# How to score a cribbage hand??? **URL:** \ **Category:** The Game Room\ **Created:** [September 1, 2014, 10:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-to-score-a-cribbage-hand/697197 "2014-09-01T22:08:17Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![wyokie](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/919ad9/32.png) [@wyokie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wyokie)\ **Post date:** [September 1, 2014, 10:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-to-score-a-cribbage-hand/697197/1 "2014-09-01T22:08:17Z")
Please tell me how you would score a hand of 5,5,N,J,J. The scoring sheet has it as 21. I’m not seeing how it gets to 21. ---
**Author:** ![Lamar\_Mundane](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/85f322/32.png) [@Lamar\_Mundane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lamar_Mundane)\ **Post date:** [September 1, 2014, 10:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-to-score-a-cribbage-hand/697197/2 "2014-09-01T22:17:17Z")
Nobs (N, I presume) has to be a Jack, so it is 15 for 12, J,J,J for 6 and 5,5 for 2 (total 20) plus one for Nobs - 21. ---
**Author:** ![Chefguy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chefguy/32/138_2.png) [@Chefguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chefguy)\ **Post date:** [September 1, 2014, 11:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-to-score-a-cribbage-hand/697197/3 "2014-09-01T23:03:49Z")
> [@Lamar\_Mundane](#): > > Nobs (N, I presume) has to be a Jack, so it is 15 for 12, J,J,J for 6 and 5,5 for 2 (total 20) plus one for Nobs - 21. Same here. ---
**Author:** ![Cunctator](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/43a26b/32.png) [@Cunctator](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cunctator)\ **Post date:** [September 2, 2014, 12:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-to-score-a-cribbage-hand/697197/4 "2014-09-02T00:21:07Z")
Another vote for 21 being the correct score. ---
**Author:** ![Rhiannon8404](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rhiannon8404/32/17929_2.png) [@Rhiannon8404](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rhiannon8404)\ **Post date:** [September 2, 2014, 12:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-to-score-a-cribbage-hand/697197/5 "2014-09-02T00:23:28Z")
Not that you need anyone else to chime in, but I’ve played cribbage since I could add and yes, I would score it the same way **Lamar Mundane** did. ---
**Author:** ![Omniscient](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/omniscient/32/3290_2.png) [@Omniscient](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Omniscient)\ **Post date:** [September 2, 2014, 12:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-to-score-a-cribbage-hand/697197/6 "2014-09-02T00:38:35Z")
> [@Lamar\_Mundane](#): > > Nobs (N, I presume) has to be a Jack, so it is 15 for 12, J,J,J for 6 and 5,5 for 2 (total 20) plus one for Nobs - 21. Yups…miss playing cribbage. ---
**Author:** ![wyokie](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/919ad9/32.png) [@wyokie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wyokie)\ **Post date:** [September 2, 2014, 1:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-to-score-a-cribbage-hand/697197/7 "2014-09-02T01:10:33Z")
Correct, but what if the turn card is a Jack? I have been playing crib for 30+ years. The turn card would have to be a 5 of the same suit as a jack in the hand. The example I read in a book is 5,5,N,J-J. Where I think the Jack is the turn card. ---
**Author:** ![G0sp3l](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/c68b51/32.png) [@G0sp3l](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/G0sp3l)\ **Post date:** [September 2, 2014, 1:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-to-score-a-cribbage-hand/697197/8 "2014-09-02T01:21:45Z")
You guys are easy, the way I was taught was, if you can’t score your hand correctly then that’s more points for me! 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Skywatcher](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/skywatcher/32/254_2.png) [@Skywatcher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skywatcher)\ **Post date:** [September 2, 2014, 4:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-to-score-a-cribbage-hand/697197/9 "2014-09-02T16:25:46Z")
> [@Lamar\_Mundane](#): > > Nobs (N, I presume) has to be a Jack No, it’s a 5. Turing a Jack is Heels and two points. ---
**Author:** ![Dead\_Cat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/9fc29f/32.png) [@Dead\_Cat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dead_Cat)\ **Post date:** [September 2, 2014, 4:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-to-score-a-cribbage-hand/697197/10 "2014-09-02T16:35:04Z")
> [@G0sp3l](#): > > You guys are easy, the way I was taught was, if you can’t score your hand correctly then that’s more points for me! > > 😃 I believe this rule is known as “muggins” and it’s optional (by agreement) whether it’s in play or not. ---
**Author:** ![notfrommensa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/f14d63/32.png) [@notfrommensa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/notfrommensa)\ **Post date:** [September 2, 2014, 5:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-to-score-a-cribbage-hand/697197/11 "2014-09-02T17:38:25Z")
> [@Skywatcher](#): > > No, it’s a 5. Turing a Jack is Heels and two points. I think 5-5-5-J-J would be 22 points (possibly 23) 15 for 2 (7 times) = 14 points Trips = 6 points Pair = 2 points and the Right jack for 1 point. ---
