cribbage – Page 2 – Go Retire Psychiatrist

The Missing 29 Cribbage Board and a Little History

We’ve been searching around for our 29 Cribbage Board. It’s in the shape of 29 which is the highest score you can get in cribbage. The hand is typically shown with three 5’s and the nob Jack and the cut card is the other 5. This is usually a diamond 5, but the heart or the spade 5 is also shown on some boards. The odds of getting this hand are 1 in 216,580.

Sena didn’t find it after a thorough search top to bottom of our house, so it must have gotten lost in the move last year. One of the reasons why this suddenly became an issue of national importance is that I read another one of those long historic articles on the American Cribbage Congress (ACC) website—which never lists the bylines of the persons writing them.

It turns out that a guy named Edward M. Hirst in Canada who first designed and started making the 29 board by himself back in the early 1950s. Customers would wait months for them. They weren’t mass-produced until two years after he died. Crisloid, Inc. (based in Rhode Island) made them for a while and this name is familiar to me because I shopped for a giant cribbage board from them a few years ago. They had stopped making the 29 board long before then. Interestingly, they made one of those very complicated continuous 3 track cribbage boards with complicated scoring for things like “Legs” and other features that eventually were more of a hallmark with another famous cribbage board maker–Drueke Co. And then Drueke Co. started making the 29 boards.

Eventually manufacturing of the 29 boards moved to Taiwan because they could be made more cheaply there. Nowadays, America’s role in sales has moved to vendors, such as Hoyle, Bicycle, Walmart, etc. There’s a reddit thread which shows a picture of a 29 board which contains a short history of the board.

Anyway, by way of personal history, we started playing cribbage again in 2019 after a 20-year hiatus. I have a dim memory of us experimenting with several card games back then, including cribbage. And then we dropped card games for a long time. And about 5 or 6 years ago we got a 29 board, because it was interesting and cheap.

I made a YouTube video of the game. It got about 1,800 views. It had some of the features discussed in the ACC history, which we think is really interesting. The nob Jack and 5 cut card were diamonds. There was a 121 hole (which some boards don’t have, believe it or not!).

And there’s also a Cribbage Board Collector’s Society (CBCS). The interesting thing they point out is that no one has ever reported to them about finding a 29 board with the Jack and the 5 cut card in the club suit. I couldn’t find one on the web, even on Ebay.

We immediately shopped for another 29 board but the one we want is sold out. Until then, we can reminisce.

How About Traditional Cribbage?

We’ve been playing Calvinball cribbage so much lately, we thought it would be nice to play a game of standard 6-card cribbage on a tournament board we’ve had for several years. It seemed to go faster than it really did. We finished the game in 26 minutes but we’ve been able to play faster than that (see the post and YouTube “15 Minute Push.”

We got the tournament board several years ago from a guy who was making and shipping them from Florida. Nowadays he markets them through Walmart. It’s CreativeCrafthouse.

It was a nice break from the chaos of cribbage variants like Wicked Cribbage and Crib Wars.

Merry Wicked Cribbage Christmas!

We hope you all had as nice a Christmas as we did. We played Wicked Cribbage! It’s an overlay variation of 6-card cribbage. This turned out to be more fun than we every imagined. Short story—I got skunked! We made a video of the hilarity. Happy holidays!

And here’s a great Christmas card from Sena!

Our House Rules for Crib Wars

Based on what I found out from Artificial Intelligence (AI) yesterday, I thought I’d share our house rules for Crib Wars. The only reason I’m including information from AI is because I couldn’t find specifics on how to manage pegging for the Blue Penalty Box anywhere else.

If you already know how to play basic cribbage, you can ignore most of what’s on the rules sheet (available on the web) because there’s only a short section for the Crib Wars rules. It describes the colored areas and what the players are supposed to do with them.

There’s no Muggers Alley on the Ebonwood board and we never play muggins. Below are my updated descriptions of the colored zones, which we discuss and demonstrate during the video.

Red Skips: There are 3 of these. The rule says if you land on the first red box you should slide to the next red box which gets you 20 holes further along the board. The red box just means the set of 3 holes highlighted with a red color. You get from the first one to the next one by just moving the peg 20 holes. You’ll land in the 2^nd set of holes marked in red. This is a boon in the first Red Skip area. However, if you pay attention to the directional arrows in the path guiding you, it looks like they accelerate you toward two of the Blue Time Traps.

