Free Printable Cribbage Rules — How to Play

Q: What are the basic rules of cribbage?

Cribbage is a 2-player card game played with a standard 52-card deck and a 121-hole cribbage board. Each player is dealt 6 cards and discards 2 face-down to the dealer's crib . The non-dealer cuts and the dealer turns up a starter card (if it's a Jack, dealer pegs 2 for ‘his heels’). Players then take turns playing cards face-up in front of themselves, calling the running total. The total may never exceed 31. Points are pegged for hitting 15, 31, pairs, runs, and the last card / a Go. Then comes the show — non-dealer counts their hand first, dealer next, and the dealer counts the crib last. First to 121 points wins.

Q: How do you score in cribbage?

During the play , you peg for: hitting exactly 15 (2 points), exactly 31 (2 points), a pair (2), pair royal of 3 (6), double pair royal of 4 (12), a run of 3+ consecutive cards (1 per card), and the last card or a Go (1 point). During the show , you count every distinct combination of your 4 hand cards plus the starter: each fifteen = 2, pair = 2, run = 1 per card, a 4-card flush = 4 (or 5 if the starter matches), and his nobs (Jack of the starter's suit) = 1. Face cards count as 10 and Aces as 1 for fifteens and the running total.

Q: What is the crib in cribbage?

The crib is a separate 4-card hand made up of the two cards each player discards face-down at the start of the deal. It belongs to the dealer and is scored last, after both players have shown their own hands. The starter card counts as a fifth card for the crib too. Because the crib is the dealer's extra hand, non-dealers usually discard low-value cards or split-up combinations to it, while the dealer tries to keep cards that pair well with whatever might come over.

Q: What is the highest possible hand in cribbage?

The highest possible hand in cribbage is 29 points , formed by holding the Jack of one suit plus all three other 5s, with the matching-suit 5 turned up as the starter (for example J&diams;-5&spades;-5&clubs;-5&hearts; with 5&diams; as starter). That scores: eight 15s (16 points) + four-of-a-kind 5s (12 points) + his nobs (1 point) = 29. It's a famously rare hand — most players never see one in a lifetime of play.

Q: What is a skunk in cribbage?

A skunk happens when the winner reaches 121 while the loser is still under 91 points — it counts as a double game in tournament and league play. A double skunk is when the loser hasn't even reached 61, and counts as a triple game. (These are the ACC tournament thresholds; some traditions use under 90 / under 60.) Skunks aren't part of the basic two-player home game scoring, but they're standard in match-play formats and add an incentive to keep pegging hard even when you're trailing.

Q: What is Muggins in cribbage?

Muggins is an optional rule where, if a player undercounts or misses points in their hand or crib, the opponent may call “Muggins!” and peg those missed points for themselves. It's off by default in casual play but is the standard rule in most cribbage tournaments. Decide whether you're playing with Muggins before the first hand — once it's agreed, you have to count carefully or you'll start handing free points to your opponent.

About Free Printable Cribbage Rules

Free printable cribbage rules — how to play cribbage for beginners. Board setup, pegging, the show, scoring combinations, his heels, his nobs, skunks. Full color or ink-saver. No signup, no watermark.

How to use

Choose your print style. Full color renders the wood-tone cribbage board, the diamond/heart suits in red, and a deep blue accent — great as a reference poster. Ink-saver switches to a clean greyscale layout that prints cheaply for a class set or game-night handout.
Choose whether to show diagrams. Diagrams on (the default) includes the cribbage board with skunk line, the hand-plus-starter layout, the pegging running-total chart, and the legendary 29 hand fully laid out. Text only gives the most compact, fewest-pages version.
Read the preview to confirm it is what you want — rules flow from the objective and materials, through setup, the play (pegging) and the show (counting), every scoring combination, winning at 121 with skunks, and common variants for 3 or 4 players.
Click Print Rules to send to your printer or save as a PDF. The illustrated guide prints cleanly across a few standard letter or A4 pages; choose Text only for a compact summary you can keep beside the board.

Frequently asked questions

What are the basic rules of cribbage?

Two players, 52-card deck, 121-hole board. Each player gets 6 cards and discards 2 to the dealer's crib. The non-dealer cuts a starter card (Jack = dealer pegs 2 for his heels). Players take turns playing cards face-up, calling the running total, which may never exceed 31 — peg for hitting 15, 31, pairs, runs, last card, or a Go. Then non-dealer's hand, dealer's hand, and the crib are counted in that order. First to 121 points wins.

How do you score in cribbage?

In the play: hitting 15 = 2, hitting 31 = 2, pair = 2, pair royal = 6, double pair royal = 12, run of 3+ = 1 per card, last card / Go = 1. In the show: every fifteen = 2, pair = 2, run of N = N points, 4-card flush = 4 (5 if starter matches), and his nobs (Jack matching the starter's suit) = 1. Face cards count as 10 and Aces as 1.

What is the crib in cribbage?

A separate 4-card hand formed by each player's 2 face-down discards. It belongs to the dealer and is scored last, after both players have shown. The starter card counts as a fifth card for the crib. Non-dealers usually feed it low-value or scattered cards; dealers try to bait combinations into it.

What is the highest possible hand in cribbage?

29 points: Jack + three 5s in hand, with the matching-suit 5 turned up as the starter. That scores eight fifteens (16) + four-of-a-kind 5s (12) + his nobs (1) = 29. Extremely rare and famously the only impossible hand to beat.

What is a skunk in cribbage?

If the winner pegs out at 121 while the loser is still under 91, that's a skunk — counts as a double game in tournament play. Under 61 is a double skunk (triple game). (ACC tournament thresholds; some traditions use under 90 / under 60.) Off in casual home games unless agreed.

What is Muggins in cribbage?

An optional rule: if you miss or undercount points in your hand or crib, your opponent may call “Muggins!” and peg them for themselves. Off by default; on in most tournaments. Agree before the first hand.

What other printable game rules do you have?

Cribbage joins our growing collection — chess and checkers are live, with backgammon, poker, crazy eights, go fish and more queued up. See the printables hub for everything available now.

Part of ToolFluency’s library of free online tools for Printables. No account needed, no data leaves your device.

About Free Printable Cribbage Rules

How to use

Frequently asked questions

You might also need