In Five-card Cribbage, more than any other game, it is true that a game is never won until it is lost. Take the following example, in which the pone is 56 up, and the dealer has pegged only 5 holes altogether. The separated cards show those laid out for the crib, and the odd card is the starter.
| Pone:— |  |
| Dealer:— |
The pone leads a Seven, and afterwards pairs the dealer’s Six, pegging to 58. The dealer pegs 6 for the pair royal, and is told to go. This enables the dealer to make a double pair royal and 31, pegging fourteen holes more. (The last card does not count when a go or 31 is pegged). On the show the pone has only a pair, which puts him to 60, within one of the game hole. The dealer shows 12 in hand and 17 in crib, making him 54 up. In the next deal the player who wanted one could not peg, his adversary securing a fifteen and a go, and showing out with a pair and a fifteen, 61 up and game.
THREE-HANDED CRIBBAGE.
Five cards are dealt to each player, and then another, face down, for the foundation of the crib. Each player then lays out one card to make the dealer’s crib up to four. The starter is cut by the player on the dealer’s left, and the game proceeds as at six-card Cribbage, the eldest hand having the first show, the dealer the last.
FOUR-HANDED CRIBBAGE.
When four play, they cut for partners, choice of seats, and deal; the two lowest pairing against the two highest, and the lowest taking the first deal and crib. The game is usually 121 points up, or twice round the board, and only one player on each side keeps the score.
Five cards are dealt to each player, one at a time, and one of these is discarded from each hand to form the crib, leaving four cards with which to play. The right-hand adversary of the dealer cuts for deal; the left-hand adversary for the starter. The eldest hand plays first, and all pairs, sequences, and fifteens are scored by the side making them. If a player says “go,” his left-hand neighbour must play, or pass the go to the next player on his left. In this way it may pass entirely round the table to the last player, who will then peg for it.
At this game there is a great deal more in the play than in either hand or crib. The average hand and crib is the same as at six-card Cribbage, 7 for the hand and 5 for the crib, but the play for the partners will run to 8 or 10 holes. Either side should be at home with 48 to 50 on two deals; four individual hands of 7 each, four plays of five each, and one crib of 5.