Blue Time Traps: There are 4 of these and there will be three blue lines, meaning the blue color covers all three holes and all three peg tracks (3 holes along the track and 3 holes across the track). If you land in a set of three holes highlighted in blue, you end up moving to a blue area of holes that actually set you behind several holes. You have to play your way out of them. Players note that you can end up in repetitious cycling back to the traps largely because of how often you can get one or two points at a time while scoring. In fact, some say that if their opponent gets close to a Blue Time Trap they may purposely lead with a five card (something you would rarely if ever do in a standard cribbage game). That could trap the opponent into playing a ten card or a 5 card, which might risk them moving only a couple of holes right back into the Blue Time Trap. The same thing could happen with falling into the Blue Penalty Boxes.

Blue Penalty Boxes: There are three of them. You fall into one of these by moving your peg into one of the single blue hole lines, meaning one blue track across the three peg tracks. This is a disaster because you immediately have to move back 20 holes and fold your hand and your crib while your opponent moves forward 20 holes and counts their hand and crib (if they have the crib). Asking AI is the only way I could find out how to learn how to peg moving back and forward 20 holes. The player who lands in the penalty box moves their front peg back 20 holes starting from the penalty box. You don’t move the rear peg. If your front peg lands behind the rear peg, it becomes the new rear peg. The player who doesn’t land in the penalty box moves their front peg forward 20 holes. The player who lands in the penalty box immediately folds their hand and crib.

Green Advances: There are two of them. If you land in a green hole, you take short cut path. The long one saves you from moving toward the Blue Time Trap in the left lower quadrant. You don’t avoid the potential other trap above. If you take the normal track instead you end up moving toward the lower left quadrant Blue Time Trap—but you have a chance at getting into the short Green Advance track before you get there which loops back away from it and you end up going in the direction of the upper Blue Time Trap.

You think you’re in the clear after that? You’re not because there is a sadistically placed Blue Penalty Box in the next to the last hole before the Finish Line!

A Conversation with AI about Backward Pegging in Crib Wars and Wicked Cribbage

I thought it might be interesting to see what AI has to say about backward pegging in Crib Wars and Wicked Cribbage. We haven’t found a set of Crib Wars that are specific on the 20-hole backward pegging because they don’t specify which peg you move back 20 holes. According to AI it’s the front peg you move back, starting the count at the penalty box hole.

In Wicked Cribbage you first move the rear peg back whatever number of holes the Twinkler or Lugger cards tells you and then you move the front peg back behind that—and it apparently doesn’t matter where you place that peg, just a few holes behind the front peg you moved back from the penalty box hole (the instructions are as follows: “Although it might sound logically easy to peg backward, it is quite tricky. Begin by using your back peg (no matter where it is) to count backward from your front peg. And (here’s the tricky part) do not forget to move your front peg behind your newly pegged back peg.”

The American Cribbage Congress (ACC) tournament expert does not have answers for questions about this because backwards pegging is not a thing in the ACC. The ACC representative says “Crazy questions are welcome!”

And these games are crazy. I usually try to ignore AI but here’s a summary of the question and answer sesssion today:

Crib Wars penalty box question: If you have to move backwards 20 holes in crib wars because you land in the penalty box, do you move the front or the back peg?

AI answer: In Crib Wars, when you move your peg back 20 holes for landing in the penalty box, you always move your front peg backwards, as pegging in cribbage involves advancing the rear peg to represent your score, and penalties just reverse that action, moving your leading peg back to show the score loss. You just count back 20 holes from your current position on the board, essentially putting your leading peg back where it was or further, then your rear peg stays put until you score again.

Here’s the breakdown:

Penalty Trigger: You land on a penalty square (or your hand/crib score does).
Opponent Advances: Your opponent moves their peg forward 20 holes.
You Move Back: You move your peg back 20 holes.
Which Peg? You move your front peg back those 20 spaces, as that represents your current score, and your rear peg stays put until you earn more points.

Dec 17, 2025 to AI: Which peg do you move forwards 20 holes in crib wars if your opponent lands in the penalty box; the front or the rear peg which normally leaps over the front peg?

When your opponent lands in the penalty box in a two-player game of Crib Wars, you move your front peg forward 20 holes.

The rules state: “If two people or teams are playing, the team that hit the penalty box goes back twenty holes, and your opponents go ahead twenty holes”.

The normal process of pegging in cribbage involves moving the rearmost peg ahead of the front peg to indicate your new score. However, a specific rule for the 20-hole advance in Crib Wars is not explicitly tied to the standard “rear peg jumps over front peg” scoring mechanism, it is a bonus advance of 20 holes. Therefore, you use your front peg to mark your new forward position, consistent with how you would mark any other score in a continuous manner.

