History TabletopGame / Cribbage

Invented in the [[OlderThanSteam 17th century]] as a variant of a now largely-forgotten game called "Noddy," Cribbage has become one of the most commonly played games in the English-speaking world. Its ongoing popularity can be largely attributed to the game being easy to learn, inexpensive, and highly portable (a typical board is about half the size of a hardcover book, and the only other item needed is a standard 52-card deck). Cribbage only requires rudimentary arithmetic skills to play, so even children can learn it. The game can ''sound'' difficult to learn, though, because scoring is announced aloud by each player, and its Baroque-era origins have laden it with archaic jargon that sounds to an outsider like the players are speaking in shibboleths and incantations. [[note]]It would be entirely unsurprising to hear something like "Fifteen two, fifteen four, fifteen six, pairs royal for six is twelve, and nobs is thirteen" during a game. Translation: A run of consecutive cards adding up to 15 is 2 points, a pair is 2 points, and nobs (the jack of the same suit as the first card) is 1 point. So, a run of 15 (2), another run of 15 (+2=4), ''another'' run of 15 (+2=6), three of a kind (contains three overlapping pairs, so +6=12), and nobs (+1=13).[[/note]]

Invented in the [[OlderThanSteam 17th century]] as a variant of a now largely-forgotten game called "Noddy," Cribbage has become one of the most commonly played games in the English-speaking world. Its ongoing popularity can be largely attributed to the game being easy to learn, inexpensive, and highly portable (a typical board is about half the size of a hardcover book, and the only other item needed is a standard 52-card deck). Cribbage only requires rudimentary arithmetic skills to play, so even children can learn it. The game can ''sound'' difficult to learn, though, because scoring is announced aloud by each player, and its Baroque-era origins have laden it with archaic jargon that sounds to an outsider like the players are speaking in shibboleths and incantations. [[note]]It would be entirely unsurprising to hear something like "Fifteen two, fifteen four, fifteen six, pairs royal for six is twelve, and nobs is thirteen" during a game.[[/note]]

* FailedASpotCheck: If you fail to announce points (usually because of oversight), you forfeit them. In particularly cutthroat games ("muggins"), your opponent claims them to boot.

Invented in the [[OlderThanSteam 17th century]] as a variant of a now largely-forgotten game called "Noddy," Cribbage has become one of the most commonly played games in the English-speaking world. Its ongoing popularity can be largely attributed to the game being easy to learn, inexpensive, and highly portable (a typical board is about half the size of a hardcover book, and the only other item needed is a standard 52-card deck). The game can ''sound'' difficult to learn, though, because scoring is announced aloud by each player, and its origins have laden it with archaic jargon that sounds to an outsider like the players are speaking in shibboleths and incantations. [[note]]It would be entirely unsurprising to hear something like "Fifteen two, fifteen four, fifteen six, pairs royal for six is twelve, and nobs is thirteen" during a game.[[/note]]

* InsistentTerminology: Hoo boy. The game's Baroque-era origins carry a linguistic baggage that's baffling to newbies. You don't make straights, you make "runs." You don't have three of a kind, you have "pairs royal." You don't have four of a kind, you have "double pairs royal." The suit of a Jack in your hand is the same suit as the cut card? Not a match, but rather "nobs." The cut card was a Jack? Not a bonus for the dealer, but rather "heels."

Invented in the [[OlderThanSteam 17th century]] as a variant of a now largely-forgotten game called "Noddy," Cribbage has become one of the most commonly played games in the English-speaking world. Its ongoing popularity can be largely attributed to the game being easy to learn, inexpensive, and highly portable (a typical board is about half the size of a hardcover book, and the only other item needed is a standard 52-card deck). The game can ''sound'' difficult to learn, though, because scoring is announced aloud by each player, and its origins have laden it with archaic jargon that sounds to an outsider like the players are speaking in shibboleths and incantations. [[note]]It would be entirely likely to hear something like "Fifteen two, fifteen four, fifteen six, pairs royal for six is twelve, and nobs is thirteen" during a game.[[/note]]

* CurbStompBattle: Called "skunking" your opponent if you beat them by more than 31 points. In TournamentPlay, counts as 1.5 wins.

