Cribbage

In 1990, my cousin E. was 16 years old. We used to visit our family on Sunday afternoons, in the border town of Aalten, just 4 KM from Germany. After greeting our grandparents we went to play with the Nintendo while he had invited his friends and they played an adapted version of Blackjack, simply called Twentyone.

The values of the Jack, Queen and King were respectably 1, 2 and 3 points, and all cards below 7 were eliminated from the deck.

They played with quarters and on a Split hand, an additional quarter was bet. E. also played the 1983 Tennis doubles game with me when his friends were not around, with him at the baseline and me in the back of the field defending.

At school this same game of 21 was being played, but I never had that many “dough” so I merely preferred not to participate.

My other cousin A. had all possible Sierra games, especially the Larry series, Kings Quest and the first version of Hoyle and she always let me make copies of her games. So, after a visit to the city of Zwolle I used to come back home with a lot of new floppy disks.

The Hoyle set consisted of the following card games: Crazy Eights, Old Maid, Gin Rummy, Klondike, Hearts and Cribbage.

About 10 years ago, when Facebook became more popular, all game app developers had a Poker game. One of the most played games in that genre must be Zynga. You take a seat, chat with the people and after some time you have (virtually) 10 million bucks or more.

Recently I found back the first Hoyle version and decided to learn Cribbage. It has a wooden peg board which goes up to 121 points. As a little kid I didn´t have the slightest idea on how the heck it should be played.
Quickly I started reading about the rules. As with many card games, it is based on skill, dumb luck and to figure out which cards your opponent might have.

In the movie The Hangover, Zach Galifaniakis is counting cards when playing blackjack in a casino, while the splendid “Joker and the Thief” from Wolfmother as background song. Eventually in Cribbage you could do all kind of mathematical calculations. But I never managed to get more tan a D in math, so this is no option for me.

You are being dealt 6 cards, of which you have to put 2 in the Crib. The dealer collects the crib when the round is over. When the cards are dealt, from the deck another card is put on the table. This card counts for both hands and also for the crib. Would you have three sevens, and the card on the table is a seven as well, then you get 12 points  in the end.

Points are being scored in the game when you manage to get a pair (2 points), 3 of a kind (6 points), 4 of a kind (12 points), a 15 (e.g. a 7 followed by an 8). A 31 gives 2 points, so it is wise to keep an ace in your hand.

A flush gives 4 points. If the card on the table has the same colour, then you get 5 points.

In the beginning it is tricky to decide which 2 cards to put in the crib. Logically, if you deal, the crib is yours, so preferrably you can put 2 good cards. If you´d have a Jack, a five, seven and eight and six and nine, then throw away your jack and five because you get plenty of points for the run and the fifteens. If you have a rotten hand, just try to make the best out of it; the crib can give good points when you´re lucky.

Now, when the opponent deals, the crib is his. So try to throw away your worst cards. Some tips: Avoid to throw pairs and try not to throw cards of the same colour, any card combination giving fifteen is only good for the opponent.

If you got curious about Cribbage, a game played since the 17th century, then click Bicycle cards for the rules, or go to Wikipedia. Now that I need to travel almost 4 hours a day, every once in a while I play Cribbage Pro from Fuller Systems a few hands. Winning percentage in the novice level: 100%, intermediate 33%.