ACC

Section 1: Introduction

Cribbage is a two-player card game in which score is tracked by pegging holes around a board rather than on paper, and the dealer receives an extra hand — the crib — built from cards both players discard. The object of the game is to be the first player to score 121 points (Rule 1.1; see Rule 8.10 on pegging out).

In sanctioned play the game is governed by the American Cribbage Congress (ACC), founded in August 1979 as a nonprofit corporation to promote the game, develop member programs, and promulgate friendships among cribbage players (Aims and Objectives). This page follows the 2025 edition of the ACC Cribbage Tournament Rules, effective 1 August 2025, superseding the 2020 edition previously on file.

• A judge is a person authorised by the ACC and appointed by the tournament director to answer questions and settle disagreements between players relating to the rules of play (Rule 1.6).
• The playing sequence — mix, cut, deal, discard to the crib, cut the starter, play, then count — is set out in full as an outline (Rule 1.5).
• Point values for every combination are collected in a single scoring chart (Rule 1.7).
• Judge Protocols set procedural standards for how judging calls are handled at the table, including that at least one responding judge must have a rulebook in hand and that judges may not adjudicate a dispute to which they are a party (Judge Protocols, items a–j).

Section 2: The Deck

• A standard pack of 52 playing cards is used; jokers are discarded (Rule 1.3.a).
• The four suits are considered equal (Rule 1.3.b).
• Card rank and value run K–Q–J–10 (each worth 10), then 9 through Ace worth their pip value down to 1 for the Ace (Rule 1.3.c).
• The basic game is for two players; three-handed and four-handed versions are played with essentially the same rules, and doubles are addressed separately (Rule 1.2; Appendix B).
• The cribbage board shows the score accumulated by each player via a front peg and the latest incremental score via a rear peg. All ACC-sanctioned and satellite tournaments must be played on "long boards" — sixty holes up and sixty holes down (Rule 1.4).
• The board is divided into streets of thirty holes each: first street is holes 1–30, second 31–60, third 61–90, and fourth 91–120 (Rule 1.6).
• Hole number 90 is the stink hole — one point short of avoiding a skunk (Rule 1.6). Hole number 120 is the dead hole — one point short of the game hole, hole number 121, where the game is won (Rule 1.6).
• The starter card is the card cut and placed on the remainder of the pack, used in counting the value of each hand and the crib (Rule 1.6).
• A hand means either the six cards dealt to each player, or the four remaining after discarding to the crib (Rule 1.6).
• The crib is four cards, two discarded by each player, set aside for the dealer to score after the dealer's own hand (Rule 1.6).

Section 3: Setup & Deal

• The pack must be mixed or shuffled at least three times (including by mechanical card shufflers) with the cards hidden from both players; the shuffler may not look at the bottom card after the last shuffle, on pain of a two-point penalty and a reshuffle (Rule 2.1).
• The pone — the opponent of the dealer (Rule 1.6) — has the right to shuffle once (Rule 2.2), and the dealer has the right to shuffle last (Rule 2.3).
• To determine the first dealer of a game, the pack is cut following a defined procedure (Rule 3.1); the player cutting the lower-rank card deals first (Rule 3.2). The pack is cut again before each subsequent deal (Rule 3.3).
• The dealer distributes cards one at a time, face down, alternately to each player beginning with the pone, until each has six cards (Rule 4.1–4.2). The pone must not reach for or touch the cards before dealing is complete (Rule 4.2.c).
• Each player then discards two cards to form the crib, which belongs to the dealer and is placed face down on the dealer's side of the board (Rule 5.1). The crib may not be examined or exposed until the specified counting stage; doing so is a two-point penalty (Rule 5.2).
• Exposed cards during the deal are handled by rule (Rule 4.3), as is an incorrect number of cards in a hand or the crib, which carries a detailed table of corrective actions depending on when the error is discovered (Rule 4.4).
• An imperfect pack — a defective card, or duplicate cards discovered during play — is addressed separately, including retraction of pegged points where required (Rule 4.5).
• Only after both players discard to the crib does the pone cut the pack to determine the starter card (Rule 6.1).
• If the starter is a Jack, the dealer scores two points — "his heels" — and forfeits them if a card is played before pegging (Rule 6.3).
• Exposing more than one card on the starter cut is covered by rule; the correct top card becomes the starter and both players may see the exposed card before it returns to the pack (Rule 6.2).
• After the starter card is turned, the deck is placed on the dealer's side of the board (Rule 6.4).

Section 4: Gameplay

Play begins immediately after the starter card is turned, with the pone leading the first card face up and announcing its value (Rule 7.1). This phase is the play, or pegging.