* AccidentalInnuendo: "Pegging" is counting your score, especially in the first round of play. The "stink hole" is nothing more than the 120th point on the board. Pegging the stink hole is completely G-rated, and quite common.

* TournamentPlay: Played at local club levels, and the annual American Cribbage Congress open tournament in Reno, Nevada is the world's largest.

The most iconic item in the game, the pegboard, is nothing more than a scorekeeping device. Players use a pair of pegs to mark their scores, with the winner being the first to reach a pre-determined score (usually 121 points, but games to 61 are not uncommon), and some boards also have spaces to mark things like total wins or tournament points. A game can be played with a notepad and pencil instead of a board, but this doesn't happen often as a practical matter. The holes are typically grouped in bunches of five to make counting easy, and scoring also happens rapidly, so it's quicker and easier to simply move the back peg of the pair ''X'' holes beyond the lead peg than it is to constantly rewrite scores on paper, and is less prone to making arithmetical errors.

* TournamentPlay: Played at local club levels, and the annual American Cribbage Congress tournament in Reno, Nevada is the world's largest.

The most iconic item in the game, the pegboard, is nothing more than a scorekeeping device. Players use a pair of pegs to mark their scores, with the winner being the first to reach a pre-determined score (usually 121 points, but games to 61 are not uncommon), and some boards also have spaces to mark things like total wins or tournament points. A game can be played with a notepad and pencil instead of a board, but this doesn't happen often as a practical matter. The holes are typically grouped in bunches of five to make counting easy, and scoring also happens rapidly, so it's quicker and easier to simply move the back peg of the pair ''X'' holes beyond the lead peg than it is to constantly rewrite scores on paper, and is less prone to making arithmetical errors.

It's designed as a two-player game, and the descriptions below will assume a two-player game, though three-player and four-player variants are very common for casual games. The most iconic item in the game, the pegboard, is nothing more than a scorekeeping device. Players use a pair of pegs to mark their scores, with the winner being the first to reach a pre-determined score (usually 121 points, but games to 61 are not uncommon), and some boards also have spaces to mark things like total wins or tournament points. A game can be played with a notepad and pencil instead of a board, but this doesn't happen often as a practical matter. The holes are typically grouped in bunches of five to make counting easy, and scoring also happens rapidly, so it's quicker and easier to simply move the back peg of the pair ''X'' holes beyond the lead peg than it is to constantly rewrite them, and is less prone to making arithmetical errors.

Each player is dealt six cards, four of which form the primary hand, and the other two are given to the dealer to make a secondary hand ("the crib"). The player who didn't deal then cuts the cards, and the dealer turns over the cut card, which becomes a common card that can be used in each player's hand and also in the crib. If the cut card happens to be a Jack, the dealer is awarded 2 bonus points ("his heels") for some reason lost to history.

The game is a sudden-death format, with the first player to reach the goal ("peg out") being the winner, and no chance for any other players to catch up for a tie. Scoring is done in two main rounds -- the first round, called "the play" or "pegging," where the players take turns laying their cards out one at a time and playing off each others' hands, and the second round, called "the show" or "counting," where each player counts the point total in his/her own hand. Points are accumulated by making combinations of cards that add up to 15 (2 points each), form pairs (2 points each), or form runs of 3 or more cards (1 point per card in the run).

To start the first round, the non-dealer chooses one of his/her cards, lays it on table face-up, and announces its value (Aces are worth 1 and face cards are worth 10). The dealer then chooses a card and adds the value of the card to the card played (e.g., Player 1 plays a King, announces "ten." Player 2 plays a four, announces "fourteen."). This goes on until either the total value of the cards gets to 31, or no player can play a card that can stay under that total.

