Cribbage: First Thoughts

I realize cribbage probably isn't exactly one of the more popular boardgames in existence right now, especially given it's age and how far gaming has come in the last twenty years. That said, I think there are some very real benefits to getting to know the strategies involved in this game.

Essentially, cribbage is a boardgame for two or three players. The players attempt to move their pieces from one end of the board to the other, faster than the other players. They do this by scoring points with playing cards. There are two broad means of scoring points after the cards have been dealt, and the hands have been selected. One, players attempt to construct the most points-lucrative four-card hands possible, given the cards they were dealt. A good deal of this is luck, especially given that the communal card is flipped after the hands are selected. Two, players play cards in turn, adding up to piles of thirty-one. The players will attempt to play combos off of each other in an attempt to gain additional points. This phase benefits from a flexibly constructed hand.

Cribbage teaches players the ability to make the best out of a bad hand, something lacking in games where the setup or list-building is crucial to gameplay (original Catan, Warhammer 40k, etc...). One especially good or bad hand can reverse your fortunes entirely. It teaches the player to account for the element of chance, and use it as best they can. When forming your hand at the beginning of a turn, sometimes it is best to give up a point or two in the final count if it means having a more flexible hand during the first phase of play.

It also incentivizes players to create flexible hands, and try to anticipate the other players' play during the first phase of the turn. A player who draws a card popular in the construction of sets of fifteen (say,  a 5), but has no 10s with which to gain points, might still be advised to keep it given that face cards are all valued at 10, and will show up often in play. This may seem confusing, but I'll briefly outline the scoring system, and this should hopefully make what I'm saying somewhat clearer.

Scoring in cribbage is reminiscent of blackjack and poker. Points are counted from your hand in the second phase of a turn's play, and include the communally flipped card. Runs are worth the number of cards in the combo (three cards in a row will buy you 3 points). Four cards of the same suit (a flush) will gain you 4 points. Pairs are worth 2 points, three-of-a-kind will buy you 6 points, and four-of-a-kind will buy you 8 points. If you should have in your hand the jack of the suit that is flipped, or you are the dealer who flips it, you gain a point in your final count. The real bread and butter of the cribbage hand is the set of 15. Any different combination of cards in your hand (including the communally flipped card) that adds up to 15 will net you 2 points.

As an example, say a player is dealt the five of hearts, the five of diamonds, the jack of spades, and the king of spades. The Queen of spades is flipped as the communal card. The player would receive points in this order:

• 5 of hearts + jack of spades = 2 pts
• 5 of hearts + king of spades = 2 pts
• 5 of hearts + queen of spades = 2 pts
• the same three face cards, but with the 5 of diamonds = 2 pts each, total 6 pts
• pair of 5s = 2 pts
• run of jack, queen, king = 3 pts
• jack of the flipped suit = 1 pt

The player's total score on this hand would be 18 points. This would be considered a very strong hand, given it's unlikeliness. Personally, I find my hands tend to sit at about 6 or 7 points. Note that the player received no points for a flush. All four cards in the player's hand must be of the same suit in order to gain those points. The additional benefit to having a hand like this one is that, as I mentioned previously, it would be easy to gain points during the first phase of the turn. Given the higher probability of getting 10 point cards, they are more likely to be played, and the player with a 5 is more likely to gain points for making the count to 15. Of course, the counter-strategy to this is that it is unwise to set up these combos during play, and a 9 is a much safer card to start play on. Additionally, it never hurts to have small value cards like the ace or the two in one's hand. Play on a pile ends once the value of all played cards add up to 31, or no one can play with playing beyond 31. The player that plays a card taking the pile value to 31 gets 2 points. The player who plays last but under 31 gets 1 point.

Cribbage rules have been detailed elsewhere in more depth, and with better clarity. All I am attempting to convey in this post is that cribbage has the necessary complexity to be strategically interesting (as opposed to, say, the cardgame war), but is still contingent on a large element of chance. People who enjoy the strategies of poker or 7 Wonders might well find cribbage interesting. As you play more games with a given player, you begin to learn how their style of play works, and you can be rewarded in cribbage for knowing this. A given player may, for instance, be risk-adverse to the point where they choose not to play runs, and stick to combinations of 15. This is useful to know as that player's opponent, as you will be more likely to score off them in the first phase of play. Additionally, that player will be punished for being strategically inflexible in the second phase of play.

Cribbage is one of those games that have survived the test of time because the replay value is immense. Every opponent brings a fresh set of strategies. The rules are easy enough to learn in one sitting, yet complex enough to take years to master. There is no purchasing barrier for different players. It is a great way to learn how to game on a budget. I would say it is easily one of my favourite games, and I would highly recommend it to any tactically-minded gamers.