How to play
Each player gets six cards and puts two face down in the crib, an extra hand that scores for the dealer. Then a starter card is turned up; if it’s a jack, the dealer pegs 2.
The pegging. Starting with the non-dealer, take turns laying cards and saying the running total. Picture cards count 10 and aces 1, and the total can’t go past 31. You score 2 for making exactly 15 or 31, 2 for a pair with the last card (6 for three, 12 for four), and a point per card for a run of three or more in any order. If you can’t lay a card, it’s a “go”: the other player keeps going, and whoever lays the last card before the count starts again scores 1.
The show. Each hand is counted with the starter: the non-dealer’s first, then the dealer’s, then the crib. Every set of cards adding to 15 scores 2, every pair 2, every run a point a card, four of a suit 4 (5 with the starter; the crib only counts all five), and the jack of the starter’s suit 1. The game page lists every score as it’s counted.
The deal goes back and forth. The first to 121 wins straight away, even in the middle of a hand. Win before the other player reaches 91 and it’s a skunk.
Tips
Keep cards that work together: fives, pairs, cards in a row and pairs that make 15. Throw good cards into your own crib and awkward ones into the other player’s. In the pegging, avoid leaving the count at 5 or 21, where a ten makes 15 or 31, and lead with a card under 5.