Cribbage Scores

In cribbage, the best possible hand is four fives, with a jack turned up, or three fives, plus the jack of the fourth suit, and the fourth five turned up. This scores 12 for the four fives (four of a kind), 16 for eight fifteens, and "one for his nob": total 29. (The eight fifteens are made up of one for each five paired with the jack, and four combinations of any three fives – each combination leaving out one five.)

A hand that scores no points (which is not uncommon) is popularly known as a "nineteen" hand – because any serious cribbage player knows that it's impossible to score nineteen, so the player that declares that score is obviously joking.

© Haydn Thompson 2021