41 Cribbage

who invented the idea that all the court cards have 10 points each ? 41 Cribbage restores the "original" points assigned logically for court cards. So, Jack=11, Queen=12 and King=13 points.
This move changes also our counting during the game. 31 points stays as it is, and scores 2 points.
But the next target is ... guest what ? yes, you are right ... 41 points. But this time player scores 4 points for reaching this target. There is no play beyond count of 41.
Nice ... it messes up our traditional thinking and planning during the game. But, this is the goal of any variant, to relax, to look out of the box on what we know and do everyday.
Enjoy and keep pegging ... till 41 !

Darts Cribbage

or Precision Cribbage. Some staistics say pone earn 10 points and dealer 16 points on average in one hand. So, 13 points is an average per hand for both players. Let's play darts . There will be 18 rounds and the target score (biggest premium) for each round will be 13 points, for pone and dealer separately.

SCORING:(sum of points during the play + counting the cards)

For getting 2-8 points - MINUS ONE point (-1)

For getting 9 points - TWO points ...(2)
For getting 10 points - THREE points ...(3)
For getting 11 points - FOUR points ....(4)
For getting 12 points - FIVE points(5)

For getting 13 points - TEN points ...(13)

For getting 14 points - FIVE points (5)
For getting 15 points - FOUR points ...(4)
For getting 16 points - THREE points ...(3)
For getting 17 points - TWO point ...(2)

For getting 18 and more points - MINUS ONE  point (-6)

SORRY ! no points for "beautiful" hands ... this is Precision Cribbage, specific target oriented.
Play carefully, plan your hand, it's a different cribbage, maximazing your score do not help.
Be target oriented, score when necessary only. Manage your resources.

Keep peging (carefully).

Progressive Cribbage

Here is another attempt to play on a bigger table, this time 6x6. This game uses very well know concept from chess variants, its progressive moves. First player places ONE card anywhere on the grid, second player places TWO cards on the grid to his/her advantage. First player again places THREE cards and so on ... until the second player would place 8 cards on the remaining 8 free spots.
Sum of the numbers from 1 to 8 gives 36 which is the entire table 6x6 ...
Below is the grid with example of moves:

As you can see the first player put 1st card, the second 2nd and 3rd card and again the first player placed 4th, 5th and 6th card to his/her advantage on the board.
And players, of course , collect points either horizontally or vertically.
You can play as many rounds as you wish.
Keep pegging.

Big Foot Cribbage

we are talking about cribbage hands, but all these hands are ... 5 inches, ooops, sorry, 5 cards long ...
how about playing 7 cards hands, and name it Big Foot Cribbage instead ?
It's another version of Cross Cribb, but this time played on 7x7 board.
It's played in two rounds. In the first round, the first player has 3 chances to discard drawn card and draw another one. Players place their cards on the 7x7 grid, one collecting points horizontally, the other one vertically. Points are, of course, the sum of respected 7 cards hands.
In the second round, the second player has the chance to discard 3 cards and draw another card.
After two rounds ho has more points is the winner. Just to remind you 7x7 = 49 and puls 3 = 52 cards in the deck. Grid is below:

 

Keep pegging.

Tug of War Cribbage

here is the one to try this weekend. one of the players start at 31 point and plays ONLY pone's hand.
the other player plays ALWAYS dealer's hands. Play is to 121, of course.
Keep pegging.

Cribbomino

Another game on 10x12 board, this time using 12 pentomino shapes to collect 5 cards cribbage hands. It can be played by 2,3 and 4 players. Board consists of 9x13 cards plus 3 jokers. Unlike Queen's Cribbage tiles covered by pentomino shape do not have to create complete cirbbage hand.
Tiles are of course randomly distributed across the table. This game can also be played (and this is what I like) on 12x13 board, like Queen's Cribbage.
Below are pics of the boards:

 

 

Piggyback Cribbage

have you ever played cribbage game on one track only ? no ? so please try this crazy game.
Cribbage board has 4 corners, 31st point, 61st, 91 first and of course 121 point ... players record score on one track only, in order like in regular ciribbage ... here is the key point ... the goal is to be the first to cross 2 out of 3 corners ... say, I came first thru 31st corner so I score one win, next my opponent crosses first 61 point, and the score is 1:1 ... whoever gets thru 91 point is the winner.
Try it today,
Keep pegging.

