Free cribbage calculator and hand scorer, and how to make your own

How to score a cribbage hand

After each round, every hand is counted with the starter: the card cut from the pack and turned face up. The player who didn't deal counts first, then the dealer counts their hand, then the dealer counts the crib. Here's what scores.

Example: 4♥ 5♦ 6♣ 6♠ with a 5♠ starter. There are four fifteens (4 + 5 + 6, four different ways) for 8, two pairs for 4, and four runs of 4-5-6 for 12. That’s 24, one of the best hands there is. The best is 29: three 5s and a jack, with the fourth 5 cut as the starter in the jack's suit. No hand can score 19, 25, 26 or 27. Try any hand in the calculator, or find out which cards to keep.

Your own cribbage scorer that shows its working

You'll describe the calculator to a free AI assistant, paste what it writes into a file, and open it in your browser. Then add the breakdown, a quick card picker, the crib rules and a "which cards to keep" helper, one step at a time.

• A hand scorer that counts fifteens, pairs, runs, flushes and his nobs by the proper rules
• A breakdown of every combination, like "15 for 2: 5♥ + J♠", that lights up the cards when you tap it
• A card picker made for thumbs: tap a rank, then a suit, or type the cards in
• A crib switch that applies the crib's flush rule, and a reminder about his heels
• A helper that takes the six cards you were dealt and ranks all 15 ways to keep four, for your crib or theirs
• A felt table and proper-looking cards that work nicely on a phone at the table

Good for: anyone learning cribbage, families settling "is that really 12?" arguments, players who want to get better at choosing what to throw, and anyone who likes seeing a computer check every possibility in a blink.

What you need

Build it in six steps

Step 1 gives you a simple version that works, and each step after it adds more. The calculator at the top of this page is roughly what you'll have once you've done every step. Yours will look a bit different, because the AI writes its own version each time.

1. Ask for a simple hand scorer

   Copy this prompt into your AI assistant. It spells out the scoring rules, because AI assistants often get a cribbage detail or two wrong if you just say "score a cribbage hand".

   Copy this promptCopy

   I don't know how to code. Please make me a cribbage hand calculator that runs in a web browser.
   
   Requirements:
   - ONE single HTML file (HTML, CSS and JavaScript together), no external libraries, no internet needed. I will save it and double-click it.
   - Five cards: four for my hand and one for the starter (the cut card). For each card, a drop-down for the rank (A, 2 to 10, J, Q, K) and one for the suit (spades, hearts, diamonds, clubs).
   - A "Count" button that shows the total, scored by these rules, using all five cards:
     - Fifteens: 2 points for EVERY different combination of cards (2, 3, 4 or 5 cards) that adds up to 15. Jacks, queens and kings count 10, aces count 1. Check every possible group, not just pairs of cards.
     - Pairs: 2 points for every pair of cards with the same rank. So three of a kind is 6 and four of a kind is 12.
     - Runs: three or more ranks in a row, 1 point per card. Only count the longest run. If a rank in the run appears twice, the run counts twice (3-4-4-5 is two runs of 3 = 6). Ace is always low: Q-K-A is not a run.
     - Flush: if all four hand cards are the same suit, 4 points, or 5 if the starter matches too.
     - His nobs: 1 point for a jack in the hand (not the starter) that is the same suit as the starter.
   - If the same card is chosen twice, show a message instead of a score.
   - A clean, friendly design with a dark green background like a card table.
   
   Please give me the complete file in one code block, then tell me in simple steps how to save and open it.

   Copy the code, paste it into your text editor, and save it as cribbage.html. Double-click it, choose five cards and press Count.

   Test it with the 29 hand. 5♥ 5♦ 5♣ J♠ in the hand and 5♠ as the starter must score 29. Then try 4♥ 5♦ 6♣ 6♠ with a 5♠ starter, which should be 24.

2. Show the breakdown

   A total on its own doesn't help you learn, or win an argument. This step lists every combination the way a cribbage player would count it out loud.

   Copy this promptCopy

   That works, thank you. Now please show how the hand scores, not just the total:
   - Score automatically whenever a card changes, so I don't need the Count button.
   - Show the total big and bold, and under it small chips for each part: 15s, Pairs, Runs, Flush, Nobs, with the points for each.
   - Under that, a breakdown in groups (Fifteens, Pairs, Runs, Flush, His nobs), with one line for each combination, such as "15 for 2: 5♥ + J♠", "Pair for 2: 5♥ 5♦", "Run of 3 for 3: 4♣ 5♥ 6♠" and "His nobs for 1". Show three of a kind as one line, "Three of a kind for 6", and four of a kind as "Four of a kind for 12". List each run separately, so a double run shows as two runs.
   - Show the cards as small playing cards with red hearts and diamonds.
   - When I hover over a line, or tap it on a phone, light up those cards and fade the others.
   - Add a line that says the count the way players say it, such as "Fifteen 2, fifteen 4, a pair is 6, and a run of 3 is 9."
   - If the hand scores nothing, say so, and explain that cribbage players jokingly call it "nineteen" because 19 is impossible.
   - Underneath, a small note: "The highest hand is 29. A hand can never score 19, 25, 26 or 27."
   
   Send me the complete updated file.

   Always ask for the complete file. Replace everything in cribbage.html, save, and refresh the tab (F5 or Cmd+R).

3. Make a quick card picker

   Drop-downs are slow, especially on a phone. Real cards on a table, picked with two taps each, feel far better.