You take your front peg and advance it 20 holes from its current position.
Your opponent moves their own peg(s) backward 20 holes

Landing Behind the Rear Peg: If a 20-hole backward move places the now moving peg (which is currently the front peg) at a position behind the stationary rear peg, it effectively becomes the new rear peg. The other peg, which was the previous rear peg, is now the front peg, representing the current score, which is a common scenario in standard cribbage scoring when points are added in sequence.

The process for a two-player game is as follows:

The penalized player folds their hand and crib.
The penalized player uses their front peg to count backward 20 holes from their current position in the penalty box.
The opponent advances 20 holes (using their own pegs in the standard leapfrog manner) and continues counting their hand and crib normally.

For games with three or more players, the penalized player sits out for three consecutive hands instead of moving back 20 holes.”

December 17, 2025 question: In crib wars if I land in the penalty box, where do I start counting the 20-hole penalty backwards with my front peg, from right behind the penalty box or starting behind the rear peg?

AI Answer: “In Crib Wars, when you land in the penalty box, you start counting the 20-hole penalty backward using your front peg, beginning from the hole you are currently on (the penalty box hole itself is the starting point for counting back the 20 spaces).

Dec 17, 2025 to AI: Which peg do you move forwards 20 holes in crib wars if your opponent lands in the penalty box; the front or the rear peg which normally leaps over the front peg?

When your opponent lands in the penalty box in a two-player game of Crib Wars, you move your front peg forward 20 holes.

The rules state: “If two people or teams are playing, the team that hit the penalty box goes back twenty holes, and your opponents go ahead twenty holes”.

You take your front peg and advance it 20 holes from its current position.
Your opponent moves their own peg(s) backward 20 holes

December 17, 2025: Question to AI In Wicked Cribbage, there’s a specific rule for pegging backwards because a special card specifies moving backwards and is this wrong? The rule is as follows: “Although it might sound logically easy to peg backward, it is quite tricky. Begin by using your back peg (no matter where it is) to count backward from your front peg. And (here s the tricky part) do not forget to move your front peg behind your newly pegged back peg.”

AI Answer: “The rule you are describing for pegging backwards in Wicked Cribbage is the correct procedure for standard cribbage pegging (known as “leapfrogging”), but applied in reverse. The core mechanic is consistent with standard pegging principles, just adapted for a backward movement.

Is the Rule Wrong?

No, the rule is not wrong; it is an official variation specific to the Wicked Cribbage expansion. The Wicked Cribbage game introduces special “Twinkler” and “Lugger” cards, some of which explicitly cause a player to peg backwards. The rule you described is the intended method for executing that backward movement.

How to Peg Backwards in Wicked Cribbage

The rule ensures that when you peg backward, you maintain the standard cribbage practice of having a “placeholder” peg and a “moving” peg, making the score easy to verify:

Start with your back peg: Identify the peg that is currently trailing.
Count backward: Move this back peg the required number of points backward from your front peg’s current position.
Leapfrog: Your new position is now behind what was previously your back peg (which is now your front peg, holding the previous score).

This “leapfrog in reverse” ensures that the space between your two pegs continues to represent the points just scored (or in this case, lost/moved back), allowing for easy verification of the move by your opponent.”

December 17, 2025: Question to AI: Are the rules for pegging backwards in Crib Wars inconsistent with the rules for pegging backwards in Wicked Cribbage?

AI Answer: “Yes, the rules for pegging backwards in Crib Wars and Wicked Cribbage are inconsistent because they employ entirely different mechanics and triggers for moving pegs backward.

Crib Wars Rules for Pegging Backwards

In Crib Wars, pegging backwards is a penalty associated with specific locations on a specialized, longer game board (363 holes instead of 121). The rules are a variation of the game “Snakes and Ladders”.

Penalty Boxes (Blue): If a player lands exactly on a blue penalty box space via pegging or hand count, they are penalized. In a two-player game, the penalized player moves back 20 holes, and their opponent moves forward 20 holes.
Time Traps (Blue Paths): Landing on a blue time trap space forces a player to follow a designated backward path on the board, losing many spaces. The peg literally moves backward along the blue path and then rejoins the main track further back than where it entered.

Wicked Cribbage Rules for Pegging Backwards

Wicked Cribbage uses a standard cribbage board and incorporates an extra deck of “Wicked” cards (Twinklers and Luggers) that introduce random, special abilities.

Twinkler and Lugger Cards: Pegging backwards is one of many potential effects caused by drawing and playing a specific “Wicked” card. These cards are drawn when a player reaches exactly 15 or 31 during the play phase (Twinkler) or lands on a multiple of 5 during the show phase (Lugger). The effect (e.g., “cause someone to peg backwards”) is random and dictated by the specific card drawn.