Today's Cribbage

here is the weird one. everyday (almost) is a premium day ... how does it work ? every month has the most 31 days, some 30, some 28 and 29 (ooops, we know this number from somewhere, right).
Whenever the number (sum) on the table (during the play) matches the day of the month, player scores 5 additional points as a premium ... you put an Ace and there is 1 of Feb, for example, you score 5 points ... you score 15 for 2 and it's 15th of the month, you score 5 additional points ... got the idea ?
Just another way to "decorate" our boring cribbage, lol ...
Keep pegging.

Tableau Cribbage

Layout

This is a two-player game. The players sit across the table as usual. One of the players deals cards as follows:

• First 4 cards are dealt face-up to form a column between two players.
• Next 48 cards are dealt face-up, in a rows of six extending from each side of each of the initial 4 cards. There should be a gap between the four cards and the rows built on each side of them, so that it is clear which are the initial cards even after cards have been removed from the layout.

The four initial cards will serve as starter cards. They will never be taken from the table.

Play

One of the players (it doesn't matter which one) takes, one by one, any four available cards from 8 rows we created on the table. The player puts each chosen card in front of him/her and is not allowed to return any card to the above rows. An "available" card is one that is accessed freely at the outer end of a row, on the left or the right of the layout. The player may take 1, 2, 3 or 4 cards from any row, 2 from row on the left,and two from the right, or any other legal combination.

Players try to create the best cribbage hands. The starter card will be the initial (central) card from the same row from which the last (4th) card was taken.

The next player plays his/her turn in exactly the same way.

Scoring

The score for each hand is recorded on the cribbage board. After the whole table is cleared (except for the four starter cards), players should shuffle the whole deck and play one more game. Whoever gets more points after two games is the winner.

Comments

Try it and you will see how important is to choose your cards carefuly. Each card taken from tableau exposes cards for the opponent. There is a colossal number of combinations - it may be advisable to use a chess clock to limit thinking time. Be very careful when choosing the order in which cards are taken, so as to get the best starter card.

---

Cribb Eliminator

Kind of sophisticated game. Plenty of opportunities to think ahead.

 

Players:

1-4 but best played by 2

Deck:

1 standard 52-card deck

Layout:

All the cards are dealt face-up into 4 rows of 13 cards each. For two players, rows should be laid horizontally between them, overlapping the cards in each row, but leaving their values visible. The four completely uncovered cards, one at the end of each row, are available for play.

Goal:

To reach 121 points before his/her opponent.

Play: (for 2 players)

Players agree who starts first. The first player takes four cards from the layout in any combination he/she wishes as long as the cards are not covered by other cards. So, for example, he/she may take one card from first row, a second card from the third row and then two cards, one at a time, from row number two. Or he/she may take all four cards from a single row. This doesn't contradict the above rule, since after taking the first card, the second one is available, and so on.

After taking all four cards from the layout, from all available cards (completely uncovered) player chooses one to serve as his/her starter card and count the points in his/her hand, exactly as in regular Cribbage. The four cards taken by the player are then removed into the discard pile. The starter card is not removed from the rows; it stays in place and is available to be taken by the next player. Points are pegged on a cribbage board or recorded on a paper. After this, the next player takes a turn, following to the same rules of play.

After series of six turns, the first player will have the last turn with only four cards on the table. He/she should shuffle all the remaining cards and draw one card as a starter. After recording his/her points the first round is completed. Players should play another round giving a chance to start the game to the player who played second in the first round. There should be as many rounds as needed for one of the players to reach 121 points.

