Cribbage--some may have heard of it but not many people know how to play it

Cribbage is my favorite card game in the world. I find it interesting that only a small group of people have ever heard of it much less played it. Whenever I ask someone who knows how to play it where they learned how to play it, the usual answer is "from their grandparents." Usually said relative was from the northeast or new england area. When I was about 7 or 8 years old, my grandmother and great aunt taught me how to play cribbage. After dinner, we would sit at the dining room table, my great aunt and grandmother drinking their Foldgers or Maxwell House coffee and smoking their Winstons and Marlboro cigarettes and they would teach my how to play cribbage. In fact, they also taught me how to play poker and blackjack and the stakes were always measured in pennies.

For those of you who don't know what cribbage is, you are truly missing out on a fantastic game of strategy. There is a board with holes which is how you keep score. Usually the game is played by two people but you can certainly play it with three or four people. Each player receives 6 cards. Each player keeps 4 cards and throws 2 cards each to the crib. Whoever deals the cards gets the crib and the opportunity to score more points. The first player lays a card face up and says the value of the card. The next person lays his/her card face up and adds up the value of the two cards and says it aloud. This continues until the total of the cards equals 31 or no one can go further. While this is transpiring, there are ways to earn more points. If the total of the cards equals 15 you get two points. If there is a run (3,4,5) or pairs (7,7) you earn points. If your card is the card that totals 31, you get two points. The ultimate goal of the game is to be the first to reach the end of the board and win.

Once all of the cards have been played, each player totals the cards in their hand. Again, combinations of 15, runs, pairs, etc all increase your score. I should also state that before the hand starts, a card is flipped over and can be used in the finally tally of your hand to make pairs, 15s, etc. Once each player has tallied their hand, the dealer now counts the cards in the crib. Each players total score is counted out on the board via pegs.

While what I have described may sound confusing, I can assure you it is very exciting to play. You have to try to anticipate what card could be flipped over. You want to figure out what cards your opponent might have so you know how to lay your cards down. You want to figure out your maximum score if you are the one who gets the crib and know which cards to keep in your hand versus throw in the crib...all of these decisions being based on the card that is turned over and what cards your opponent might have in his/her possession.

Years ago, I started playing cribbage on yahoo games. I would always join the more challenging rooms to increase my skills of strategy and prediction. At one point, a few guys that I was playing with said that I should play in the cribbage tournament held in Vegas. I was really surprised and I asked them why they thought I should play. And they said that I was really good at it and that they thought I should try to win a competition. So I continued probing them for information. How does one even get to join this competition, what did I have to, how much did it cost? All of these questions entered my brain as I contemplated how amazing it would be to enter all of these local competitions, winning and then moving onto higher stakes games. I could be come a professional cribbage player!!! How cool would that be??? The dollar signs were floating in front of my eyes and the cha-ching sound of coins dropping from slot machines were ringing in my ears.

Well I am sorry to disappoint you and say that I haven't even taken the first step in pursuing that career. I still think about it. Often. Perhaps I should take that next step and enter a competition just to see what could happen.....


For those of you who want to learn more about cribbage, here is a link to Wikipedia:
Cribbage <---click link

And, if you are really interested in learning how to play, send me a post/comment and I would be more than happy to play online at yahoo games.

And maybe, just maybe, Garry will read this posting and finally decide to indulge me in playing one game of cribbage. I have been hounding him forever to play with me (especially when he says he's bored!!!) but he keeps refusing me {BOOOOOOO}!