You want to break up the forming double run, butthe card you just drew would give a flush instead. You only need four cards of the same suit for a flush, which adds a frustratingcomponent to defensive play. And if the queen’sthe same suit as one of the fives, it becomes an even tougher choice. If my opponenthas already created a row with 4-5-5-6, playing an 8 into it is a no-brainer.But what if I draw a queen? Do I give him 4 points, or do I risk him drawinga 4, 5 or 6? Tough call– especially since I could place the queen in oneof the columns with a 5, scoring points for myself. The balance between offensive and defensive card play is devilish. With pegging removed, you concentrate on building the best hands andstopping your opponent from doing the same. CrossCribb put a whole new spinon things. We went through the motions,with a rare play sparking some actual thought. The player with the higher total scores the differencebetween the totals, with the game going to the first player to reach 31.Ĭribbage had become a mechanical affair for us, both in choosing which cardsto toss into the crib and which cards to play when. When all cards have been played, each five card hand is scored and the dealeradds the crib to his total. Starting with the dealer’s opponent, each playerlooks at his top card and either tosses it into the crib (if he hasn’talready done so twice this hand), or plays it on any vacant space in the grid.One player is trying to build the best possible hands in each column, while theother tries to do the same with the rows. This card is placed in thecenter of a 5x5 grid. “ Don’t look at your cards” became our mantra.Īs in cribbage, a card is cut to add to the crib. This alone proved to be difficult as picking up our hands had become a reflex! Each player is dealt a stack of fourteen cards which he must not examine. Rules are provided for up to six players, but I’ll focus on the two player game since that’s what we played. I’ve seen solitaire versions of this approach, but never a version for more than one player.

CrossCribb arrived on my doorstep on the last day of that visit, and for the rest of the afternoon it became our new obsession.Ĭrosscribb puts a twist on Cribbage which seems so obvious, it’s hard to believe nobody’s thought of it before. There was no doubt the board would be dusted off during Dave’s recent two-week visit.

At 15 cents a point I’ve earned quite a bit of extra cash. In college, Dave and I could often be found in the lounge or dining hall pegging a few points. Which isn’t to say I haven’t played the game much. There’s only one person with whom I play cribbage. The following excerpt was written by Peter Sarrit for The Game Report in 1997.

Cross crib board game