Cribbcordion

Of course it takes its name from cribbage and accordion. Its idea is taken from a very good and hard solitaire called accordion. Rules below.
- deal all the cards into 4 rows 13 cards each.
- look carefully for 2, 3, 4 or 5 cribbage cards combination that are group together and remove them.
-count points
-squeeze cards in the layout together so there is no gap
-continue the same way until all cards are taken.
- can be played as a solitaire or by 2,3,4 players
- ideally it would be played on the computer since there will be no need to squeeze cards after the move.
Keep pegging.

13 Cards Cribbage

this one is for Hearts, Spades or Bridge lovers. Try it.

It's a combination of

cribbage and bridge( in name only )due to the fact that players get 13 cards each, like in bridge.

Can be played by 2, 3 or 4 (eather as a team or sinlgly) players.
 

Differences:

- difference in discarding cards to the crib depending on how many players we have.

- 2 players discard 2 cards each to the crib during the course of the game.

- 3 players discard 1 card the crib (one card to the crib was dealt during a dealing)

- 4 players discard 1 card each to the crib during the course of the game

- no starter card at the beginning of the game. After the game is finished, all the cards are shuffled and one starter card is uncovered from the deck. This starter becomes a part of crib.

- no counting points in hands after the game.

Cassino Cribbage

I do not know why I named this version this way. Maybe because I've never been to cassino and do not know what I am talking about. You check it and let me know, where my problem is, lol.

- the whole game is about building the best possible cribbage hands.

- at the start 4 cards are dealt, face up, between two players

- player A draws 2 cards from the deck and places them on these 4 starter cards any way he wants, keeping in mind that the goal is to build the best cribbage hands. He can even place these two cards on themselves, his choice.

- now, the starter card is revealed from the deck and points on this 5 card hand are counted

and recorded on the board.

- the starter card for the player A is removed (not being used anymore).

-player B draws 2 cards for himself, and follows the exact steps like player A.

- it was considerd the first hand (6 cards for each hand)

- there are 8 hands total x 6 cards = 48 cards + 4 starters = 52 cards in the deck.

- game can be played to 121 or just some rounds (2 of 3 etc)

Medical Cribbage

Below are miniature "improvements" to the game of cribbage.


"X-ray Cribbage" - after throwing cards to the crib system displays 2 opponent's cards that are visible to me. The same way opponent sees my two cards in my hand. But we do not know which of our cards are x-rayed.

"911 Cribbage" - combination of cards 9 and two Ases (911) counts as 11 points, either

in hand, crib or during the play.

"Transplant Cribbage" - before throwing cards to the crib players exchange two cards.

***

all other rules are the same as in traditional cribbage. these variants can be played as a standing alone games or combined into one Medical Package as you wish ...

Each of them creates a whole new universe of strategy in the game.

Knight's Cribbage

Below is the second Royal Cribbage called Knight's Cribbage.

Board is 12x13 and 3 full decks of cards are randomly ditributed across the entire board.

Players use well known Kingh's jump to try to catch best of 2,3.4 or 5 cards crobbage combination.

As you can see player started in the field numbered 1 (and this counts toward the score) next he/she jumped to number 2 and so on to number 5 ... Players can start their jumps anywhere on the board and stop anytime they wish to their advantage. All tiles (cards) have to contribute to the hand score, just like in King's cribbage.

Keep pegging.

Doubling Cube Cribbage

Some say that doubling cube saved backgammon. I do not know if this is true, backgammon is immortal game on its own, played perfectly without a cube. But how about playing cibbage with doubling cube ? Does it make sense ? I think that when unknown exist there is a chance to double the stakes, and it's gambling in it's purest sense. Here is what I have in mind, 2 solutions:

FIRST, doubling cube can be used for the first time in a game by the player who WASN'T initial dealer, I would say by the FIRST PONE. Later one cubes "behaves" like a normal, gammon cube.
Philosophy behind this rule is simple: statistically, the first dealer has bigger chance to win the the game, so it would be stupid to give him/her a chance to kill pone prematurely.

