Copyright: 1994 by Donald J. Norton


Cribbage for Windows Help Contents

The Contents lists Help Topics available for Cribbage for Windows.

To learn how to use Help, press F1 or choose How to Use Help from the Help menu.

History

Rules

Contacting the Author


Author
Contacting the Author(s)

Cribbage was written by Don Norton using Visual Basic V3.0 and QCard.dll V2.0.  The QCard run-time library is included in the distribution.  The author can be contacted via the internet at donn@sequent.com.

QCard.dll was written by Stephen Murphy.  This dll provides all the graphics functions for the playing cards as well as manipulation and information functionality about the cards.


History
History of Cribbage

Cribbage is believed to have been invented and christened by the English poet, Sir John Suckling, who lived 1609-1642.  Some of it's features were taken from an older game, Noddy, of which there is little known.  Early colonists brought Cribbage to America, where it flourishes to this day.


Rules

Players

Cards

The Deal

The Crib

The Starter

The Cribbage Board

The Play

Scoring in Play

Showing

Winning


Players
Players:

Two (one of which will be the computer).


Cards
Cards:

A regular pack of 52.  The cards rank King (high) to Ace (low).  The suits play little part in the game; the cards are used primarily as numbers.  Each face card has a value of 10, with each other card having face value.  Face cards and tens are called "tenth" cards.


Deal
The Deal:

Each player receives six cards, dealt one at a time.


Crib
The Crib:

From his hand, each player selects two cards, and the four cards are placed down near the dealer.  They form the crib, an extra hand that belongs to the dealer.


Starter
The Starter Card:

After the crib is laid away, the non-dealer cuts the rest of the deck, and the dealer turns up the top card of the lower portion.  This card is called the starter.  If it is a jack, the dealer pegs (scores) 2 points.


Board
The Cribbage Board:

Scores accrue so rapidly that a special scoring device is used, a Cribbage board.  The board is an oblong panel having four rows of 30 holes each, plus some extra game holes at one end.  In traditional cribbage games, each player has two pegs, which are used to mark scores by jumping the rear peg ahead of the front peg the appropriate number of points.  We'll be using just one peg in the computerized version.  The pegs are marched away from the head of the board (the end with the game holes) along an outer row of holes, then back along the inner row.  The game is played twice around the rows for a total of 121 points.


Play
The Play:

In playing his cards, each player retains possession of them, merely exposing them face up in a pile in front of himself.  Click the mouse on the desired card to play it.

The nondealer begins by playing any card.  The dealer then plays a card and the sum of the cards is accumulated.  Play continues alternately, the new total being shown after each play, until the player in turn is unable to play without carrying the total over thirty-one (31).  The other player then pegs a point for a go; then the player who called the go leads again for a new series of plays.  The count begins again at zero, and again the total must not exceed thirty-one.

After a go is reached, the other must play additional cards if he can do so without exceeding thirty-one.  Thus, the same player may play two or three times in succession.  For making exactly thirty-one, the player pegs 2; for a go at less than 31, he pegs 1.  Playing the last card of all (of the eight cards in play) counts 1 for last card, or 2 if it makes thirty-one.


Scoring
Scoring in Play:

Other points may be scored in play besides the go's.  These are as follows:

Fifteen:	For playing a card that makes the count fifteen, peg two.

Pairs:	For playing a card of the same rank as that just played, peg two.  (Pairing goes by rank, e.g., a king with a king, not with a queen, even though both have a point value of 10.)  For playing the third card of the same rank consecutively, peg six, and for playing the fourth, peg twelve.

Runs:	For playing a card that is in sequence of rank with two or more played just previously, peg the number of cards in the run (sequence).  For example, if the cards played are 4, 6, 5, the last player (who played the 5) pegs 3 for the run of three cards.  If these were the first cards to be played in a series, the count would total 15, and he would peg 2 more.  To score a run, the cards need not be played in sequential order, so long as no foreign cards intervene.  For example, if the cards played are 4, K, 6, 5, there is no run.  A run may not span a series (if a go is called or 31 is reached in the middle of a run, no points are scored).


Showing
Showing:

By showing, a player counts and scores the points in his hand.  The hands are counted in strict order: the non-dealer's hand, the dealers's hand, and then the crib.  The starter card is treated as a fifth card belonging to each of the three hands.  The combinations that score are as follows:

Fifteen:	For each combination of cards that total fifteen, score two.  "Combination" here is meant in the strict sense.  Thus a hand (with starter) of 9, 8, 7, 7, 6 has three combinations of fifteen: 9 and 6, 8 with one 7, and 8 with the other 7.  A hand of J, 5, 5, 5, 5 has no less than eight combinations of fifteen:  four of J and 5, four of three 5's.  (This hand, when the J also scores his nobs, makes 29, the largest possible score.)

Pairs:	For a pair, score two; for three of a kind (called pair royal or "proil"), score six; for four of a kind (double pair royal), score twelve.

Runs:	For each combination that makes a run of three or more, peg the number of cards in the run.  In the hand 9, 8, 7, 7, 6 there are 8 points for two runs of four, using the 7's in turn.

Flush:	For four cards in hand (excluding the starter) of the same suit, score 4, or 5 if the starter is also the same suit.  For crib and starter all of the same suit, score 5.  (There is no score for a four-card flush in the crib.)

His Nobs	For a jack in hand, of the same suit as the starter, score one.  The jack scored when the starter is drawn is called his heels.


Winning
Winning:

When a player pegs into the game hole that gives him 121 points, he wins the game, and nothing more is scored by the other player.  If the loser has not passed the halfway mark, he is lurched or skunked and loses a double game.