Photo by Rena Schild

When - Completed

was held Thursday, September 14, 2023 at 1:00pm.

Where

Lincolnia Senior Center
4710 North Chambliss Street
Alexandria, VA 22312

Event Director

Riley Geary
Contact Riley by email.

Volunteers

See our volunteers page for details.

Results and Records

Results and Records for the NVSO 2023 Cribbage Event.

Photographs

Photographs of the NVSO 2023 Cribbage Event taken by Rena Schild.

Rules

No separate age groups or gender divisions. However, if there are 12 or more participants, the event will be divided into two age groups. To avoid byes, the Event Director will play if there are an odd number of participants. However, the Event Director will not be eligible for medals. NVSO will supply boards and cards.

General NVSO Rules
Please go here for rules covering all events.

A) General 2-Player Rules

  • A full deck of 52 cards will be used. King is high, Ace is always low.
  • Four games will be played in a round robin format.
  • A game consists of being first to reach ‘121’ pegged points, with two ’game’ points awarded for a winning margin of 1-30 pegged points, three ‘game’ points awarded for a ‘Skunk’ (winning margin of 31 or more pegged points, no added bonus for a ‘Double Skunk’), and zero ‘game’ points for a loss.
  • The loser of each game records as a negative the number of pegged points they were still short of 121, and the winner records the same number as a positive. These tie-breaking points determine who receives the higher medal if two or more players end up with the same number of ‘game’ points.
  • Cut for deal—low card deals first, with deal alternating thereafter. Each player may shuffle the deck, Dealer shuffling last, and the Dealer’s opponent ‘Pone’ having the option of cutting the deck.
  • Six Cards are dealt to each player, one at a time, face down. The remaining deck is placed face down off to the side. After examining their ‘Hands,’ both players discard two cards face down into the ‘Crib,’ which remains beside the Dealer until after the Play of Hands is completed.
  • Pone cuts the remaining deck and Dealer turns up the top card of the lower portion and places it face up on the reunited deck as the Starter. This card is not used during the Play of Hands, but is used as a common card with each player’s Hand and Crib during the Final Count afterward. If the Starter is a Jack, the Dealer immediately scores (pegs) 2 points for ‘His Nibs.’

B) The Play

  • Pone starts by selecting any card from their Hand and placing it face up in front of them while announcing its numerical value. All Face cards are tens, and all Aces are ones. Dealer then plays a card from their Hand face up and announces both its value and the combined total of the cards.
  • Play proceeds back and forth in this manner, with the value of each new card added to the running total of all previously played face up cards, but not to exceed ’31.’ If a player cannot play a card that would keep the total to ‘31’ or under, they must say ‘Go’ and allow their opponent to continue playing. Players must continue to play all cards they are able to without going over ’31.’
  • The player who brought the card total closest to ‘31’ scores one point for the ‘Go,’ or two points if they reached ‘31’ exactly. Both players then turn their played cards face down, and starting with the player that did NOT score the ‘Go’ or ’31,’ continues a new round of play until both players have played all four cards in their Hand. The final card played earns that player one extra point for ‘Last Card,’ or two extra points if it brings the running total to precisely ’31.’
  • During the Play of Hands, players score points for various sequential combinations involving both players’ cards (suits irrelevant, no points awarded for Flushes, Runs may be in any order) as follows:

Points          Action/Combination

2                Jack on Deck Starter—Dealer only

1                ‘Go’ or ‘Last Card’

2                Bringing running total to ‘15’ or ‘31’ (can be in addition to other combinations formed)

2                Any Pair of same value

3                Any Run of Three cards (e.g. J-9-10)

4                Any Run of Four cards (e.g. 6-9-7-8)

5                Any Run of Five cards (e.g. 2-6-3-4-5)

6                Any Run of Six cards (e.g. 7-4-2-6-3-5)

7                Any Run of Seven cards (e.g. 2-7-6-3-A-5-4)

6                Any Three-of-a-Kind of same value

12              Any Four-of-a-Kind of same value

C) The Final Count

Both players, starting with Pone after the Play of Hands is completed, now examine their respective Hands, together with the Starter card, to see how many scoring combinations they can form as follows:

Points          Combination

1                  Jack of same suit as Starter

2                  Any group of two or more cards adding up to ‘15’ (e.g. Q-5, 7-6-2, or 5-4-3-2-1)

2                  Any Pair of same value

3                  Any Run of Three cards (e.g. J-10-9)

4                  Any Run of Four cards (e.g. 9-8-7-6)

4                  Any Four card Flush of same suit (must all be in player’s Hand, excludes Starter and Crib)

5                  Any Five card Flush of same suit (must match Starter’s suit, only Flush allowed in Crib)

5                  Any Run of Five cards (e.g. 6-5-4-3-2)

6                  Any Three-of-a-Kind of same value

8                  Any Double Double Run of Three cards (e.g. K-Q-J-J)

10                 Any Double Run of Four cards (e.g. 4-3-3-2-A)

12                 Any Four-of-a-Kind of same value

15                 Any Triple Run of Three cards (e.g. J-10-10-10-9)

16                 Any Double Double Run of Three cards (e.g. 4-4-3-3-2)

20                 Four FIVES, no Face Card or TEN (12 for Four-of-a-Kind, plus 8 for four different 5-5-5 ‘15’ combinations

28                 Four FIVES and a Face Card or TEN (12 for Four-of-a-Kind, plus 8 more for four additional 10-5 ‘15’ combinations)

  • The same cards can be part of several different scoring combinations. For example, a Four card Flush of Q-6-5-4 combined with a Starter 5 of a different suit would score 20 points in total (8 for four ‘15s,’ plus 8 for a Double Run of Three, and 4 for a Four card Flush), while a Five card Flush of 9-8-7-6-A would score 15 points (6 for three ‘15s,’ plus 5 for the Flush and 4 for the Four card run).
  • Players can only peg the points they claim, and while ‘Muggins’ (stealing unclaimed or unpegged points) are not allowed, players are never required to point out any unclaimed or unpegged points. After all points have been pegged, including from the Dealer’s Crib, all cards are returned to the deck for reshuffling and a new hand of six cards each is dealt, with the previous Pone the new Dealer.
  • Play continues until one player reaches the 121st hole, ending the game immediately. If Pone ‘goes out’ during their final count, Dealer does NOT peg any points for their Hand or Crib.