Category: cribbage

We play cribbage and we tried playing using the Muggins Rule the other day. We “muggled” through it is what I should say.

During one game, Sena got the total count wrong, which led to a confusing situation leading to her overpegging and eventually winning a game, which didn’t make a lot of sense.

Most of the problem was misunderstanding how to apply Muggins rule to overpegging. It’s not clear to us how to address that. Underpegging is easier to understand. If Sena underpegs and I catch it, I’m supposed to call Muggins and peg the difference between the actual pegging score and her over score.

She overpegged a large number of holes and got so far ahead, that I couldn’t catch up. What we didn’t understand is that, according to some rules, the player who overpegs is supposed to move her peg back to the original position behind the front peg.

On the other hand, there is more than one set of rules for how play Muggins. The American Cribbage Congress (ACC) has official rules for it, and they say it only applies to underpegging. It applies after you peg.

On the other hand, I can find guidance for overpegging elsewhere on the ACC website, and it covers overpegging. It’s in the Tips Library and interestingly there’s a slang term for it: Hauling Lumber.

“Hauling Lumber – Hauling Lumber (or Timber) usually refers to intentional Over Pegging, which is one form of cheating during a cribbage game. It is believed the term originated due to most boards being made out of wood and the offending player was pegging more wood than what they were entitled to.”

“Overpegging – Overpegging is pegging more points that what you are entitled to take. It may happen during the play of the hand, in counting the hand or by accidently taking more pegs than indicated. If the opponent catches the Overpegging, you must return your front peg to the proper place and the opponent gets to take the difference between what was pegged and the correct total. If you notice your own Overpegging before your opponent, you may announce the fact and correct your front peg to its proper location with no penalty. See also False Claim of Game and Hauling Lumber.”

However, the Tips Library also says this about Muggins:

“Muggins – Muggins is taking points your opponent misses. Muggins points come from one of two sources. If your opponent misses points during the play of the cards, Muggins may be called after a pause to make sure the opponent is truly missing the points. The other situation is where your opponent fails to count and/or take all the points in the hand. Once he has under pegged his hand, Muggins may be called for the difference in what was pegged and the actual count in the hand. Muggins may not be taken in the case of an opponent failing to take his two points when a Jack is the starter card, those points are lost once the dealer plays a card. Muggins is not applicable in the case where an opponent over pegs his hand, see Over Pegging – Hauling Lumber.”

The bottom line seems to be that overpegging is not allowed in Muggins. If you do it deliberately, you might want to haul ass away from the game table.

I wondered about what the term “Muggins” itself means so I made a cursory search for the origin of the term. I found out that the term is connected to the word “mug,” which means fool or idiot. By extension, I guess it could mean that a cribbage player who makes mistakes in the game is thought to be a simpleton.

This is part of the reason why we’re not going to use the Muggins rule anymore. It takes a bit of the fun out of playing cribbage.