How to keep score at a cribbage night
A cribbage night with several tables needs a way to rank people who played different opponents, and maybe a different number of games. Clubs do it with game points, skunks and spread, and it takes one number from each game: where the loser’s peg stopped. This guide covers how a game is recorded, how a night is ranked, and three ways to move opponents and partners.
The night in short
- Seat the tables. Two players at each table, or four in two partnerships with partners across from each other. Each table needs its own board and a pack of cards.
- Play a game to 121. The first to reach 121 wins, and the game ends the moment that happens. A short game to 61 is one lap of the board.
- Read the other peg. Write down where the loser’s peg stopped. That one number gives the skunk, the spread and the game points.
- Award game points. A win is 2 game points, a skunk 3, a double skunk 3 and a loss 0.
- Move. When every table has finished, draw new opponents, or move the winners up a table.
- Keep your own total. Add your game points, wins and spread after every game. A round sat out is no game.
- Rank the night. By game points a game, so a player who sat out a round isn’t left behind. Ties go to more wins, then spread.
Tables, boards and partners
The standard game is for two players, so one against one is the usual table: two players, a board and a pack. Home groups, and couples, often play two against two, with partners across from each other and one result shared by both. Either way, every table needs its own cribbage board and pack of cards.
This guide assumes you know how to play and count a hand. It is about what happens after: what to write down, and how a night adds up. You never need to write down the pegging, the hands, the cribs or who dealt, because the board on the table already holds every peg and both players are watching it.
A game is to 121
A game is played to 121. The first player to reach it wins, even in the middle of a deal, so there is no tie in a game and the winner’s score is always 121. A short game is played to 61, one lap of the board, and is common at home when time is limited.
After the game, the table records two things: who won, and where the other peg was, read straight off the board. That score can be 0 to 120 in a game to 121, or 0 to 60 in a short game. If a game is conceded, enter it like any other: the winner, and where the loser’s peg stood.
Skunks
A skunk is a win by a wide margin. In a game to 121, the lines are:
| Result | Game to 121 | Short game to 61 |
|---|---|---|
| Skunk | 90 or fewer | 30 or fewer |
| Double skunk | 60 or fewer | There is no double skunk |
| No skunk | 91 to 120 | 31 to 60 |
91 is the first score that isn’t a skunk. There is no triple skunk. Skunks are what a table calls out, and some clubs count them every week.
Game points
The standings are built on game points, not on the pegs:
| Result | Winner | Loser |
|---|---|---|
| A win | 2 | 0 |
| A skunk | 3 | 0 |
| A double skunk | 3 | 0 |
At a partners table, each partner gets the game’s points. Two house changes are common: skunks count just for bragging, so a win is always 2, and a double skunk counts one more, so it is worth 4.
Spread
Spread is how far ahead a game was won: the winner gets 121 minus the loser’s score, and the loser gets the same number below zero. In a short game it is 61 minus the loser’s score. A night’s spread is a total, and it adds up to zero across the room. Spread is the usual tiebreaker at clubs.
Big hands
If someone counts a big hand or crib, a group may note it for a prize. A hand can’t score 19, 25, 26 or 27, so the only big scores above 23 are 24, 28 and 29. A 29 is the best hand there is: three 5s and a jack in the hand, with the fourth 5, the one in the jack’s suit, turned up. Write down who counted it, and which. If nobody counted one, leave it blank.
Games, worked out
| Loser’s score | What it is | Spread | Winner’s game points |
|---|---|---|---|
| 120 | A win | 1 | 2 |
| 100 | A win | 21 | 2 |
| 91 | A win, not a skunk | 30 | 2 |
| 90 | A skunk | 31 | 3 |
| 61 | A skunk, not a double | 60 | 3 |
| 60 | A double skunk | 61 | 3 |
| 0 | A double skunk | 121 | 3 |
Dorothy and Calvin beat Sandra and Wendell, 121 to 79. The loser’s score, 79, is 90 or fewer, so it is a skunk, and not a double. Dorothy and Calvin each get 3 game points and a spread of 42. Sandra and Wendell each get 0 game points and a spread of −42.
