Cribbage hand calculator
Choose any four cards and a starter and the calculator counts the hand: every combination totalling fifteen, every pair, every run, the flush and his nobs, each one highlighted on the cards that make it. It runs the same scoring code as the game on this site, so the two cannot disagree, and it counts in the order a player would call it out loud.
The crib only scores a flush when all five cards match; in a hand, four is enough.
Choose 5 more cards: four for the hand, then the cut.
The order that stops you missing points
Points go missing in cribbage because a hand is counted in whatever order the cards happen to catch the eye. Tournament players use one fixed order every time, and say it aloud, which is why they do not leave points on the table. The calculator reports in that same order.
Fifteens first
Find every distinct combination of cards totalling fifteen, using any number of cards, and score 2 for each. Call the running total as you go: "fifteen two, fifteen four, fifteen six".
Then pairs
Score 2 for each pair. Three of a kind contains three distinct pairs and so scores 6; four of a kind contains six and scores 12.
Then runs
Score 1 per card in any run of three or more. If a rank is duplicated, the run counts once for each way it can be made, which is where double and triple runs come from.
Then the flush
Four hand cards of one suit score 4, and 5 if the starter matches too. In the crib only the five-card flush scores.
His nobs last
A jack in your hand matching the starter suit scores 1. Counting it last is the convention, and it is the point most often forgotten.
Common questions
Is there a cribbage calculator that shows the working?
- This one does. Rather than returning a single number it highlights the cards behind each combination, so a hand scoring 12 is shown as the particular fifteens, pairs and runs that made it. Seeing which cards paid is what teaches the counting.
Can the calculator count a crib as well as a hand?
- Yes, with one rule difference to remember: a four-card flush scores 4 in the hand and nothing in the crib, because the crib needs all five cards in suit before a flush pays at all.
What is a cribbage cheat sheet?
- A one-page summary of what scores and how much, kept beside the board so nobody has to argue about a count mid-game. The scoring chart on this site is that sheet, and it comes as a free printable alongside the score sheet.
Do the calculator and the game score hands the same way?
- They share one scoring engine, so yes, by construction rather than by intention. That engine was written and tested before the game was built, which is why the game, the calculator and the discard table on the strategy page all agree.