The Penguin Book of Card Games: Everything You Need to Know to Play Over 250 Games (142 page)

card is dif erent each time.

A flush in the hand counts 4, or 5 if its suit matches the starter’s.

A player holding the Jack of the same suit as the starter also pegs 1

‘for his nob’. (If the starter is a Jack, neither player reckons for his

nob, as it is overridden by the ‘2 for his heels’.)

3 3 6 6 9 = 14 7 7 7 A A = 20 5 5 J J J! = 21

J! Q Q Q K = 16 7 8 8 9 9 = 20 5 5 5 10 10 = 22

6 7 8 9 9 = 16 7 7 7 8 8 = 20 4 5 5 5 6 = 23

2 6 7 7 8 = 16 6 6 9 9 9 = 20 5 5 5 J J! = 23

A A 2 2 3 = 16 6 6 7 7 8 = 20 7 7 7 7 A = 24

2 3 4 4 4 = 17 3 3 4 4 5 = 20 4 4 4 4 7 = 24

5 5 J Q K = 17 3 3 6 6 6 = 20 4 5 5 6 6 = 24

3 3 3 6 6 = 18 3 4 4 4 4 = 20 6 7 7 8 8 = 24

5 5 J! Q K = 18 7 7 7 8 9 = 21 7 7 8 8 9 = 24

3 3 4 5 5 = 20 3 3 3 4 5 = 21 5 5 5 5 10 = 28

4 4 4 7 7 = 20 4 5 6 6 6 = 21 5 5 5 5 J! = 29

Some hands requiring care at counting. J! denotes 1 for his nob. No

possible five-card combination can score 19.

Counting the crib Final y, dealer turns the crib face up and pegs for

it as a five-card hand exactly as above, except that a flush only

counts if al five are in suit.

Score Play ceases the moment either player ‘pegs out’ by reaching

121,no mat er what stage of the game has been reached. If the loser

has failed to reach 91, he is lurched (or ‘in the lurch’, or, in

American parlance, skunked), and loses a double stake.

Muggins (optional rule). If a player fails to notice a feature he could

have scored for, his opponent may point it out and peg it himself.

Cribbage variants

Five-card Crib

The original five-card game for two players remains the standard

version in English club, tournament and championship play,

probably because its practitioners more frequently play the

partnership game, in which a five-card deal remains the norm. The

partnership game, in which a five-card deal remains the norm. The

dif erences are as fol ows:

At start of play, non-dealer pegs ‘3 for last’ as compensation for

dealer’s having the first crib. Deal five each, discard two. Play up to

31 once only: any cards left in hand remain unplayed. A flush in

hand counts 3, or 4 with the starter. A flush in the crib scores 5 if it

matches the suit of the starter, but is otherwise worthless. Game is

61 points, and a loser who fails to reach 45 is in the lurch.

Seven-card Crib

Deal seven cards each and discard two. Game is 181. Rarely played.

Eight-card Crib

According to Hoyle’s Games Improved (1820): ‘Eight-card Cribbage

is sometimes played, but very seldom.’Icanfindnocontemporary

account of it, and suspect it to be a joke name for what is described

under that heading as fol ows:

Some ingenious folk invented a game of chance they styled playing at cribbage

by hackney-coaches; that is, two persons placed themselves at a window in some

great thoroughfare or street; one would take all the coaches from the right, the other from the left; the excise duty figures on the doors of the carriages were

reckoned as cards in the show, the coachman as ten for turn-up, and every other

person that happened to sit, stand, or hold at the back of any of them, was a

called a noddy, and scored one.

Losing Cribbage

Play as at any form of standard Crib, but the first to reach 121 is the

loser.

Auction Cribbage

(by Hubert Phil ips) Before the starter is turned (see note on starter

above), each in turn, Dealer first, states how many points he wil

pay (deduct from his score) in return for the privilege of the crib.

The higher bidder promptly subtracts that amount, and play

proceeds as in any of the above games as if he were the normal

dealer.