**Author:** ![jtur88](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/e9c0ed/32.png) [@jtur88](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jtur88)\ **Post date:** [September 2, 2014, 8:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-to-score-a-cribbage-hand/697197/12 "2014-09-02T20:25:50Z")
Right. N cannot be a J, so it has to be 5 5 5 J J. 14+6+2+1 = 23. ---
**Author:** ![Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/left_hand_of_dorkness/32/7156_2.png) [@Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Left_Hand_of_Dorkness)\ **Post date:** [September 2, 2014, 8:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-to-score-a-cribbage-hand/697197/13 "2014-09-02T20:42:50Z")
How are y’all concluding N is 5? It seems necessary to me that the hand was 5, J, J, J, and the turn card was 5 matching one of the Jacks. Otherwise N doesn’t make any sense. ---
**Author:** ![Skywatcher](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/skywatcher/32/254_2.png) [@Skywatcher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skywatcher)\ **Post date:** [September 2, 2014, 9:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-to-score-a-cribbage-hand/697197/14 "2014-09-02T21:05:36Z")
Sorry, been too long since I playeed. I was thinking N was turned up, not in the hand. ---
**Author:** ![jtur88](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/e9c0ed/32.png) [@jtur88](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jtur88)\ **Post date:** [September 2, 2014, 9:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-to-score-a-cribbage-hand/697197/15 "2014-09-02T21:53:12Z")
Sorry, I had it backwards. N has to be a J in the dealt hand (but can’t be a turned-up J), so it’s a 5 turned up. So it is 5-5-J-J-J. = 21. ---
**Author:** ![Lamar\_Mundane](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/85f322/32.png) [@Lamar\_Mundane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lamar_Mundane)\ **Post date:** [September 2, 2014, 10:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-to-score-a-cribbage-hand/697197/16 "2014-09-02T22:35:56Z")
Have you ever noticed that, to a novice, talk of scoring in cribbage is indistinguishable from Mornington Crescent? ---
**Author:** ![fubbleskag](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/c2a13f/32.png) [@fubbleskag](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/fubbleskag)\ **Post date:** [September 3, 2014, 11:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-to-score-a-cribbage-hand/697197/17 "2014-09-03T11:40:05Z")
NumberWang! ---
**Author:** ![Dead\_Cat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/9fc29f/32.png) [@Dead\_Cat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dead_Cat)\ **Post date:** [September 3, 2014, 2:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-to-score-a-cribbage-hand/697197/18 "2014-09-03T14:40:58Z")
> [@Lamar\_Mundane](#): > > Have you ever noticed that, to a novice, talk of scoring in cribbage is indistinguishable from Mornington Crescent? I hadn’t, but now you mention it, I suspect the same is true of lot of games. For example: “White opened with the Queen’s Gambit Declined, and after castling on the Kingside ran into a nasty pawn roller by black, culminating in a killing Knight fork at f3 from which he could only escape by giving up the exchange. Although this alleviated the pressure and he was hopeful of some counterplay on the Q-side, Black’s passed pawn on the h-file could not be stopped, and after a forced sequence involving an en passant capture and subsequent underpromotion to Rook (to avoid a trival stalemate), White’s King was caught in an unstoppable mating net and he resigned. In the post-game analysis, it was shown that had White gained a tempo by pinning the Queen early in the middlegame, he might have been able to develop his own Queen’s Rook earlier and force a draw by perpetual check, because if Black tried to avoid this with a Bishop sacrifice on c6he would only end up in zugzwang”. Of course, the reason for this is Mornington Crescent takes its cue from such descriptions (or at least it does the way I play it). There’s an unfinished game of it in this forum if anyone wants to resurrect it - I can’t because I played the penultimate move and am now in knip :). ---
**Author:** ![Meeko](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e495f1/32.png) [@Meeko](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Meeko)\ **Post date:** [September 5, 2014, 6:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-to-score-a-cribbage-hand/697197/19 "2014-09-05T06:00:32Z")
> [@Lamar\_Mundane](#): > > Have you ever noticed that, to a novice, talk of scoring in cribbage is indistinguishable from Mornington Crescent? I always took it to mean the inventor had ADHD. I know one of the players has it as well. 😃 But seriously. What type of Remix hodgepodge is our game here? It’s like the duck billed platypus of card games. ---
**Author:** ![Chicken\_Fingers](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/51bf81/32.png) [@Chicken\_Fingers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chicken_Fingers)\ **Post date:** [September 6, 2014, 7:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-to-score-a-cribbage-hand/697197/20 "2014-09-06T19:26:48Z")
> [@fubbleskag](#): > > NumberWang! Heh. I always hear my dad’s heavy New England accent in my head, “fifteen two fifeen four a pair is six etc.” Got to get the old cribbage board out. Someone needs skunking. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-to-score-a-cribbage-hand/697197.md?page=2)