SECOND, doubling cube can be used by anyone as long as both the player are withing 4th street.
But, here is the point ... doubling cube can be used AFTER 6 cards are dealt and BEFORE the starter card is revealed. ONLY after the started is revealed, cube can re-doubled ... got the idea ?
Try it and let me know how it goes.
Keep pegging.

HOLT's 28 point hand

thanks to Brenda Hardie ... here is our first 28 points hand from ecribbage ... someone was very happy !

Queen's Cribbage

I created two Royal Cribbages : Queen's and Knight's Cribbage.  What you see below is a sample of how Queen can colelct points.

 

The whole board is 12x13. Three full decks of cards are randomly distributed across the whole borad.

Queen is trying to capture the best 2, 3, 4 or 5 cards cribbage combinations in any directions, horizontal, vertical or diagonal. All cards in captured hand have to contribute to the score just like in KIng's Cribbage.

Keep pegging.

Catch 11

number 11 is a Master Number ... it's not my invention, it's widely known in numerology and astrology ... google for it ... and any multiple of 11 like 22, 33, 44 and so on ... and the most important 11 is "embeded" beautifuly in our cribbage boards ... why ? simply because 11x11 gives our magical 121 ... not only, we have another magical number, it's 29 ... and 2+9=11 ... isn't it beautiful ?
This is why I decided to create another cribbage variant, where 11 plays a major role on our boards.

RULES:

-all the rules apply
- there is a different goal
- our cribbage board is divided into 11 check points ... 11,22,33,44,.... 99,110,121
-whoever jumps FIRST over the check point, collects points for it:
-for the first one(11) 1 point, for the second (22) 2 points, third(33) 3 points and so on for 11th (121) 11 points.
-for hitting exactly any check point, points double. Example: landing on 44 scores 8 points
-player doesn't have to be first who hits exactly a check point in order to score double points.
- this feature allows these players who are behind still participate in the game ... being behind and playing carefully may have some benefits ...
***
After one player goes beyond 121 or hits 121 game stops and whoever has more accumulated points form check points, wins the game.
I think this game changes dramatically tactics and strategy. Pegging during the game is crucial.
To hit or jump ?
Keep pegging.
By the way, Keeppegging=11 letters (isn't it funny ?)

Cross Crib variations

I love to play Cross Cribb. It combines all the elements of card and board game. The classic version played at ecribbage will remain classic, like chess game ... but, there are many ways this game can be played. Are they better ?

Below you have some ideas, not the complete sets of rules. Think creatively.

DOUBLE CROSS CRIBB

- all the rules for Cross Cribb apply
-game is played on two separate layouts (just two games at the same time)
-there is no cribb
-after all 50 cards are ditributed to two layouts 2 cards will be left.
-first player places one remainung card on top of any card on chosen layout
-second player (he/she has no choice) places the last card on the other layout.
-this variant is for 2 players, please accomodate your game for more players (use your imagination)

COVERED CROSS CRIBB

- all the rules for Cross Cribb apply
-after the first game is over (first round if you wish) players continue with the second round.
-they place card after card on the cards already on the table, scoring accordingly.
-there is no limit how many cards can be used to cover card(s) already on the table.
-there is no cribb
-game continue untill all the 52 cards are used.

SCORE ALL CROSS CRIBB



-players score points both in rows and columns
-simply if there is something to score, either in column or a row, they score it both directions
-add 2 diagonals hands to make it more interesting
-use this idea for basic game or combine with the ideas above

SMALL CROSS CRIBBS


-based on 4x4 cribbage solitaire (plus starter)
-play 3 layouts at the same time
-draw 3 cards to your hand and decide how to place them on 3 layouts to your advantage.
-after all 48 cards are ditributed to layouts uncover 3 starters, one at a time, each for separate layout.
-count points
***
its a very strategic game, try it as a solitaire. having 3 cards and 3 layouts makes it a beautiful game.

RESERVED CROSS CRIB

-all the rules apply
-if you draw a card that for some reason you wouldn't like to place on the board (or dump into cribb)
move it to the reserve and use it later and draw another card from the deck. But reserve card MUST be used during the game (it's not a dump card)
-experiment with 1,2, or 3 reserve cards ...
-this makes the game even more strategic.

