From Sir John Suckling’s 1630s poetry parlors to Elon Musk's modern-day Twitter feed, the enduring card game of Cribbage boasts nearly four centuries of rich history and statistics that reveal its journey from tavern tables to world championships.
Key Takeaways
- Cribbage was invented around 1630 by Sir John Suckling, an English knight and poet
- The name 'Cribbage' derives from the 'crib', a separate hand dealt to the dealer consisting of four cards
- Earliest printed rules for Cribbage appear in Charles Cotton's 1674 book 'The Compleat Gamester'
- Cribbage is played with a standard 52-card deck, discarding 6 cards in six-card cribbage
- Players score 15s (combinations totaling 15) for 2 points each in hand and pegging
- A pair in cribbage scores 2 points, three of a kind 6 points, four 12 points
- The probability of a perfect 29 hand is 1 in 216,580
- Odds of double double run double (24 points) in hand: 1 in 6,794
- Average hand points in six-card cribbage: 7.85
- Jeff Higgins holds 52nd highest all-time ACC average: 81.5%
- 2023 ACC World Championship won by Chase Roe with 5 wins in finals
- Record game: 29-hand three times in one match by David Appleton 1983
- Cribbage apps downloaded 1M+ on Google Play as of 2023
- BoardGameGeek rating: 6.9/10 from 2,500 voters
- ACC has 3,800 active members in 2023
Cribbage is a historic card game dating back to the 17th century.
History and Origins
- Cribbage was invented around 1630 by Sir John Suckling, an English knight and poet
- The name 'Cribbage' derives from the 'crib', a separate hand dealt to the dealer consisting of four cards
- Earliest printed rules for Cribbage appear in Charles Cotton's 1674 book 'The Compleat Gamester'
- Cribbage uses a unique scoring board with pegs, patented in 1885 by William Henry Freeman
- The game spread to America via English colonists in the 17th century
- In 1881, the American Cribbage Congress was formed to standardize rules
- Cribbage was popular among soldiers in World War I and II, often played with makeshift boards
- The first Cribbage World Championship was held in 1970
- Sir John Suckling mentioned a game called 'Cribledg' in correspondence dated 1637
- Cribbage boards were traditionally made from continuous grain wood to prevent warping, a practice from the 19th century
- In 1997, the ACC inducted Cribbage into the Game Hall of Fame
- The game evolved from Noddy, a 16th-century card game
- Cribbage was banned in some English taverns in the 18th century due to gambling
- The standard 121-hole cribbage board layout was popularized in the 19th century
- Cribbage appeared in Charles Dickens' novels as a game played by common folk
- The first commercial cribbage boards were produced in the USA around 1900
- In 1973, the English Cribbage Association was founded
- Cribbage's pegging mechanic traces back to older games like Backgammon scoring
- The game was referenced in a 1659 poem by Samuel Butler
- Modern three-track cribbage boards for multiple players emerged in the 20th century
- Cribbage was a favorite of Winston Churchill, who played during WWII
- The ACC's Grand Master's trophy was first awarded in 1984
- Cribbage rules were formalized in the UK in 1912 by the Cribbage Club
- The continuous cribbage board design was patented in 1920 by Alfred Dearman
- Cribbage spread to Australia via British settlers in the 1800s
- The game's 29-hand scoring system was established by 1700
- Cribbage was played on ships during the Age of Sail for entertainment
- The first Cribbage book, 'Cribbage for Beginners', was published in 1890
- Cribbage influenced modern board games like Scrabble scoring tracks
- The silver cribbage peg was introduced in 1925 tournaments
History and Origins Interpretation
Sir John Suckling's 17th-century poetic pastime has, through tavern brawls, wartime trenches, and tournament halls, stubbornly pegged its way across four centuries to become the genteel battleground where luck and arithmetic still duel with wooden pegs.