In summary, Crib Wars uses a board-based mechanic where landing on specific physical spaces triggers a forced backward movement, while Wicked Cribbage uses a card-based mechanic where a drawn action card dictates a backward movement as an effect.”

December 17, 2017) Further AI specific to Wicked Cribbage and Crib Wars:

The backward pegging methods in the game variations Wicked Cribbage and Crib Wars are generally not consistent with official American Cribbage Congress (ACC) rules. These variations introduce specific “house rules” for backward movement as core mechanics, which are not standard in ACC tournament play.

The ACC rules mandate that all scoring is done by moving the back peg ahead of the front peg, always in a forward direction along the track. While ACC rules do contain specific penalties that involve moving a player’s peg backward (such as the 15-point penalty for a false claim of game), the general method of playing backwards as a standard scoring or movement option is unique to the game variations.

Key Differences

Standard ACC Play: The only time a player’s peg moves backward is as a penalty for a serious infraction (e.g., false claim of game, where the pegs are moved back 15 holes from the out hole). The normal method of play is strictly forward movement.
Wicked Cribbage/Crib Wars: These games are designed as distinct variations and introduce non-standard mechanics that involve regular backward movement or penalties to move forward/backward in specific zones (like “Muggers Alley” or “Penalty Boxes”). In some “reverse cribbage” variations, the explicit goal is to avoid scoring points and force your opponent to move forward, which is the opposite of the standard game.

In summary, the backward pegging methods as a general game mechanic are a feature of the specific game variations and are not an official part of the core ACC rules for traditional cribbage.

I’d say that’s enough.

The Big Crib War Hybrid with 10 Card Cribbage!

Well, we did manage to get through a hybrid of 10-card Cribbage and Crib Wars although I had a kerfuffle with pegging which led to extra points I shouldn’t have got. I probably made other mistakes (just let me know).

However, it probably didn’t make that much difference. As luck would have it (as it tends to do in cribbage and in life) I won mainly because Sena ended up going through the final Blue Time Trap twice!

Here’s a recap of the rules for 10-card Cribbage: This one is fun. Deal 10 cards each and two to the dealer’s crib. Divide your remaining 8 cards into 4 separate hands. Use one for pegging and both for the show (means scoring your hands). Play to 121 (unless you’re playing Crib Wars and then you’re in for a marathon). You get big scores but they’re manageable.

We completed the game in an hour, very similar to our time in regular 6 card cribbage on the big Ebonwood Crib Wars board. I started to get a little punchy mid to late phase in the game because of the several hands you get in 10-card cribbage. It’s a lot to count.

High scores over the long haul probably don’t affect what fairways and sand traps you fall into.

There’s no Muggers Alley on the Ebonwood board and we never play muggins. Below are my updated descriptions of the colored zones, which we discuss and demonstrate during the video.

You think you’re in the clear after that? You’re not because there is a sadistically placed Blue Penalty Box in the next to the last hole before the Finish Line!

Gearing up for 10-Card Cribbage Mashup with Big Board Crib Wars

We spent over 2 hours playing the hybrid 10-card cribbage and Crib Wars on our new Crib Wars board. Sena won! I’m still a little punchy from the effort. Based on the results, we don’t think the higher scores we get will propel us through the game any faster.

Part of the reason is we spend any time we save from high scores shuffling cards, dealing them, and getting used to where the extra hands go but forgetting to count them, and needing to replenish our energy with hot chocolate.

***This is a card from Wicked Cribbage***

I got caught in two of the Blue Time Traps for a total of 6 trips. She got caught in a Penalty Box and two Blue Time Traps but managed to hit the Green Advance zone and I coughed in the dust she kicked up as she sped away to the finish line.

This is not over.

Big Board Crib Wars Video!

Date: December 12, 2025

We finally made a video of us playing Crib Wars on our new Ebonwood board! The video is almost an hour long, yet as near as I can tell from a web search, it’s the shortest YouTube video of a Crib Wars game. Except for a couple of bloopers by me, it went pretty well overall as an example of playing the game. We had a chance to demonstrate and explain the different zones in the game. There are at least 2 mistakes I made in the game (which I pointed out); one of them is stealing the deal on one round (which I forgot to mention). There are likely others; just let me know! A recap of the rules as we understand them from what’s available on the web can be found below:

Ebonwood is a company located in Appleton Wisconsin and they make a variety of wood objects including cribbage boards including a Cribbage Wars game. It’s rectangular and similar to what we got. However, it lacks directional arrows on the track in the lower left quadrant. There is no Muggins Alley. The rules for Cribbage Wars are on the Ebonwood web site. I don’t know if the board ships with rules. Ebonwood charges $210 for it.