COSTLY DUMP CROSS CRIBB

-all the rules apply
-during the game you may dump as many cards as you want and draw another one instead ... BUT it will cost you 1 point for the first card dumped, 2 points for the second one, 4 for the third card, 8 for the fourth card and so on, always doubling the penalty ... I do not know if you would like to go for more than 4 dumps ? Would you ?

Our Daily Starter

my love for variants

I just love creating variants, of anything ... cribbage is a wonderful material for me. There is infinite number of possible variants, like in chess for example. It's my garden of imagination, my creativity call or you name it. each and every variant will have it's own "page" with set of rules posted. Of course I do not create it for myself but for anybody who would like to experiment and be closer to my mind, discovering paths I was wondering. It's exciting to invent games or variants. I created more than 30 domino variants, several ches-like variants and 3 of them are implemented at brainking.com.
But this blog is about cribbage ... in the next post I wll try to answer the question: why do I like cribbage so much and why it's a gift from heavens.
Keep pegging.

Defeat Dummy Dealer

So you say you are the only survivor on the desert island ? only you and your deck of cards ?
and nobody to play with ? hmmmm ... do not give up ! I have something for you. You didn't notice it but there is a Dummy Dealer waiting for the game ... OK, now seriously, it's the only solo-cribbage
you play almost like a real game ... almost, that's the key word ... if you know of any better game let me know ...

DEAL:

1. Deal 4 cards, face down to the Dummy Dealer in a row.

2. Deal 6 cards to yourself.

3. Deal 2 cards, face down to the crib, which belongs ALWAYS to Dummy Dealer.

4. Discard 2 cards from your hand to the crib.

5. Flip the starter card.

6. Uncover 4 Dummy Dealer's cards.

***

PLAY:

1. You (pone) ALWAYS start the game.

2. Dummy Dealer plays card from the LEFT side of the row.

3. You continue like in regular cribbage game.

4. Dummy Dealer follows from the LEFT.

ALL the rules apply including GO and the last card.

***

SHOW and COUNT:

1. You count ALWAYS first.

2. Dummy Dealer is next and his crib follows.

***

Play to 61 points or 121.

***

Surprisingly, it's a good game. Pone chooses a discard to the crib, plays first and count first.

Dummy Dealer keeps the crib. Pone can outsmart the Dummy in several ways, but Dummy's crib can make a big surprise. Not even mention (what happened to me many times) Dummy's hand was a killer ... if you think you are better than Dummy Dealer, give him 10, 11 or 12 points at the beginning of the game at your own risk.

Keep pegging.

How all it started

Hi to all,
this blog will be devoted to the most beautiful card game ever. Yes, it's about cribbage, one of the oldest game played with cards. No, it will not be about tactics, strategy etc. There are plenty of web sites about how to play well. It will be about cribbage poetry, cribbage fantasies, curiosities, magic, variants and fun. If you like to sit with your morning coffee or tea and play some cribbage solitaire to warm up your day, this blog is for you. If you like to create cribbage variants, this place is for you.
I will try to write something about cribbage often. I created many cribbage variants, some funny, some serious. I will share them with you and ask you to try them with yourself or your partners. I count on you to share your opinions and thoughts about any aspects of cribbage, including cribbage boards.
How all it started ? Long time ago. I came from Europe, continental, and I never heard of cribbage.
Never. This game is of course played in UK, but continental Europe is dominated by Skat, 66, Bridge, and Rummy ... I came to the States some 22 years ago and learn to play cribbage on my own.
Not even one person showed me how to play, and believe me it's hard to grab the whole concept without any help from other players. But I made it. After many years I became a certified judge by American Cribbage Congress. I also created a cribbage club in our local church some 5 years ago.
Since then I lost my certification, and do not play at "my own" club anymore. Of course, ACC still exists and my cribbage club plays every Monday at 6:30.
This is it for today. Next time I am going to share with you some other things about cribbage.
Till next time.
Keep pegging.