Cribbage

Cribbage

Modern style wooden loop board with coloured pegs
Origin	England
Alternative names	Crib
Family	Matching
Players	2 (variations for 3–6)
Skills required	Strategy, tactics, counting
Cards	52
Deck	Standard 52-card deck
Play	Clockwise
Card rank (highest to lowest)	K Q J 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 A
Playing time	15–30 min.
Related games
Noddy

Cribbage, or crib, is a card game traditionally for two players, but commonly played with three, four or more, that involves playing and grouping cards in combinations which gain points. Cribbage has several distinctive features: the cribbage board used for score-keeping, the eponymous crib or box (a separate hand counting for the dealer), two distinct scoring stages (the play and the show) and a unique scoring system including points for groups of cards that total fifteen.

According to John Aubrey, cribbage was created by the English poet Sir John Suckling in the early 17th century, as a derivation of the game "noddy." While noddy has disappeared, crib has survived, virtually unchanged, as one of the most popular games in the English-speaking world. The objective of the game is to be the first player to score a target number of points, typically 61 or 121. Points are scored for card combinations that add up to fifteen, and for pairs, triples, quadruples, runs and flushes.

Cribbage holds a special place among American submariners, serving as an "official" pastime. The wardroom of the oldest active submarine in the United States Pacific Fleet carries the personal cribbage board of World War II submarine commander and Medal of Honor recipient Rear Admiral Dick O'Kane on board, and upon the boat's decommissioning the board is transferred to the next oldest boat.

Play proceeds through a succession of "hands", each hand consisting of a "deal", "the play" and "the show." At any time during any of these stages, if a player reaches the target score (usually 121), play ends immediately with that player being the winner of the game. This can even happen during the deal, since the dealer can score if a Jack is cut as the starter.