There’s no Muggers Alley on the Ebonwood board and we never play muggins. Below are my updated descriptions of the colored zones, which we discuss and demonstrate during the video.

You think you’re in the clear after that? You’re not because there is a sadistically placed Blue Penalty Box in the next to the last hole before the Finish Line!

New Ebonwood Cribbage Wars Board Baptism!

Well, we got the new Ebonwood Cribbage Wars board last night. It was delivered shortly after 8:00 p.m. We took it for a test spin this morning and our inaugural game went for well over 2 hours. By some miracle and partly because of the sadistically placed final Blue Penalty Box just outside the winning hole—I won! Sena had a comfortable lead most of the game until then. We both tripped over a couple of Blue Time Traps. Sena lucked up on the little Green Advance zone and I lucked up on landing in the first Red Skip zone.

We both were a little confused by the board because it lacked some key directional arrows in the lower left quadrant which we got used to on the little board. In fact, it’s a good thing we learned how to play by practicing on the little board. The Ebonwood board is 16 inches square and, while it was easier to peg because the holes were better spaced and bigger, the single blue streak across the exit from the Blue Time Traps also was misleading because it looks so much like the single line Blue Penalty Box.

Photos of the little board and the Ebonwood board side by side shows the differences between the two. The little one seems crowded with lettering which can be hard to read and the peg holes are tiny but the directional arrows are helpful. There’s a lot more real estate on the Ebonwood board, but it could have done with a couple more directional arrows to clarify the pegging paths. The special zones are made of different colored resin inlays.

compare big and little cribbage wars boards

And of course, there seems to be no way to shorten the time it takes to play a Cribbage Wars game. On the other hand, we tend to get absorbed by it and often hardly notice that we spend more than 2 hours playing a game. We did get through a game in a little over an hour a couple days ago, but that’s the exception to the rule.

An interesting side note was the answer to Sena’s question by one of the makers about the origin of the name Ebonwood:.

Sorry for the late reply on this. We used to be a strictly table top gaming accessories company (back when myself and the other cofounder started in my garage). Then we realized that if we wanted to sell cribbage boards, and other non ttrpg items our name “Deathroll Gaming” might not give the best impression. So we sat down and brainstormed up Ebonwood. Something a lot more elegant than a strictly TTRPG sounding name; but it also allowed us to keep with the TTRPG stuff as that name fit both worlds.

I think TTRPG stands for Table Top Role-Playing Game. The board ships with a deck of cards and pegs. It doesn’t come with a printed set of rules but they’re all over the internet anyway. It’ll set you back $210.

The length of the game is the main reason why we haven’t yet filmed one. Luck plays such a big part in every game that it’s almost impossible to predict how long one will last. We’ll film one eventually, but hopefully I can edit so that it doesn’t put people to sleep. Time traps are the main issue. During a game, I usually start remembering the chorus of one of the songs in the Rocky Horror Picture Show: Let’s Do the Time Warp Again.”

Let’s do the time trap again.

Thanksgiving Day 2025 Tabloid News!

Today is the day for the 2025 Thanksgiving Day Tabloid News and you better believe this paper’s got issues. Eat turkey, watch football, take a nap from all that turkey.

This post’s title was inspired by (what else?) lines from the first Men in Black movie:

Agent K: [at newsstand] We’ll check the hot sheets.

Agent J: *These* are the hot sheets?

Agent K: Best investigative reporting on the planet. Read the New York Times if you want, they get lucky sometimes.

Agent J: I cannot believe you’re looking for tips in the supermarket tabloids.

Agent K: [front-age article about farmer’s stolen skin] Not looking for. Found.

Anyway, today is a special day because we’re waiting for some new items: a premium Cribbage Wars board from Ebonwood with resin inlays. We’re also waiting for extra pegs. These acrylic and brass pegs just shipped from the United Kingdom, which doesn’t charge tariffs. Michaud Toys makes a game board they call Cribbage Rumble (actually the same game as Cribbage Wars), but they’re currently not shipping to the U.S. because of the tariff situation.

We’re still playing Cribbage Wars on our economical little board with tiny peg holes. We’re finding out we like it so much we’d prefer a larger board so we can at least see what we’re pegging without a magnifying glass.

Sena still wins most of the games. I’m working on my strategy.

Happy Thanksgiving!