• Each player in turn plays a single card and announces the cumulative count (Rule 7.1.c); played cards are overlapped so all remain visible and are not turned over until the hands are counted and pegged (Rule 7.1.d).
• A player who cannot lay a card without exceeding a cumulative count of 31 calls "go" (Rule 1.6; Rule 1.5.e.(2)); the opponent then plays all remaining playable cards in succession (Rule 7.1.e, Rule 7.2.b).
• Points earned during the play — pairs, triples, quadruples, runs of three or more, reaching 15, reaching 31, the "go," and the last card played — are scored as they occur, using the values in the scoring chart (Rule 7.2.a; Rule 1.7).
• A renege is a failure to play a card that could have been played before calling "go" or "31"; a renege cannot be called when the count is 21 or lower. The nonoffending player receives two points for each card that singly could have been played (Rule 7.3).
• Incorrect announcements of the cumulative count during the play are correctable if caught before the next card is played or "go" is called; otherwise the count stands, and any resulting overpeg is handled under the pegging-advantage rule (Rule 7.4; Rule 8.4).
• Points are recorded by pegging on the board, advancing the rear peg over the front peg by the number of holes earned (Rule 8.1).
• A hand or crib worth nothing is pegged as a zero — the pegs are simply not touched (Rule 8.2).
• Pegging incorrectly to a player's disadvantage (Rule 8.3) and to their advantage, including a false claim of game, are treated as separate offences with different remedies; a false claim of game carries a 15-point backward penalty in addition to awarding the opponent the overclaimed points (Rule 8.4.a–b).
• In all ACC events except match play, a player must peg out to win; failure to do so when able allows the opponent to insist the player peg out, and refusal after a judge's confirmation forfeits the score (Rule 8.10).

Section 5: Scoring & Winning

Every combination and its value is listed in a single chart, which is the authority for counting both during the play and in the hands (Rule 1.7).

• A Jack turned by the dealer as the starter card scores 2 points, during the play only (Rule 1.7; Rule 6.3).
• A Jack held in hand or crib of the same suit as the starter card — "nobs" — scores 1 point, in the hand or crib only (Rule 1.7; Rule 1.6).
• A pair scores 2 points, a triple 6 points, and a quadruple 12 points, in both the play and the hand or crib (Rule 1.7).
• A straight (or run) is a sequence of three or more consecutive cards, worth 1 point per card in both the play and the hand or crib; during the play it may be completed in any order (Rule 1.6; Rule 1.7).
• Reaching a 15-count scores 2 points during the play, and any 15-combination in the hand or crib scores 2 points; a four-card flush scores 4 points and a five-card flush 5 points, both counted only in the hand or crib, never during the play (Rule 1.7).
• Reaching a count of exactly 31 scores 2 points during the play; the final card played without reaching 31 scores 1 point (Rule 1.7).
• Counting order and pegging of each score are governed by the counting rules: the pone counts and pegs first, then the dealer counts the hand, then the dealer counts the crib (Rule 9.2.a–d).

Muggins, Winning, Skunks and the Stink Hole

• Muggins is the only optional rule in ACC play: tournament officials must announce in the flyer, and prior to play, whether it is in effect, and when it is, it applies to all players and pegging out becomes mandatory (Rule 10.1). It permits a player to claim points their opponent failed to peg for the underpegging of a hand, crib, or play score (Rule 10.2), subject to timing requirements for when a muggins call must be made (Rule 10.4).
• To win by 31 or more points is a skunk (Rule 1.6).
• The stink hole is hole 90, one point short of avoiding a skunk; the dead hole is hole 120, one point short of the game hole, hole 121, where the game is won (Rule 1.6).
• The board's fourth street runs from hole 91 to hole 120 (Rule 1.6).
• One in four qualifying entrants advances to playoffs, with approved bracket charts and byes awarded to the highest qualifiers when the bracket is not full (Rule 13.2.a–d).

Section 6: Variants & House Rules

The ACC rules above govern sanctioned tournament play. Other forms of cribbage vary, and the differences are worth naming because they change the game materially:

• Three- and four-handed cribbage: played with essentially the same rules as the standard two-player game (Rule 1.2).
• Doubles: ACC rules that apply to singles events generally apply to doubles as well, with additional guidance for team seating and rotation systems — round-robin charts, captain-based rotation, or "winners stay, losers move" — and a requirement that all cribbage boards keep the same orientation throughout a tournament (Appendix B).
• Five-card cribbage: the older English game, played to 61 with a different discard count — not the ACC tournament form and not addressed by these rules.
• Casual scoring: informal games often ignore skunk, stink-hole, and dead-hole conventions entirely, though all are defined terms in the ACC rules (Rule 1.6).
• Situations not covered by these rules are left to the head judge's final decision for that tournament, who may impose a penalty of up to two points per infraction, sparingly, for persistent violations (Rule 14.1).