Ranking the night
Rank players by game points a game: their total game points divided by the games they played, highest first. A round sat out is a game not played, and game points aren’t zero-sum, so a plain total would punish whoever sat out. When everyone has played the same number of games, it gives the same order as the totals.
| Player | Game points | Games | A game |
|---|---|---|---|
| Sandra | 7 | 3 | 2.3 |
| Maureen | 4 | 2 | 2.0 |
| Calvin | 5 | 3 | 1.7 |
| Bernard | 4 | 3 | 1.3 |
Maureen is ahead of Calvin with fewer points, because Maureen has played one game fewer. Two more rules keep it fair:
- A player has to have played at least half the games the busiest player has played to get a place. Anyone else is listed apart, without one, so a one-game visitor can’t win.
- Ties go to more wins, then more spread, then the winner of the game those two played against each other that night, if they played one. If that can’t settle it, the organizer picks, or they play one more game.
Over a season, rank by total game points instead, with each player’s average beside their name. Free cribbage score cards for a night are on our printables page.
Three ways to move
Nobody moves until every table has finished its round. Then your group does one of three things.
Same opponent, or partners, all night
Tables stay. Each table plays its games one after another and never waits for the others. A couple of friends at one table play this way, and so does a best-of-three: three games at the same table.
New opponent, or partners, each round
A round is one game at every table. When every table has finished, everyone is drawn again, so nobody plays the same person again until everyone has played everyone, when that can be helped. At a partners table, nobody partners the same person again until everyone has partnered everyone. This is how many club nights run: a new opponent for every game.
Winners move up
- The winner, or the winning partners, move up one table, toward Table 1.
- The loser stays.
- At the head table, the winner stays and the loser goes down to the highest-numbered table.
- Someone arriving at a table takes the seat the one who left was in.
With an odd number of players, or partnerships, one rests each round: Table 1’s loser rests, and returns at the highest-numbered table.
Sitting out
When the numbers don’t come out in twos, or in fours for partners, the extras sit out a round, in turn, and nobody sits out twice before everyone has when that can be helped. The person running the night isn’t exempt. A round sat out is no game: no win, no loss, no points. That is why the night is ranked by game points a game.
A game nobody finishes
If someone goes home, or time runs out, the game is not counted: no win, no loss, no points and no spread, and the table sits out the rest of the round. A game with no winner has no result, and scoring it by where the pegs happen to be would be refereeing.
House rules
Every group plays a little differently. Agree on these before the first game, and tell every table:
- Game length: 121, or a short game to 61.
- Skunks: counted extra, or just for bragging.
- A double skunk: the same as a skunk, or one more.
- Big hands: noted for a prize, or not.
- Who goes first at each table, and how muggins is handled, if at all. These are the table’s own, and a score card never settles them.
Questions people ask
What is a skunk in cribbage?
A skunk is a win where the loser finished with 90 or fewer points in a game to 121. A double skunk is a win where the loser finished with 60 or fewer.
How many game points is a skunk worth?
A win is worth 2, a skunk 3, a double skunk 3 and a loss 0. Some groups count a double skunk as 4, or count skunks just for bragging.
What is spread in cribbage?
Spread is how far ahead a game was won: 121 minus the loser’s score. The winner gets that number and the loser gets the same number below zero, so a night’s spread adds up to zero across the room.
What are the possible big hands in cribbage?
A hand can’t score 19, 25, 26 or 27, so the big hands people call out above 23 are 24, 28 and 29. A 29 is the best hand there is.
How do you rank a cribbage night when someone sat out?
Rank by game points a game, not total game points, because a round sat out is a game not played. A player needs to have played at least half the games the busiest player played to be ranked.
One tap a game with Cribbage Circle
Each table’s scorekeeper taps who won and types where the other peg was, and Cribbage Circle works out the skunk, the spread and the game points, ranks the night, and after every round shows everyone their next table, seat and opponent, or that they sit out. Your organizer picks the game length and the house rules your group plays.
Free for every player to join, RSVP, keep score and see where to sit. The live scoreboard, season standings and winners log are an optional subscription, per person. Coming to iPhone and Android soon.
See Cribbage Circle
