Cribbage — free online card game against the computer

Cribbage is a counting game that has been played the same way since the seventeenth century. You are dealt six cards and throw two of them into the crib, an extra hand that belongs to the dealer. A starter card is cut, then the two of you take turns laying cards down and calling the running total, scoring for anything that makes fifteen, a pair, a run, or exactly thirty-one. Then everything is counted again properly: your hand, the computer's hand, and the crib on top.

Here it is one deal at a time rather than a race to 121, which takes half an hour. You always deal, so the crib is always yours. That is a real edge and a measured one: over 4,000 simulated deals the dealer averages 15.0 points against 9.6 and wins about 78% of deals even against the strongest setting. The difficulty lives in the opponent instead — it throws smarter and pegs better with every deal you win — so your score is deals won in a row, and a tie ends the run the way a loss does.

How to play

• Tap two cards from your six to throw into the crib, then tap Throw. The crib is yours, so throw cards that help it.
• A starter is cut. If it is a Jack you take 2 for his heels straight away.
• Pegging: the computer leads. Tap a card to play it. The running total may not pass 31.
• Score as you go: 15 is 2, 31 is 2, a pair is 2, three of a kind is 6, four is 12, and a run of three or more scores its length.
• If you cannot play under 31 you say go, and whoever laid the last card takes 1.
• The show: the computer counts first, then you, then your crib. Every combination summing to fifteen is 2, every pair is 2, a run scores its length, four of a suit is 4, and a Jack matching the starter's suit is 1 for his nob.

Which two cards to throw

The throw is the whole game and most people get it wrong the same way. There are fifteen possible pairs to discard from six cards, and the temptation is to keep whatever looks tidiest. What actually matters is arithmetic: fives are the most valuable cards in cribbage, because ten cards in the deck are worth ten, so any five is one card away from a fifteen. Never throw a five away when the crib belongs to the other player, and be happy to throw one into your own.

After the fives, keep cards that work together. A 2 and a 3 are worth having because they make fifteen with any ten-card, and a pair is worth two before the starter is even cut. Sequences matter more than they look: 4-5-6 is a run for three, two fifteens for four, and any 4, 5 or 6 in the starter turns it into a double run. Throwing two cards that touch — a 6 and a 7, say — into your own crib is a small gift to yourself, because the crib gets a starter too.

The other half is what you are giving away. A throw that hands the crib a pair, a run or a fifteen is worth as much to the crib's owner as it would be in your hand. When the crib is yours, that is free money; when it is not, a 5 and a 10 thrown together is roughly four points handed over. This version always gives you the crib, so the honest advice is to be greedy — but the computer knows the same arithmetic, and it throws away from your crib as the streak gets longer. If you like this kind of counting, Gin Rummy and Hearts are the other two card games here where the maths matters more than the luck.

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• Solitaire — Classic Klondike, built for one hand: tap a card and it moves itself. Undo, auto-finish, and your best time saved.
• FreeCell — Every card face up from the start, so there's no luck left to blame. Four free cells and a clock.
• Spider Solitaire — One suit, ten columns, eight runs to build. Make an empty column early or you'll wish you had.
• Mahjong Solitaire — Match free tiles two at a time and dig the stack apart. Every board is dealt solvable.

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