Cribbage

Goal: Be first to peg 121 points (twice around the board). Card values for counting: Ace 1, faces 10, everything else its number. The deal alternates each round.

Deal: You each get six cards and throw two into the dealer's "crib" — an extra hand that scores for the dealer. The top card of the deck is turned up as the shared "starter" (if it's a Jack, the dealer pegs 2 for "his heels").

The play: Take turns laying a card face-up, adding to a running total that can never pass 31. Peg as you go — total of exactly 15 → 2 · exactly 31 → 2 · pair the last card → 2, three of a kind → 6, four → 12 · finish a run of three or more → 1 per card. Can't play without passing 31? Say "go": your opponent keeps playing if they can, and whoever laid the last card pegs 1 (31 itself scores 2 instead). Then the count resets.

The show (where most points come from): count your hand together with the starter. Every combination scores, and cards can be reused across combinations —

• Fifteen: any cards adding to 15 → 2 each (three 5s and a 10 is worth 8!)

• Pair → 2 · three of a kind → 6 · four of a kind → 12

• Run of 3 / 4 / 5 → 3 / 4 / 5

• Flush: all four hand cards one suit → 4 (5 if the starter matches too)

• His nobs: holding the Jack of the starter's suit → 1

Count order is non-dealer's hand, then dealer's hand, then the dealer's crib — the first to 121 wins on the spot.