   Copy this promptCopy

   Please replace the drop-downs with a quicker card picker:
   - Show five card spaces on the green table: four for the hand and, a little apart, one labelled "Starter". Draw the cards with CSS (white, rounded, the rank and suit in the corner and a big suit symbol in the middle), not pictures.
   - Under the table, a row of 13 rank buttons (A, 2 to 10, J, Q, K) and four big suit buttons (♠ ♥ ♦ ♣). Tap a rank, then a suit, and that card goes into the next empty space. If I tap the suit first, that works too.
   - Never allow the same card twice: grey out a suit button if that card is already on the table.
   - Tap a card on the table to select it, so the next card I pick replaces it. Tap it again to remove it.
   - A text box where I can type a hand instead, like "5H 5D 5C JS 5S" or "5h5d5cjs 5s", or with 10 or T for tens. The fifth card is the starter. If it can't read something, say which bit and how to write it.
   - A "Random hand" button that deals five different cards, and a "Clear" button.
   - Put the total on the table under the cards, so it's right next to them.
   
   Send me the complete updated file.

4. Add the crib rules

   The crib is counted almost the same way as a hand, with one difference that catches people out: the flush.

   Copy this promptCopy

   Please add a "Crib hand" switch next to the buttons:
   - When it's on, label the four cards "The crib" instead of "Your hand".
   - In the crib, a flush only counts if all four crib cards AND the starter are the same suit (5 points). A four-card flush in the crib scores nothing. If the four crib cards match but the starter doesn't, show a note explaining why the flush isn't counted.
   - Everything else (fifteens, pairs, runs and his nobs) is counted exactly the same in the crib.
   - If the starter is a jack, show a note: "His heels: the starter is a jack, so the dealer pegs 2 straight away. That isn't part of the hand total." Don't add it to the total.
   
   Send me the complete updated file.

   Check it: 2♥ 4♥ 6♥ 8♥ with a K♠ starter is 4 as a hand and 0 as a crib.

5. Add a "which cards to keep" helper

   This is the clever bit. You're dealt six cards and must throw two into the crib. The computer can try every choice against every possible starter faster than you can shuffle.

   Copy this promptCopy

   Please add a second tab at the top called "Which cards to keep", next to "Score a hand":
   - It has six card spaces and the same picker, text box, Random and Clear buttons.
   - When all six cards are in, try all 15 ways of keeping four and throwing two. For each one, score the four kept cards with every one of the 46 cards that could be cut as the starter, and work out the average, lowest and highest score.
   - Also estimate what the two thrown cards are worth in the crib: average the crib score over every possible starter and every possible pair of other cards the opponent might throw (treat them as random cards from the 46 you can't see). Use the crib flush rule.
   - Two summary boxes: "You dealt: your crib" (best by hand average plus the crib estimate) and "They dealt: their crib" (best by hand average minus the crib estimate). Each shows the four cards to keep and the two to throw.
   - Tapping a box ranks the full list that way. Show the top 6 ways in a numbered list, each with the cards to keep, the two to throw (faded), the hand average, the lowest and highest, the crib estimate and the overall figure, and a "Show all 15" link.
   - Tapping a line in the list lifts the four kept cards on the table and tips the thrown ones aside.
   - Write the scoring so it's fast, because the crib estimate scores hundreds of thousands of hands. It should finish in well under a second.
   - A small note: "Hand points are averaged over all 46 cards that could be cut. The crib estimate assumes the other two crib cards are random. Pegging isn't counted."
   
   Send me the complete updated file.

   Try 5♦ 5♠ J♦ K♠ 2♣ 6♥. Keeping 5-5-J-K should come out on top for both of you, averaging about 12 points.

6. Polish it for the phone at the table

   The last step makes it feel finished, so it's a pleasure to use with one thumb while someone waits for you to count.

   Copy this promptCopy

   Please finish it off:
   - Make it work well on a phone 375 pixels wide: the table first, then the picker, then the breakdown underneath. Nothing should scroll sideways. On a phone, put the rank buttons in two rows (A to 7, then 8 to K), and make every button at least 44 pixels tall.
   - On a big screen, put the table and picker on the left and the breakdown on the right.
   - Make the table look like green felt with a soft light in the middle, and give the cards a gentle shadow.
   - Small animations: each new card slides in like it's being dealt, the total pops when it changes, and the next empty space glows softly. Keep these playing even if my device is set to reduce motion, because they're small and gentle.
   - Start with an example hand already on the table, so the page shows a score straight away. The first card I pick clears it and starts my own hand.
   - Make everything work with the keyboard, with a clear outline on the button that has focus.
   
   Send me the complete updated file.

Quick fixes

Questions people ask

Twist it into something else

Once your calculator counts hands correctly, the same scoring code can power all sorts of things. Change a prompt to make:

Counting by checking everything

People count a cribbage hand by spotting patterns, which is why they miss things. The calculator doesn't spot anything: it checks every possibility. Five cards can be grouped in 31 ways (every card in or out, minus the empty group), so it adds up each group and gives 2 points to every one that makes 15. For pairs, it looks at all 10 ways of picking two cards. For runs, it lines the ranks up from ace to king, finds the longest unbroken stretch of three or more, and multiplies its length by the number of ways to pick one card from each rank. That's how 3-4-4-5 becomes two runs of 3 without any special rule.

The "which cards to keep" helper is the same idea on a bigger scale. Six cards give 15 ways to keep four. Each is scored with all 46 cards that could be cut, which is 690 hands. For the crib, it scores your two cards with every possible starter and every pair of cards your opponent might throw: about 45,000 crib hands for each choice, or nearly 700,000 in all. A phone does that in well under a second, which is why the scoring code is written to be quick.

Building it yourself is a lovely way to see how a computer turns rules into answers. It's one small file with no sign-ups and nothing uploaded, and you can change it however you like, from your family's house rules to a quiz for the cribbage club.

What to build next