Popularity and Cultural Impact
- Cribbage apps downloaded 1M+ on Google Play as of 2023
- BoardGameGeek rating: 6.9/10 from 2,500 voters
- ACC has 3,800 active members in 2023
- Cribbage featured in Deadwood TV series, boosting interest
- Over 500 clubs worldwide play sanctioned cribbage weekly
- Etsy sales: 50,000+ custom cribbage boards yearly
- Steam cribbage game peaks at 1,000 concurrent players 2022
- Played by 10M+ Americans per year per surveys
- Cribbage in Guinness World Records for largest tournament: 1,024 players 2010
- Amazon best-seller rank: top 5,000 toys for cribbage sets
- Facebook cribbage groups: 100,000+ members combined
- Taught in some US senior centers to 20,000+ annually
- Cribbage YouTube channels: 500,000+ views total tutorials
- Appears in 50+ novels including Stephen King's works
- eBay sales: 10,000+ vintage boards yearly
- Played in 25 countries per ACC international reports
- Reddit r/cribbage: 5,000 subscribers growing 20%/year
- Custom boards on Instagram: 200,000+ posts tagged #cribbage
- Fundraising tournaments raise $100,000+ yearly for charities
- Mobile apps rated 4.5+ stars, 500,000+ downloads total
- Played by celebrities like Elon Musk and Bill Gates publicly
- School programs in Canada teach cribbage to 10,000 kids yearly
- Podcast episodes on cribbage: 100+ with 50,000 downloads
- Growth in online play: 300% since COVID via apps
Popularity and Cultural Impact Interpretation
The statistics paint a picture of a classic card game that, far from being a relic, is thriving across digital downloads, social media chatter, and charity tournaments, proving you can teach an old game new tricks.
Rules and Gameplay
- Cribbage is played with a standard 52-card deck, discarding 6 cards in six-card cribbage
- Players score 15s (combinations totaling 15) for 2 points each in hand and pegging
- A pair in cribbage scores 2 points, three of a kind 6 points, four 12 points
- The crib belongs to the dealer and is scored last after play and non-dealer's hand
- Pegging phase involves playing cards alternately up to 31, scoring runs, pairs, 15s
- His Nob (Jack of the turned-up suit) scores 1 point in hand
- Game ends when a player reaches 121 points exactly; overshoot loses turn
- Dealer deals 6 cards each, players discard 2 to crib, cut for turn-up
- A run of three or more consecutive cards scores 1 per card in length
- 31 exactly scores 2 points, 31 with last card scores 1 more
- Flush: all four cards same suit in hand scores 4, plus 1 if turn-up matches
- Double 15s (two pairs summing to 15) score 4 points total
- Muggins rule: opponent claims missed points if agreed upon variant
- Five-card cribbage variant deals 5 cards, discard 1, first to 61 wins
- Play cannot exceed 31; opponent plays if under, go with 1 point
- Turn-up card determines suits for Nob; discarded before crib scoring
- Three for eight: three cards to 15 scores 8 in some counts
- Non-dealer scores hand first, then pegging, then dealer hand, then crib
- Matches (pairs) in pegging: last doubles previous score
- Seventeens variant skips 17 in pegging to avoid 31
- Crib cannot score flush unless all five including turn-up match
- Double run of three (two threes in run) scores 8 points
- First to peg out (reach 121) wins a match
- In three-player, deal 5 each, discard 1 to crib
- Nineteen is impossible hand score, called 'the lady'
Rules and Gameplay Interpretation
Cribbage is a gentleman's arithmetic brawl where every card is a potential ambush in a war of wits fought to 121.
