Free Online Card Games

Cribbage

Object of the game
The first player to cross the finish line, 121 points, wins the game. Points are scored by combining cards in pairs, runs, and combinations that add up to 15, during the play and after counting your hand and crib. The Layout

When the game starts your hand of six cards is displayed face up at the bottom of the screen just above the command bar. Your opponent's hand, the computer, is displayed face down at the top of the screen. The crib hand, with the two discards from your opponent, is displayed across the middle of the screen waiting for your discards. The cribbage board floats above the table at the right of the screen.

How to Play Cribbage
At the start of a game each player is dealt six cards and must immediately discard two, face down, to the crib. The crib is an extra hand that alternates players between deals. The player with the crib is called the dealer the other player is called the elder. Points in your hand accumulate from pairs (2 or more of a kind), runs (3 or more in sequence) and combinations of cards that add to 15. What you discard to the crib depends on whether you are the dealer or the elder during that round. At the end of the round the points in the crib go to the dealer.

Strategy-crib
Deciding which two cards to discard to the crib is an important part of each hand. You should assess the value of your hand for pairs, runs and combinations of cards that can total 15 in order to maximize the actual and potential value of your hand. Generally a hand value between 10 and 20 points is considered good and 7 is about average. For the record the highest scoring single hand is 29 (four 5s and a J).
Choosing the best discards is a talent that comes with experience. Generally you want to keep cards that add up to the highest total especially when you are the elder player (you don't have the crib).
When you are the dealer the points in the crib will go to you at the end of the hand so you can feel better about discarding pairs or 15's to your crib. You can press the Hint button to get a hint from the computer about which two cards to discard to the crib. This hint is based on the cards in your hand and the probability of cards in the computer's hand.

Play Strategy
It is generally not a good idea to start the play with a 5 or 10-valued card since it is very likely your opponent will have a 10 or 5 to make 15

The Opening Lead
After the crib has been chosen. You must decide what card you want to start off with the opening lead. There is no safe opening lead because you have no idea what your opponent has in their hand. But here are some pointers that can help you in your decision, remember that if your lead is higher than four, your opponent may make 15.

The Play
The play begins after the starter card is drawn. Non-dealer plays first by laying one card from their hand to the table and announcing the total. The dealer plays the next card and announces the total. The idea during play is to acquire points by making pairs, runs or 15's from the played cards. You want to be careful also not to lay out cards that are close in rank in order to avoid a run. The maximum total of played cards is 31. The player that lays a card, which totals exactly 31, receives 2 points. If a player cannot lay a card that keeps the total at 31 or less he must announce a "Go" and pass the play. The remaining player must lay out their remaining cards that keep the total to 31 or less and receives one point for the Go and two points if he was able to total exactly 31. The play then continues again starting from zero in this way until all cards are played out. The running total count is displayed at the bottom of the screen. The player that lays the very last card of the play receives one point

Play Duplicate Crib
This option plays a game of duplicate crib. In duplicate crib you play one game to completion then in the next game you receive the cards that your opponent was dealt in the previous game and visa versa for your opponent. This method of play eliminates any luck in the deal. The Starter card is also repeated in the duplicate game.
If you select duplicate mode during a game the next game will deal the hands that have occurred in the current game. If the duplicate game requires more hands than were saved from the previous game then new hands are dealt until someone wins.

If you Quit and Save the current game during a duplicate game the duplicate hands are not saved when you restart the game.

1 (and Ace) Seldom a good lead unless you also have a 4. Aces are valuable for pegging when the count gets up toward thirty-one.
2 Generally good, although this card may be valuable for pegging later. If you have two 2s and a 3, this is an excellent lead; if your opponent pairs it you get three of a kind; if your opponent plays a 10 then you get a fifteen.
3 Generally good, if you also have a 2, the 3 is an even better lead; if your opponent plays a 10, you get a fifteen; if he doesn't, you still have a deuce for pegging. If you have two 3s and a deuce, the lead is perfect.
4 Probably the best of all leads; doubly good if you also have an Ace. The 4 can't be made into fifteen and it is not as useful as a 1, 2 or 3 for pegging. Also, any card your opponent plays gives you an opportunity for a fifteen
5 The worst lead of the game because of the high probability that your opponent has a 10.
6 Generally alright. It is better if you have a nine because if your opponent plays a nine for fifteen, you can match it, for a pair. STOP
7 Seldom good. If your opponent plays an 8, you hesitate to play a 6 as that would bring the total to twenty-one, an open door for your opponent to make thirty-one.
8 Almost as dangerous as a 7.
9 Seldom a good lead. If your opponent plays a 6 for a fifteen and you pair it the count goes to twenty-one.
10 The most frequent lead. Especially good if the starter card is 5 or you have one in your hand as that reduces the possibility of your opponent having one to make a fifteen.
If you have a run of any cards, play the middle one, I.E. if you have J Q K lead with the Q. If your opponent plays with any 10er, you score.

