How to score a cribbage hand.

The scoring chart

Every cribbage hand is scored the same way: your four cards plus the cut card (also called the starter), counted across five categories. Points stack — the same cards can count in more than one category.

Card values for fifteens: aces count 1, number cards count face value, and jacks, queens, and kings all count 10. For runs, ranks go in order — ace is always low (A-2-3 is a run; Q-K-A is not).

Fifteens — 2 points each

Every distinct combination of cards adding up to exactly 15 scores 2 points. Combinations can be two cards, three cards, or more — and the same card can appear in several different fifteens.

This is why fives are the most valuable cards in the deck: every ten-value card (10, J, Q, K) pairs with a 5 to make fifteen, and there are sixteen of them.

Pairs — 2, 6, or 12 points

Each pair of same-rank cards scores 2. The trick is that three of a kind contains three distinct pairs (6 points), and four of a kind contains six (12 points).

Pairs are about rank only — a king and a queen are both worth ten for fifteens, but they don't pair with each other.

Runs — 1 point per card

Three or more consecutive ranks score one point per card, in any suits. A run of three is 3 points, four is 4, and all five cards in sequence is 5.

Where it gets fun is duplicates. A hand like 4-5-5-6 makes the run 4-5-6 twice — once with each five — plus a pair. That's a "double run" worth 8 points total. The multiplied runs are where big hands come from:

• Double run of 3 (4-5-5-6): two runs (6) + one pair (2) = 8
• Double run of 4 (4-5-5-6-7): two runs (8) + one pair (2) = 10
• Triple run (5-5-5-6-7): three runs (9) + three of a kind (6) = 15
• Double-double run (4-4-5-6-6): four runs (12) + two pairs (4) = 16

One catch: a longer run absorbs its shorter pieces. If you have 3-4-5-6, that's one run of four (4 points) — you don't also count 3-4-5 and 4-5-6.

Flushes — 4 or 5 points

If all four cards in your hand share a suit, that's 4 points. If the cut card matches too, it's 5. There's no such thing as a three-card flush in cribbage.

Crib exception: a flush in the crib only counts if all five cards — the four crib cards and the cut — share a suit, worth 5 points. Four matching crib cards alone score nothing.

Nobs — 1 point

Holding the jack that matches the suit of the cut card scores 1 point. It sounds trivial, but it's the point that turns a 28 hand into the perfect 29.

Worked examples

Fun fact: not every number is reachable. A cribbage hand can never score 19, 25, 26, or 27 — which is why a zero-point hand is traditionally called a "nineteen hand."