How to Play Cribbage

A full walkthrough of the rules, plus how joining a room, nudging a slow opponent, and stat tracking work here in Muggins.

The basics

Cribbage is played with a standard 52-card deck, usually by two players (Muggins also supports three, and four playing as two teams). The goal is to be the first to reach 121 points, scored across two phases every hand: pegging, during play, and the show, when hands are counted. Card values: ace is 1, number cards count their face value, and jack/queen/king all count 10 — this matters for scoring but not for runs, where they rank normally (…10, J, Q, K).

Dealing

Each player is dealt 6 cards in a 2-player game (5 cards in 3- or 4-player games). One player is the dealer for the hand — dealing rotates each hand. The dealer has a built-in advantage (they score the crib, see below), so cribbage automatically balances this out over many hands by rotating who deals.

The crib

Before play begins, every player discards down to a shared 4-card hand: in a 2-player game each player discards 2 cards face-down into the crib, a separate hand that belongs to the dealer and is counted at the very end. Discarding is a real strategic decision — see the strategy page for what's worth keeping versus giving away.

Cutting the starter

After discarding, the deck is cut and the top card of the remaining deck is turned face up — this is the starter (or "cut card"). It's used when counting every hand and the crib, but is not part of anyone's hand for pegging. If the starter card itself is a jack, the dealer immediately scores 2 points — this is called "his heels."

Pegging (the play)

Starting with the player to the dealer's left, players take turns playing one card face-up, calling out the running total. The count can never exceed 31. You score points for certain totals and combinations as you play:

• 15 — reaching a running count of exactly 15: 2 points.
• 31 — reaching exactly 31: 2 points.
• Pairs — playing a card matching the rank of the card just played: 2 points (3 in a row of the same rank scores 6, all 4 scores 12).
• Runs — playing a card that extends a run of 3 or more consecutive ranks among the last cards played, regardless of order they were played in: 1 point per card in the run.

If you can't play a card without going over 31, you say "go" — the other player scores 1 point (or 2, if they can play a card that hits exactly 31) and keeps playing until they run out of cards too. Once nobody can play, the last player to play a card scores 1 point ("last card"), and the count resets to 0 for the next round of play, continuing until every card has been played.

The show

Once all cards are played, each hand is counted against the starter card, in a fixed order: the player to the dealer's left counts first, then play continues around the table, and the dealer counts their own hand last, then finally the crib. Counting last is the dealer's edge — see the scoring page for the full breakdown of fifteens, pairs, runs, flushes and nobs, with worked examples.

First player to peg past 121 wins. If you win before your opponent has even reached 91 points, that's a skunk — worth bragging rights, and tracked in your stats (see below). Reach 121 before they've passed 61 and it's a double skunk.

How to join a game

There are no accounts required to play. Enter a name on the home screen, then either:

• Create a room — pick a player count and board look, and you'll get a five-character room code (letters and numbers, no accounts needed).
• Join a room — type in a code a friend sent you and your name, and you're seated.

Share the code with your friends however you like — text, chat, whatever. Games are asynchronous: when it isn't your turn, the table shows who it's waiting on, and you can close the tab and come back later — your seat will still be there. Signing in (optionally, with Google or email) isn't required to play; it's only there to carry your stats across devices, covered next.

How nudges work

If the table is waiting on someone who's gone quiet, you can tap the Nudge button next to their name to gently poke them — they'll get a sound and a visual alert on their screen letting them know it's their turn. Nudges have a built-in cooldown of 20 seconds per player so they can't be spammed — once someone's been nudged, they're safe from another nudge for a bit before they can be nudged again. You can also pick which sound plays when you nudge someone, from a small tray of options.

What stats are tracked

Muggins quietly keeps a running stat sheet per player: games played, wins and losses, your highest-scoring hand and crib, your best pegging count in a single game, how many times you've hit the rare 28-point hand or the maximum possible 29-point hand, and how often you've skunked — or been skunked by — an opponent. You can check it any time from the 🏆 leaderboard button.

Stats follow a signed-in account, not just a device. If you play as a guest (no sign-in), your stats for that room and name are still recorded — but they only travel with you to a new device once you sign in and link that account, since guest identity is otherwise just "this room, this name." Signing in is optional and only ever prompted after a real milestone, like a win streak or a personal-best hand.