Game Goal

Cribbage Blitz is like Cribbage meets Solitaire. It’s a 4-round game of Cribbage played solo with one deck of cards.

The goal of the game is simple: score more points than your opponent to win!

Basic Rules:

• Drawing/Discarding: 

  • Form your crib with cards from your own hand. 

  • 2 face-down cards are dealt automatically to the crib.

  • Decks are not reshuffled between rounds. This means no card will repeat!

• Playing Hands:

  • Make combos by taking turns with your own crib.

  • Crib cards are played in order from left to right (if under 31).

• Counting Hands:

  • Count scoring combinations in your hand and crib. All cribs are yours!

  • Missing a scoring combination gives you a strike (muggins). Three muggins ends the match.

• Match Ends:

  • If you run out of time or cards in the deck.

    • Each match uses a standard 52 card deck.

    • Each match has a 5 minute time limit.

  • If you get 3 strikes (muggins).

  • If you reach 71 points on the cribbage board.

Fairness

Each match of Cribbage Blitz is played against another player to see who can get the highest score.

• You are matched against players of similar skill, but you may not be playing at the same time.

• Both players get the same shuffle. All cards are in the same order.

• Score more points on the peg board faster than your opponent to win!

Play Area

There are several areas of play in Cribbage Blitz: the Peg Board, the Flop card, your hand, and your crib.

Peg Board:

• Scoring combinations made in the Playing and Counting stages adds points to the peg board.

• Score 71 points on the peg board to end the match.

Flop Card: 

• Dealt at the beginning of each round before your hand.

• Remains face-down until the Playing Hands phase.

• Can be used to make scoring combinations during the Counting Hands stage.

Hand:

• Take turns playing these cards during the Playing Hands phase.

• Make more scoring combinations with these cards during the Counting Hands stage.

Crib:

• Played automatically during the Playing Hands phase.

• Make more scoring combinations with these cards during the Counting Hands stage.

Game Stages

Cribbage Blitz is played in three stages that repeat for four rounds: Drawing & Discarding, Pegging / Playing Hands, and Counting Hands.

Drawing & Discarding:

• Each round, you are dealt 6 cards to your hand and 2 to your crib.

• Of the 6 in your hand, you must select 2 more to join your crib.

• Keep cards together that will score the most points.

Pegging / Playing Hands:

• Tap cards in your hand to play them one at a time.

• Take turns with your crib to make scoring combinations.

• Scoring combinations can be found in the Scoring section.

• Scoring combinations add points to the peg board.

• Number cards count their own value, Aces count 1, face cards count 10.

• You always play the first card.

• Crib cards are played in order from left to right.

• If the next crib card would exceed 31 total value, the card after will be played instead.

• If you or your crib cannot play any cards that will not exceed 31, the other gets an extra turn. This is called ‘Go!’

Counting Hands:

• Tap scoring combinations using your hand and the flop card.

• Find all possible combinations to score the most points.

• Missing a scoring combination gives you a strike. Three strikes ends the match.

• Scoring combinations can be found in the Scoring section.

• Scoring combinations add points to the peg board.

• For some hands you can only score the highest possible combination.

  • This applies to Runs, Flushes, and same card combinations.

  • e.g. if you have a 4 of a Kind you cannot also score for 3 of a Kind and Pair with the same cards.

• Number cards count their own value, Aces count 1, face cards count 10.

Repeat:

• Stages repeat for four rounds before running out of cards.

• The game ends if any of these conditions are met:

  • You run out of time.

  • You get three strikes.

  • You play all four rounds.

  • You reach 71 points on the peg board.

Scoring

The best possible base score is 7,100 points for getting to the end of the peg board. Above that is all about bonuses and speed!

There are three sources of points:

1. Base Score 

2. Game Bonus

3. Time Bonus

Base Score:

• Equal to your points on the peg board x 100.

Game Bonus:

• No Strike Bonus = +100 pts

  • No Muggins, but did not reach the end of the Peg board.

• Perfect Game Bonus = +1000 pts

  • No Muggins AND reached the end of the Peg Board!

Time Bonus:

• +5 points per second remaining when you finish.

Scoring Combinations:

• Scoring combinations made during the Playing Hands and Counting Hands stages add points to the peg board.

• Scoring combinations for the Playing Hands stage:

  • Last card played (not adding to 31) = +1 points, e.g. Q, 10, 9

  • Cards adding up to 31 = +2 points, e.g. Q, 10, 9, 2

  • Cards adding up to 15 = +2 points, e.g. J, 5

  • Run = +1 point per card, e.g. 8, 9, 10

  • Pair = +2 points, e.g. 2, 2

  • 3 of a Kind = +6 points, e.g. 3, 3, 3

  • 4 of a Kind = +12 points, e.g. 4, 4, 4, 4

• Scoring combinations for the Counting Hands stage:

  • Cards adding up to 15 = +2 points, e.g. 10, 5

  • Run = +1 point per card, e.g. 4, 5, 6

  • Flush = +1 point per card, e.g. 5, 7, 9, K all the same suit

  • Pair = +2 points, e.g. 5, 5

  • 3 of a Kind = +6 points, e.g. 7, 7, 7

  • 4 of a Kind = +12 points, e.g. Q, Q, Q, Q

  • Nobs (J of Spades as the flop card) = +2 points

  • Nibs (J in hand, same suit as flop card) = +1 point

• Flushes must have all 4 same suit cards in your hand.

  • Flop card can only be used to make a 5 card Flush.

  • Your crib can only make a 5 card Flush.

Strategy

The key to scoring big on the peg board all comes down to the Discard stage:

• Discard stage determines how many points you can score during the Playing and Counting stages.

• Keep cards together that will score the most points in the next stages.

• In other words, don’t split high scoring combinations between your hand and crib.

• Similarly, split cards in such a way that will allow scoring combinations in both stages.

• You only know the last two cards in your crib; play to what you know.

• You can use the same card in multiple combinations and score the same combination multiple times.

  • e.g. if you have a 10, 5, 5, 5 in your hand, you can score 15 four times. 

• Fun Fact: The best possible cribbage hand is 29 points!

You can also play cash games to watch replays and learn your opponent's strategies.

Finally, practice makes perfect! Cribbage Blitz is a game of skill; the better you are, the more you win.