Cribbage Glossary
Complete dictionary of cribbage terms, from common phrases to traditional slang.
B
- Balk
- To throw cards to the opponent's crib that are unlikely to score together, such as a King and a 9. Also spelled 'baulk'.
- Box
- Another name for the crib.
C
- Cut-throat
- Usually cribbage played with the muggins rule; sometimes three-player cribbage with no partners.
- Count
- The running total during pegging (maximum 31), or the act of tallying points in a hand.
- Crib
- The four cards (two from each player) set aside face-down. The dealer scores the crib after both hands are counted.
- Cut Card
- See 'Starter'.
D
- Dealer
- The player who deals the cards and will score the crib that round.
- Double Pair Royal
- Four cards of the same rank, scoring 12 points.
- Double Run
- A run of three cards with one pair (e.g., 4-4-5-6), scoring 8 points (two runs of 3 plus a pair).
- Double Skunk
- Winning before your opponent reaches 61 points. Often counts as 3 game wins in match play, by agreement.
F
- Fifteen
- Any combination of cards totaling exactly 15, scoring 2 points.
- Flush
- Four or five cards of the same suit. In hand: 4 matching = 4 points, 5 matching = 5 points. In crib: must be 5 matching to score.
G
- Go
- Called when a player cannot play a card without exceeding 31. The opponent plays on while able; the last player to lay a card pegs 1 for the go (2 if that card made exactly 31), and the other player leads the new count.
H
- His Heels
- When the starter card is a Jack, the dealer immediately scores 2 points. Also called 'nibs'.
- His Nobs
- See 'Nobs'.
- Hole
- One point on the cribbage board.
L
- Last Card
- The final card played in a pegging sequence. Scores 1 point if not reaching 31 (which scores 2).
- Lay Away
- To discard cards to the crib.
- Lurch
- The old word for a heavy loss, from the same root as 'left in the lurch'. Today's equivalent is the skunk or double skunk.
M
- Muggins
- Optional rule, agreed before the game, where if a player undercounts, the opponent can claim the missed points. Not used on CardCouch, where counting is automatic.
N
- Nibs
- See 'His Heels'. A few tables use nibs and nobs the other way round.
- Nineteen Hand
- A hand worth nothing. No hand can actually score 19 (or 25, 26 or 27), so 'nineteen' is the traditional joke for zero.
- Nobs
- Holding a Jack of the same suit as the starter card, scoring 1 point in the show. Counts in the crib as well as in a hand.
P
- Pair
- Two cards of the same rank, scoring 2 points.
- Pair Royal
- Three cards of the same rank, scoring 6 points.
- Peg
- To score points using the pegs on the board.
- Pegging
- The play phase where players alternate playing cards and score points.
- Pone
- The non-dealer. The pone cuts the deck and plays first.
R
- Run
- Three or more cards in sequence regardless of suit, scoring 1 point per card. Ace is low: A-2-3 is a run, Q-K-A is not.
S
- Show
- The counting of the hands and the crib after the play, non-dealer first, then the dealer's hand, then the crib.
- Skunk
- Winning before your opponent reaches 91 points. Often counts as 2 game wins in match play.
- Skunk Line
- The 90-hole mark on the board, often marked with an S. If the winner reaches 121 while the loser is still short of 91, it's a skunk.
- Starter
- The card turned up after the cut, used in counting but not in pegging. Also called the 'cut card'.
- Stinkhole
- The 120th hole. Being in the stinkhole means you need exactly 1 point to win.
- Street
- A section of 30 holes on a cribbage board.
T
- Thirty-One
- Reaching exactly 31 during pegging, scoring 2 points and resetting the count.
- Triple Run
- A run with three of a kind (e.g., 5-5-5-6-7), scoring 15 points.
U
- Underpegging
- Scoring fewer points than a hand or play is worth. Under the muggins rule the opponent may claim the difference.