Go Retire Psychiatrist

I just discovered a little more about the Go Rule in Cribbage. It turns out that it’s easy to over think it. I found a few websites that state it more clearly than what I have recently found and posted about last Friday, January 17^th.

Probably the simplest explanation is a pdf document of rules for cribbage available for free.

“A player who cannot play without exceeding 31 does not play a card but says Go, leaving his opponent to continue if possible, pegging for any further combinations made…. Bringing the total to exactly 31 pegs 2, but if the total is 30 or less and neither player can lay a card without going over 31, then the last player to lay a card pegs one for the go or one for last.”

There are a couple of YouTube videos with clear instructions about how to play cribbage. Both are less than 30 minutes long and entertaining. One of them is called “How to Play Cribbage Properly”. The video is well done, in my opinion. The only mistake he made was pointed out by a viewer who noticed he made a minor goof on demonstrating how to peg between two imaginary players “Attenborough” and Bowie.” He just switched the names of the players. It really doesn’t affect the actual demonstration of pegging points.

The other YouTube is also well done and demonstrates the rules of cribbage in a game between a guy and his father, titled “A Game of Cribbage.” Only once is the word “Go” mentioned although they played it according to the rule above.