# Cribbage hand calculator

> Count any cribbage hand: pick 4 cards and the starter and see every fifteen, pair, run, flush and nobs, with the total. Plus how cribbage scoring works, in plain English.

Canonical: https://playcardgamesonline.com/cribbage/scoring

Choose the four cards in the hand and the starter. The calculator counts it the way you’d say it at the table.

The calculator is interactive: use it at https://playcardgamesonline.com/cribbage/scoring.

## How to count a cribbage hand

Count in the same order every time and you won’t miss points:

1. **Fifteens first.** Find every different group of cards that adds to 15. Each is 2. Face cards are 10.
2. **Pairs.** Each pair is 2. Three of a kind is three pairs (6); four of a kind is six pairs (12).
3. **Runs.** Three or more cards in order are 1 point each. With a pair inside a run, count the run twice.
4. **Flush.** Four hand cards of one suit are 4, or 5 if the starter matches. The crib needs all five.
5. **Nobs.** The jack of the starter’s suit is 1.

## Hands you can’t score

Some totals are impossible in cribbage: 19, 25, 26 and 27. That’s why a hand worth nothing is jokingly called “nineteen.”

Put it into practice: [play cribbage online](https://playcardgamesonline.com/cribbage) and the table counts every hand for you, item by item. The full rules are on the [cribbage rules](https://playcardgamesonline.com/cribbage/rules) page.