Cribbage Tiles
Ever watch a child playing with blocks and marveled at the infinite possibilities their imaginations can embrace? Inspired by the desire to reshape a board with infinite possibilities – just like building blocks – Cribbage Tiles was born. And your game night will literally never be the same!
Cribbage Tiles uses the rules of Cribbage, the card game played with a standard 52-card deck. However Cribbage Tiles can be configured as any length game! It can be configured for a standard Cribbage game of 121 points or any variation of shorter or longer games. Cribbage Tiles can also just be used as blocks to be connected into any shape. We have seen early testers just sit down and put tiles together with no intent to ever actually peg or count a game!
Customization
A standard length cribbage board is composed of two, three, or four “tracks” of 120 holes with one Ender hole for the winner.
Cribbage Tiles is created as a configurable Four Track board. The length and shape of the board is completely up to the game players. For a standard length, use any combination of 24 Straights or Corners along with a single “Ender”. For longer games, just add more pieces. For a shorter game, use fewer. Match points can be scored on any arrangement of the unused Cribbage Tiles pieces.
The Basics
Cribbage is a card game that is played with a standard 52-card deck and anywhere from 2-4 players. In Cribbage Tiles, games of four players can either be played as two teams of two or as four individuals. The objective of Cribbage Tiles is to be the first to the Ender tile. Cards are ranked with Kings high and Aces low. Cards are worth their face value with face cards worth 10 and Aces worth 1
Set Up
Each player starts with their pegs off the board, indicating a score of zero. The dealer passes out cards to each player. Players then discard cards to form a crib. The dealer will get points from the crib during the crib round. The player to the dealer’s left cuts the remaining deck, selecting the Starter Card. After each round the player to the dealer’s left becomes the new dealer. The number of cards dealt and discarded depend on the number of players:
How to Play
Each player/player team will have 2 pegs, one in front of the other. Players move their pegs alternatively forward on the board by scoring points in the three rounds: Pegging, Counting, and Crib. The alternative moving of the peg allows the player to track where their last move was. Within each round, the play starts with the player to the dealers left moves around clockwise throughout the players.
Pegging
During the Pegging round, players score points by taking turns laying down one of their cards at a time. The player to the dealer’s left goes first, each player plays one card at a time. There is a running total kept throughout the players.
- In the Pegging round, points are awarded in the following ways:
- If a player makes the count 15 or 31 on their turn, they receive 2 points
- A pair is worth 2 points. 3 of a kind is worth 6 points. 4 of a kind is worth 12 points.
- A run of 3 or more cards is worth the number of cards in the run. For example, a run of a 2, 3, 4, and a 5 is worth 4 points. Runs do not need to be played in order, for example playing 3, 4, 2 is scored as a run of 3.
- When the Starter card is a Jack, the dealer gets 2 points for “His Heels”.
- If a player cannot play a card without exceeding 31, the last player to play receives 1 point for a “GO”, and the count restarts at 0. The players proceed playing their remaining cards.
- Playing the last card in the round is worth 1 point.
Counting
The Counting round, players score points by making combinations with their hand and the Starter Card. Players tally points in the same order that cards were played, with the dealer scoring last. If a player does not count all the points that their hand scores, another player may claim the points as “Muggins”. Points are awarded in the same way as the pegging round, with the following differences:
- Combinations of 15 each score 2 points. Combinations of 31 are not scored.
- A pair is worth 2 points. 3 of a kind is worth 6 points. 4 of a kind is worth 12 points.
- A run of 3 or more cards is worth the number of cards in the run. For example, a run of a 2, 3, 4, and a 5 is worth 4 points.
- Flushes – A 4 card flush is worth 4 points. A 5 card flush is worth 5 points.
- Having a Jack of the same suit as the Starter card scores 1 point for “His Nobs”.
Crib
In the Crib round, only the dealer gets to count the crib and is awarded points in the same as the Counting round, with the exception that a flush only scores if it includes the Starter card.
Continuation of Play
After the Pegging, Counting and Crib rounds are completed, the dealer position rotates, the deck is shuffled, new cards are dealt, a new random Starter Card is selected, and the next round begins. The first player to the Ender tile wins.
Cribbage Terms
- Crib – the dealer’s extra hand. Made of the cards discarded by each player after the deal.
- Ender: The last tile with the single peg hole
- His Heels – 2 point score by the dealer for turning up a jack
- His Nobs – extra point scored for having a jack of the turn-up suit
- Go: When a player during the pegging round can not make 31 or lower and the the player to the right receives 1 point.
- Muggins – claiming points your opponent failed to notice
- Pegging – marking scores on the cribbage board – the card-playing phase of the game.
- Starter Card: The card turned up after the cards are dealt and one is turned up from the cut deck.
- Stinkhole – one short of winning
