(So, for example, J,Q,5,5,5 would score 14 - each of the fives can pair with jack or queen, and the three fives provide another two points You would say: "fifteen two, fifteen four, fifteen six ... up to fifteen fourteen, adding two for each scoring combination.)Pair: As during play, a pair counts two, with six points for a "pair royal" (three of the same value) and 12 for all four.Run: Runs of three or more cards score as many points as cards in the run.Flush: Four points if all your cards are the same suit (with a bonus point if the start card is of the same suit)One for his nob: One point for holding the jack of the same suit as the start card.When both players have scored their hands, the dealer exposes the crib and adds its score to his own.The origins of cribbageAccording to John Aubrey, the game was invented by Sir John Suckling (1609-42), a poet, gambler and Royalist. If you have no card that can be played without exceeding 31, you say "Go" and your opponent plays again if he can. If 31 is reached, or both players say "Go", you start counting again from zero with the remaining cards.Other ways of scoring during play:15: If you play a card that brings the total to 15 you score two points, "fifteen two".Pair: If you play a card of the same value as the previous card, you score two for a pair.

(King and king are, of course, a pair, but king and jack, for example, are not.)Pair royal: If you follow a pair immediately with a third card of the same value, you score six for "pair royal".Double pair royal: And four in a row scores 12.Run: A run of three or more cards of consecutive values (10-jack-queen, or A-2-3-4, for example, but not K-Q-A) scores as many points as cards in the run. If it reaches exactly 31, the player whose card was just played scores two points. The undealt cards are then cut, and the new top card turned up as the "start" card. If it's a jack, the dealer scores two points, "two for his heels".Beginning with the non-dealer, the players then take turns to reveal one card from their hands. The pip values of these (court cards count 10, ace is one) are added to the start card, the running total is announced at each play, and the total pip value may not exceed 31.

These are left face down to form the "crib", which is not revealed until the end of the hand. (Cribbage is full of such charming twitches of vocabulary.) Six cards are dealt to each player, the remainder placed face down on the table.Each player must then choose two cards to discard. Points are scored for various card combinations either in hand, or occurring during play. Each player's score is registered by a peg moving along a track of holes on a wooden board The first player to score 61 points wins the game.