Three-hand Crib

(cut-throat) Deal five cards each and one card face down to the crib,

to which each then discards another one, making four in al . Eldest

leads and counts his hand first; dealer plays and counts his hand

and crib last. Each player scores for himself.

Three-hand Crib

(solo) The dealer’s two opponents play as a partnership. Deal five

each and six to the dealer. The partners pass one card each to the

dealer, who from his hand discards four to the crib. Play as above,

except that each partner scores the total made by them both.

Four-hand Crib

(partnership) Deal five each, discard one each to the crib. Eldest

leads and shows first. Pegging is done by dealer’s and leader’s

partners. Each partnership scores the amount made by both its

members.

Cribbage Patience

Deal sixteen cards face up to form a square of four rows and

columns, placing each new card adjacent to any previous one. Turn

the 17th up as a starter. Score for each row and column as for a

the 17th up as a starter. Score for each row and column as for a

five-card hand including the starter. Win if you make at least 61.

Noddy

2 players, 52 cards

O beastly nody, wythoute brayne…

Bale, Apology (1550)

‘Noddy’ means a fool or simpleton – one who tends to nod of at

any opportunity. This parent of Cribbage is known from 1589, but

could conceivably have been identical with, or an elaboration of, an

earlier game cal ed One-and-Thirty.

Deal three cards each, then cut the pack to enable non-dealer to

turn the top card of the bot om half and set it face up on top. If it’s

a Jack, dealer immediately pegs 2 for ‘Knave Noddy’.

A game is 31 points over as many deals as it takes.

Each in turn, starting with non-dealer, announces and scores for

(but does not reveal) any combination he can make from the four

cards comprising the turn-up and the three in his own hand. The

possible combinations and their scores are:

pairs pair

2

pair royal

6

double pair royal 12

points fifteen

2

twenty-five

2

run

three

1

four

2

flush three

3

four

4

If a Jack was not turned, then Knave Noddy is the Jack of the

same suit as the turn-up, and its holder (if any) pegs 1 point for it.

If non-dealer reaches 31 for combinations in hand, dealer does

not count his, and the game ends. If dealer reaches 31, the game

ends and there is no play-of .

If neither reaches 31, then each in turn, starting with non-dealer,

plays a card face up to the table and announces the combined total

of al cardssofar played. Ace counts 1, numeralsatface value, and

courts 10 each.

If in the play-of a card makes a pair, run or flush with those

immediately preceding it, its player pegs the appropriate amount.

For this purpose, runs and flushes of more than four cards count 1

point per constituent card.

Example: If the cards played are 6 4 7 and the next plays 5, he pegs 4 for

the run. Or, if he plays 5, he scores 4 for the run plus 3 for the successive

clubs.

Peg 2 for making the total 15, 25, or 31 exactly. Play ceases

either when one player reaches a total score of 31 for game, or

when the total value of cards played reaches or exceeds 31. If it is

exceeded, the player who last kept it under 31 pegs 1 point.

There is only one round of play up to 31, unlike the play of Six-

card Cribbage.

Costly Colours

2 players, 52 cards

This fascinating relative of Cribbage and probable co-descendant of

Noddy was first described by Cot on in 1674 and was occasional y

mentioned as a regional game in the eighteenth century. The

fol owing description communicated by Robert Reid derives from

an 1874 edition of Shropshire Folklore, itself partly based on a

booklet entitled The Royal Game of Costly Colours published in

Shrewsbury in 1805. Arthur Taylor, the pub-game researcher, tel s

me that he saw it played in a Lancashire pub under the name

‘Costly’ in the 1980s, but, unfortunately, did not realize its historical

significance at the time and has since forgot en the location.

Preliminaries Cards rank A23456789TJQK. Numerals count face

value, courts 10 each, Ace 1 or 11 as its player declares. Deal three

each in ones and turn the next for trumps. This is cal ed the ‘deck

card’. If it’s a Jack or a Deuce, Dealer pegs 4 ‘for his heels’.

Mogging The players may now ‘mog’. This is done by each passing

a card from his hand face down to the other. If either refuses, the