11 card cribbage – Go Retire Psychiatrist

Hey, it’s New Year’s Eve and it’s time for 11-card cribbage! Recall, the American Cribbage Congress (ACC) website has a cribbage variations page in which the unknown author reports there being many cribbage variants, including 11 and 13 card cribbage.

So, yesterday we played 12-card cribbage and we decided to address the 11-card variant today. We intend to tackle the 13-card variant “next year.”

We did OK, although I had a miscount (counted 31 in the play instead of 30 near the end of the game). Again, it took us about 20 minutes to play it.

Scores can be difficult to count so you might want to check on this link for the calculator.

We made up the rules because, of course, there are no rules. This puts any of these game variants into the Calvinball Crib category. This is because there are no established rules and the name just has a little fun with that name because of the definition of the name Calvinball:

“Activity reminiscent of the imaginary game of Calvinball (see etymology), in not following any 1994- discernible rules, or in which individuals act in a self-servingly inconsistent manner. Also (and in earliest use) as a modifier.”

Did you know there’s a place in Canada that makes a Calvinball Cribbage board? It’ll set you back $140. We can’t tell if there’s a tariff on it.

Did you know that Artificial Intelligence (AI) has confabulated a description of Calvinball Cribbage? I copied it for you:

“Calvinball Cribbage is a humorous mashup of the chaotic, rule-free game from Calvin & Hobbes with traditional Cribbage, often involving themed boards or rule modifications, where the core idea is applying Calvinball’s fluid, make-it-up-as-you-go spirit to Cribbage’s scoring and play, adding wild, non-sensical rules like using mallets, changing hand values, or scoring points for silly actions, making each round unique and unpredictable, not a single defined game but a creative approach to Cribbage.

What it is (The Calvinball Aspect):

No Fixed Rules: Just like original Calvinball, there’s no single set of rules; the players invent them as they go.
Rule Changes: A key rule is that rules can’t be repeated, and players constantly invent new scoring, actions, or penalties.
Props & Actions: You might use mallets, balls, trees, or make up actions like “scoring three points for pointing at a cloud” or “losing a turn for looking left”.

How it Applies to Cribbage:

Themed Boards: You can find or make custom cribbage boards featuring Calvin & Hobbes, adding visual flair.
Modified Scoring: Instead of just points for pairs and runs, you might add a “Hobbes Bonus” for a specific card or penalize for “too much logic”.
Strategic Chaos: Players still play cribbage (cards, pegs, crib), but the gameplay is constantly disrupted by invented rules, turning strategic plays into potential jokes or absurd victories.

Example Calvinball Cribbage “Rules”:

“If you play a 7, you must hop on one foot until your next turn”.
“The crib gets 5 points if it contains a card with a face on it” (referencing Calvin’s drawings).
“A ‘skunk’ is achieved by making your opponent laugh out loud”.

In essence, Calvinball Cribbage is about injecting unpredictable fun and silliness into the structured world of cribbage, making it a game of spontaneous creativity rather than strict strategy. “

How do you feel about AI now? You know, I wonder why somebody hasn’t yet come up with a new club: Calvinball Cribbage Congress (CCC). Somebody could make a cool tee shirt for the club.

We wish everyone a Happy New Year in 2026!

Today, Sena “suggested” that we try make up our own version of the 11-card cribbage rumor. Recall that I picked up the idea from the American Cribbage Congress (ACC) web site that two of the many variations of cribbage are the 11 and 13 card games. I had e-mailed the ACC on Friday (two days ago) about the rules for them.

Based on the other oddball variants we’ve experimented on since last week (see my post, “Oddball Cribbage Variants Marathon Today and a Catatonic Squirrel!”), we dealt 11 cards, threw one card to the dealer’s crib, inspected our hands and tossed 3 more cards to the crib, making the crib 7 cards. That left 8 cards in our hands.

Predictably, pegging was not a big event, but counting the outrageously high hands and crib was. We had to use the cribbage scorer program developed by someone pitching the 9-card cribbage game on a Reddit cribbage thread.

It works sometimes but there is a hiccup with it not allowing input of face cards, which leads to problematic scoring. But for the most part, it works.

The short story is that we scored so high that we played only 3 hands before Sena won! Did that make the game faster? No, of course not. We spent over an hour trying to count our hands and cribs and that includes manual counting and giving up and resorting to the scorer program.

Sena’s 1st hand was 58 points according to the scorer: fifteens for 40 points; runs were 12; pairs were 6. Her cards are above the board (she was pone) and my 8-card hand and 7 card crib are below the board. The 2^nd and 3^rd hand were also horrendous. Sena won.

When we finished, I noticed that the ACC expert had answered my email. He had just got back from a big ACC tournament in Reno, Nevada. He asked several cribbage pros about the 11 and 13 card variants. Nobody had even heard of them, much less played them. He even asked the editor of Cribbage World magazine, his usual contact for questions like ours. He’s never heard of either one of the variants. This is despite their being mentioned on the ACC Article Library, quoted below:

“Did you know that there are at least 18 variations to the BASIC game of cribbage? There is the basic 2 or 4 handed game, and then there are the 5 card, 7 card, 11 card and 13 card cribbage games.”

I think that settles the question about the 11 and 13 card variations. They are part of the fascinating mythology of cribbage. I’m sure there’s more.