It's designed as a two-player game, though three-player and four-player variations are common. The most iconic item in the game, the pegboard, is nothing more than a scorekeeping device. Players use a pair of pegs to mark their scores, with the winner being the first to reach a pre-determined score (usually 121 points, but games to 61 are not uncommon), and some boards also have spaces to mark things like total wins or tournament points. A game can be played with a notepad and pencil instead of a board, but this doesn't happen often as a practical matter. The holes are typically grouped in bunches of five to make counting easy, and scoring also happens rapidly, so it's quicker and easier to simply move the back peg of the pair ''X'' holes beyond the lead peg than it is to constantly rewrite them, and is less prone to making arithmetical errors.

If two are playing, each player is dealt six cards, four of which form the primary hand, and the other two are given to the dealer to make a secondary hand ("the crib"). The player who didn't deal then cuts the cards, and the dealer turns over the cut card, which becomes a common card that can be used in each player's main hand and also in the crib. If the cut card happens to be a Jack, the dealer is awarded 2 bonus points ("his heels") for some reason lost to history.

The game is a sudden-death format, with the first player to reach the goal ("peg out") being the winner, and no chance for any other players to catch up for a tie. Scoring is done in two main rounds -- the first round, called "the play" or "pegging," where the players take turns laying their cards out one at a time and playing off each others' hands, and the second round, called "the show" or "counting," where each player counts the point total in his/her own hand. Points are accumulated by making combinations of cards that add up to 15 (2 points each), form pairs (2 points each), or form runs of 3 or more cards (1 point per card in the run).

A rare combination of a card game and a board game, players advance pegs on a peg board to race to the end of a track based on rounds of card play.

Invented in the [[OlderThanSteam 17th century]] as a variant of a now largely-forgotten game called "Noddy," Cribbage has become one of the most commonly played games in the English-speaking world. Its ongoing popularity can be largely attributed to the game being easy to learn, inexpensive, and highly portable (a typical board is about as long, and half as wide, as a hardcover book). The game can ''sound'' difficult to learn, though, because its origins and age have laden it with archaic jargon that sounds to an outsider like the players are speaking in shibboleths and incantations. [[note]]It would be entirely likely to hear something like "Fifteen two, fifteen four, fifteen six, pairs royal for six is twelve, and nobs is thirteen" during a game.[[/note]]

It's designed as a two-player game, though three-player and four-player variations are common. The most iconic item in the game, the pegboard, is little more than a scorekeeping device. It marks each player's total, with the winner being the first to reach a pre-determined score (usually 121 points, but games to 61 are not uncommon), and some boards also mark things like total wins or tournament points. A game can be played with a notepad and pencil instead of a board, but this doesn't happen often.

The game is a sudden-death format, with the first player to reach the goal ("peg out") being the winner, and no chance for any other players to catch up for a tie. Scoring is done in two rounds -- the first round, called "the play" or "pegging," where the players take turns laying their cards out one at a time and playing off each others' hands, and the second round, called "the show" or "counting," where each player counts the point total in his/her own hand. Points are accumulated by making combinations of cards that add up to 15 (2 points each), form pairs (2 points each), or form runs of 3 or more cards (1 point per card in the run).

Invented in the [[OlderThanSteam 17th century]] as a variant of a now largely-forgotten game called "Noddy," Cribbage has become one of the most commonly played games in the English-speaking world. Its ongoing popularity can be largely attributed to the game being easy to learn, inexpensive, and highly portable (a typical board is about as long, and half as wide, as a hardcover book). The game can ''sound'' difficult to learn, though, because its origins and age have laden it with archaic jargon that sounds to an outsider like the players are speaking in shibboleths and incantations. [[note]]Hearing something like "Fifteen two, fifteen four, fifteen six, pairs royal for six is twelve, and nobs is thirteen" would be an entirely common thing during a game.[[/note]]