Each player being provided with two coins, one silver and one copper, (or different sizes,) the copper coin can be advanced from point to point to count units, and the silver coin will mark the tens.
PLAYERS. Cribbage is distinctly a game for two players, although three may play, each for himself, or four, two being partners against the other two. When two play, one is known as the dealer, and the other as the non-dealer, or the pone.
CUTTING. The players cut for the choice of seats, and for the first deal. The lowest cut has the choice, and deals the first hand. The Ace is low. If a player exposes more than one card he must cut again. Ties are also decided by cutting again.
STAKES. Cribbage is played for so much a game, lurches counting double. Players may either settle at the end of each game, or score on a sheet of paper. In the pull-up cribbage boards there are nine extra pegs for counting games won. These are placed in a line with the player’s game hole at each end.
DEALING. The cards are shuffled and presented to the pone to be cut, and he must leave at least six cards in each packet. Six cards are dealt to each player, one at a time in rotation, beginning with the player on the dealer’s left if there are more than two. No trump is turned, and the remainder of the pack is placed face downward at the end of the cribbage board on the dealer’s left.
Irregularities. It is a misdeal if any card is found faced in the pack, or if the pack is found to be imperfect, and there must be a fresh deal by the same dealer. Any previous cuts or scores made with the imperfect pack stand good. A player dealing out of turn may be stopped before the non-dealer lifts his cards from the table. The penalty for dealing out of turn is two points, if the error is detected in time; otherwise the deal stands good.
If the dealer neglects to have the pack cut, exposes a card in dealing, gives too many or too few cards to any player, deals a card incorrectly, and fails to remedy the error before dealing another, or exposes one of his adversary’s cards, the non-dealer scores two points by way of penalty. He also has the option of demanding a fresh deal by the same dealer, or of letting the deal stand. If the error is simply an irregularity in the manner of dealing, or an exposed card, the pone must decide without looking at his cards. If either player has too many or too few cards, the pone may look at the hand dealt him before deciding whether or not to have a fresh deal; but if it is the pone himself that has too many or too few cards, he must discover and announce the error before lifting his cards from the table, or he will not be entitled to the option of letting the deal stand. If the pone has too many cards he may return the surplus to the top of the pack, without showing or naming them. If the dealer has too many, the pone may draw from his hand face downward, returning the surplus to the top of the pack; but the pone may not look at the cards so drawn unless the dealer has seen them. If there are too few cards, and the pone elects to have the deal stand, the deficiency must be supplied from the top of the pack.
THE CRIB. The cards dealt, each player takes up his six cards and examines them with a view to laying out two cards, face downward, for the crib; leaving himself four cards with which to play. The four cards which form the crib, two from each hand, always belong to the dealer, and it is usual for each player, in discarding for the crib, to slip his two cards under the end of the cribbage board opposite to that occupied by the remainder of the pack.