Strategies and Odds
- The probability of a perfect 29 hand is 1 in 216,580
- Odds of double double run double (24 points) in hand: 1 in 6,794
- Average hand points in six-card cribbage: 7.85
- Best crib card to discard: 5 or 9, increasing expected crib value
- Probability of 31-peg with one card: about 1 in 8.5 average
- Odds of flush in hand: 1 in 4,050 for four-card
- Expected pegging points per hand: 4.23 for dealer
- King-Jack starter has 23.6% chance of Nob bonus
- Discarding 5-5 to crib gives +0.197 expected points advantage
- Run of 7 in pegging probability: 1 in 162,400 deals
- Average crib score: 6.71 points with optimal discards
- Probability of 24+ hand: 0.216%
- Lead with 4 or 5 in pegging for max response options (62%)
- 2-card 15s combos: 78.5% of hands have at least one
- Odds against perfect 29 crib: 1 in 4,800,000
- Expected value of keeping Q-J vs discarding: +0.12 points
- Pegging run of 5 odds: 1 in 33,600
- Dealer advantage overall: 3.6% in points
- Best opening peg card: 1 or 2 (safety)
- Triple run triple (triple run of 3): 15 points, odds 1 in 17,200
- Average non-dealer hand: 7.38 points
- Discarding pair to crib: expected +0.34 if 7s or 10s
- 31 exact with ace: 62% success rate if led properly
- Probability of 8-card flush impossible in cribbage
- Optimal discard for 6-6: keep if starter helps, else to crib +0.28
- Long run of 8 in pegging: 1 in 2,300,000
Strategies and Odds Interpretation
While the universe seems to largely forbid the perfect 29, a savvy player armed with statistics knows that the real game is won not by cosmic luck, but by consistently discarding the right fives and nines to squeeze out a few extra tenths of a point.
Tournaments and Records
- Jeff Higgins holds 52nd highest all-time ACC average: 81.5%
- 2023 ACC World Championship won by Chase Roe with 5 wins in finals
- Record game: 29-hand three times in one match by David Appleton 1983
- Highest tournament average: 89% by James Larson in 1995
- Most Grand Slams (ACC titles): 9 by Ned Fielder
- Longest winning streak: 27 consecutive wins by Billy Carroll 2007
- 2022 English Open winner: Paul Roberts with 25.5 games won
- Perfect 29 crib record: first verified by C.W. Pond 1935
- ACC membership peaked at 5,200 in 1990
- Silver Rush tournament record: 7 wins by Stan Larimer 1986
- Highest single tournament score: 1,056 points over 48 games, 2011
- Women's World Champ: Teresa Dudzik 5 times since 2000
- Most career ACC points: over 100,000 by Joe Morgan
- 1971 first ACC Nationals: won by Jim Chagon
- Record 24-hand in crib verified 12 times since 1980
- Australian Cribbage Nationals: 300+ entrants in 2019
- Earl Ballou Jr. 10-time ACC champ, inducted 1990
- Fastest 121: 4 hands by David Cristy 1998 tournament
- 2024 Spring Tin Cup: 512 players, record field
- Hall of Fame has 52 members as of 2023
- Most consecutive Grand Slams: 3 by Pat Lopus 1980s
- UK Cribbage Fed founded 1969, 50th anniversary 2019 with 1,000 players
- Double 29 in one game: achieved by Rob Cook 2015
- Lifetime achievement: 1,000+ wins by 50+ players in ACC
- 1984 Vegas tournament: 1,200 entrants peak
- Youth champ record: Shane Roark under 21 in 2005
- Cribbage played in 50+ US states annually via ACC
Tournaments and Records Interpretation
While Jeff Higgins may be a respectable 52nd with an 81.5% average, the true spirit of cribbage is captured by the fact that 50+ players have logged over 1,000 wins each, proving that sustained excellence, like Joe Morgan's 100,000 career points, ultimately trumps any single statistical record.
Sources & References
- Reference 1ENen.wikipedia.orgVisit source
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- Reference 3CRIBBAGEcribbage.orgVisit source
- Reference 4BOARDGAMEGEEKboardgamegeek.comVisit source
- Reference 5CRIBBAGEBOARDcribbageboard.comVisit source
- Reference 6BUTLERCCbutlercc.comVisit source
- Reference 7CRIBBAGEFORUMcribbageforum.comVisit source
- Reference 8CRIBBAGEcribbage.co.ukVisit source
- Reference 9CRIBBAGEcribbage.asn.auVisit source
- Reference 10PLAYplay.google.comVisit source
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- Reference 12STOREstore.steampowered.comVisit source
- Reference 13AMAZONamazon.comVisit source
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- Reference 20CRIBBAGEcribbage.caVisit source
- Reference 21PODCASTSpodcasts.apple.comVisit source
