dealer crib is counted after both hands, which means the discard decision matters before the first pegging card is played.
The point values reward players who see combinations rather than single cards. Each distinct combination adding to fifteen pegs two. A pair pegs two, but three of a kind pegs six because it hides three separate pairs, and four of a kind pegs twelve. Runs score one per card and multiply when duplicate ranks create parallel sequences. A four-card flush in hand adds four, five suited cards including the starter add five, and holding the jack of the starter suit — his nobs — adds one more. If the cut itself turns up a jack, the dealer pegs two for his heels before a single card is played.
Small bonuses like heels and nobs sound trivial until you remember the finish line: matches are routinely decided by a single hole out of 121, and the order of the count — non-dealer first, then dealer, then crib — means one overlooked point can be the difference between pegging out and watching the opponent count first next deal. Careful counting is not a courtesy in cribbage; it is the win condition.
Scoring is where cribbage is won and lost, and it is where new players need the most help. This site pairs the playable board with guides that make the counting legible: the rules page walks through a full round, the scoring chart lists every hand value from a single fifteen to the perfect 29, and the strategy page explains why a discard or pegging choice changes the round.
For hands-on practice, the interactive hand scorer lets you pick any four cards plus a starter and returns the full itemized count — every fifteen, pair, run, flush, and nobs point — so you can test yourself before the AI does it for you at the table.
Peg board
121 holes
First peg to travel the full 121-hole track wins the match — often by a single point.
Every fifteen
2 points
Each distinct combination of cards totaling exactly 15 pegs two, in pegging and in the count.
His heels
2 points
A jack cut as the starter pegs two for the dealer instantly; a jack matching the starter suit in hand adds one for nobs.
Each player discards two cards to the crib before the starter is cut. Since the crib belongs to the dealer, the same card can be a gift or a liability depending on who deals.
Players alternate cards and keep a running total that cannot exceed 31. Fifteen and thirty-one score two points, while pairs and runs can score during the pegging sequence.
After pegging, each four-card hand combines with the starter. The scorer counts fifteens, pairs, runs, flushes, and one for nobs when a jack matches the starter suit.
Hand values stretch from the zero-point "nineteen hand" to the legendary 29: three fives and a jack, cut to the fourth five of the jack’s suit. Knowing the landmarks makes counting faster.
Want a rules-first reference for teaching the table? Read the companion guide at cardgamerules.org/cribbage-rules, or keep the full cribbage rules above handy while you play.