- Score sheets
- Card games
- Cribbage
Cribbage score sheet
A cribbage score sheet stands in for the pegboard. After each hand, write down what every player pegged in the play and counted in the show, then keep a running total. The first player to reach 121 wins on the spot.
- 2 to 4 players
- One deck and a pegboard
- First to 121
- Wins on the spot
Tabletales is free on iPhone and iPad.
This is the real Scorepad, live: Mara’s hand 5 typed the way she counts it, added up for her. Hand 9 stops the moment she reaches 121.
Cribbage
A card game kept on a pegboard: you score while playing cards toward a count of 31 and again when you count your hand, and the first player to reach 121 wins on the spot.
Cribbage on BoardGameGeek.
How to play Cribbage, in brief
Cribbage scores are kept by moving pegs along a board, and the first player to reach 121 points wins.
- Deal 6, give 2 to the cribWith 2 players, each gets 6 cards and lays 2 face down as the crib, a spare hand the dealer scores. Then turn up a card from the deck: the starter.
- Play toward 31Take turns laying a card and calling the total. If you can’t play without passing 31, say “go”: your opponent plays what they can, then the count restarts at 0.
- Count the handsCount the non-dealer’s hand, then the dealer’s, then the crib, each with the starter: cards adding up to 15, pairs, runs and flushes score. The deal alternates.
- Play to 121Hands go on until someone reaches 121, which wins at once, even mid-hand.
You score twice: while you play, and when you count.
Points come in both halves of a hand. In the play, you peg for the cards you lay as the count goes up toward 31. In the show, each hand and the crib score their combinations with the starter. With four players, partners sit opposite and score together.
What scores
| Combination | Points |
|---|---|
| FifteenCards adding to 15, with face cards 10 and aces 1. In the show, every different combination counts | 2 |
| PairThree of a kind is 6, four of a kind 12 | 2 |
| Run of three or moreEvery run counts: 7, 8, 8, 9 holds two runs of three | 1 a card |
| FlushFour hand cards of one suit, 5 if the starter matches. The crib needs all five | 4 or 5 |
| NobsThe jack of the starter’s suit, in a hand or the crib | 1 |
| His heelsThe starter is a jack: the dealer scores at once | 2 |
| 31 in the play | 2 |
| The goThe last card when nobody can reach 31 | 1 |
- His heels firstIf the starter turned up is a jack, the dealer scores 2 straight away.
- Peg the playMaking the count exactly 15 or 31 scores 2, and the last card short of 31 scores 1. A card that pairs the one before scores 2, and a run of three or more scores 1 a card.
- Count the hands in orderThe non-dealer first, then the dealer, then the crib, each with the starter: 2 for every fifteen, 2 for every pair, 1 a card for every run, then any flush and nobs.
- Stop at 121The first to reach 121 wins the moment it happens, in the play or the show, before anyone else counts. Winning by 31 or more, with the loser on 90 or less, is a skunk.
Hand 5: Mara’s double run beats the dealer.
You deal, so Mara counts first. The starter is the 5♠. In the play, Mara pairs your 4 and takes the go; you play the last card. Then Mara counts a double run, and you count your hand with nobs and your crib. This is hand 5 on the Scorepad above.
| Player | Play, hand, crib | Hand |
|---|---|---|
| Mara | 3♣ 4♦ 6♥ 6♠, starter 5♠Play: a pair 2, the go 1. Hand: three fifteens 6, two runs of four 8, a pair 2. In all, 3 + 6 + 8 + 2 | 19 |
| You | 10♥ J♠ Q♦ 4♣, crib K♣ 9♦ 8♣ A♥Play: the last card 1. Hand: three fifteens 6, a run of three 3, nobs 1. Crib: two fifteens 4. In all, 1 + 6 + 3 + 1 + 4 | 15 |
A pegboard that remembers.
Tabletales is a scorepad and scrapbook for game night. You count your own fifteens as usual. Type each hand on the Scorepad and it keeps the running total to 121.
- 121 is right on the padLeave it on Highest wins and set Play to a score to 121. The Scorepad gives the trophy to the higher total, not to whoever got there first, so stop typing the moment someone reaches 121.
- A hand on the keypadType each hand’s points, or type the play, the hand and the crib as you count them (1 + 6 + 3 + 1 + 4) and Tabletales adds it up to 15.
- Every deal gets a rowSwitch to By hand and each deal is its own row, so you can see where the game turned. Skunks and match points stay on paper.
- And the night is keptSave it with who played and a photo from the table. Each game gets a history: how often you play it, who with, and who holds the high score.
- Everyone who was there
- Photos from the table
- Cribbage, with its scores
Common Cribbage scoring mistakes
- Scoring a four-card flush in the cribThe crib scores a flush only when the starter matches too, for 5. A four-card flush counts only in a hand.
- Mixing up his heels and nobsA jack turned up as the starter gives the dealer 2 at once. A jack in a hand or crib that matches the starter’s suit is worth 1 in the show.
- Counting a double run as one long run7, 8, 8, 9 is two runs of three plus a pair, 8 points before the fifteens, not a run of four.
- Finishing the hand after someone reaches 121The game ends on the spot. That is why the non-dealer, who counts first, can win before the dealer counts at all.
Cribbage scoring, answered
- How do you count a cribbage hand?
- Count your four cards with the starter: 2 for every combination that adds to 15, 2 for every pair, 1 a card for every run of three or more, 4 or 5 for a flush, and 1 for the jack of the starter’s suit.
- How do you keep score in cribbage without a board?
- Write each player’s points after every hand (the play, the hand, and the crib for the dealer) and keep a running total. The first to 121 wins, so stop the moment someone gets there.
- What is a skunk in cribbage?
- Winning by 31 or more, so the loser finishes on 90 or less. The American Cribbage Congress counts a skunk as 3 game points instead of 2, and Bicycle counts it as a double game.
Cribbage score sheet
Print one for the table: three player columns (partners share one) and sixteen hands, with each hand’s points and a running total, and every count at the bottom.
Score another game
Tables differ on skunks (Bicycle adds a double skunk, under 61, and a lurch), some play a short game to 61, and muggins, claiming points an opponent missed, is optional (the ACC’s only optional rule; Bicycle lists it as a variation, always used in competitive play). Rules checked on 19 October 2026 against American Cribbage Congress, Bicycle Cards and Pagat.
Keep score tonight. Keep the night for good.
Tabletales adds up every hand, then saves the whole night: the games, the scores, the photos and who was there.