Play Of The Hand After The Initial Lead
There is no simple answer to how you should play the hand after the opening lead. Just keep these five objectives mind mind as you play the hand.

1 Play to reach 15, scoring 2 points.
2 Aim to hit 31 and score 2 points.
3 Formation of Matches: - Pairing the previous card played scores 2 points.
- Making triplets (three of a kind) scores 6 points
- Lining up quadruplets If, after a pairs has been made, another card of the same rank can be played immediately (provided that no Go or 31 has intervened), the player of the fourth card scores 12 points.
4 Look for straights: - Three card straight, 3 points
- Four card straight, 4 points
- five card straight, 5 points
- six card straight
*NOTE*-that straights can be scrambled, that is, the cards do not have to be played in numerical order. The cards could be in 4-2-3 order and it would still be a straight.

5 Play defensive, prevent your opponent from reaching 15, matches, a straight,31, or the go.

Counting the points
After the play each player collects their cards from the table. The Elder player counts their hand first followed by the Dealers hand and then the Dealers crib. The game displays the card counts for you pointing out which cards contribute to which points. All points are recorded for you on the peg board. Your pegs move along the red (outside) track, the computer uses the blue (inside) track. Each player has two pegs that leapfrog over each other when points are made. The leading peg represents your current score.

End of Game Points
At the end of each game the point difference is calculated and you win or lose $1 per point. If you beat the computer by 10 points then you are awarded $10.
If the loser has not scored higher than the Skunk mark (90 points) then the winner is awarded an extra game on the score card. An example is if you only play one game and you lose by more than 90 points, then it will show on the score card that you have lost two games.

The Scoring System
During the play points for runs (three or more cards in numerical sequence) do not have to be laid out in order but do have to be adjacent. For example the sequence 9,10,J and 10,J,9 are both worth 3 points.
Scoring the points in a hand is a process of adding up the basic points in all combinations of cards without repeat. For example, three of a kind is really 3 sets of pairs at 2 points each which equals 6 points.

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Cards:	Points Awarded
Total to 15	2
Pair	2
Three of a Kind	6
Four of a Kind	12
Run of three or more	1 point each card
Turned up Jack( A Jack in the hand or the Crib which is of the same suit as the turned up card)	1
Go	1
Four card Flush	4
Five card Flush	5
Jack of the same suit as the Starter ("Their Nobs", not in the Crib)	1
Total to 31	2

Card Values	Value
Ace	1
Face Card	10
2-10	Face Value

Common Combinations	Points
Three of a Kind	6
Four of a Kind	12
Double Run (7-6-6-5)	8
Triple Run (7-6-6-6-5)	15
Quadruple Run (7-7-6-6-5)	16

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Hearts
How To Play Hearts
The object of the game is to maintain the lowest score out of the 4 players. The score is assigned to the player at the end of each round based upon the 4 cards that the player has taken in each hand (these groups of 4 cards are called "tricks.") There are 13 tricks per round. Each Heart card you take increases your score by 1 and the Queen of Spades increases your score by 13. Therefore, you must try not to take any tricks with Hearts or the Queen of Spades in them! (exception: see "shooting the moon")

Passing
The game begins with the entire deck dealt out evenly to each player, 13 cards each. Cards are automatically sorted for you numerically and by suit. Before play begins, you may be asked to "Pass" 3 of your cards to one of the other players, and one of the other players will pass 3 cards to you. Choose the cards you'd like to pass by clicking on them, and then press the "Pass" button to start the game. If you make a mistake during the "Pass" phase, you can deselect cards you have chosen to pass by clicking on them. To start game play during a "No Passing" round, press the "Pass" button.

Game Play
Play begins in the first hand with the 2 of Clubs. The player who holds the 2 of Clubs must play that card by clicking on it, and the other players must follow with any Club they like, clockwise around the table. The player who plays the highest Club in this hand takes the trick, and must lead the next hand with a card of their choice. This is called the lead card and determines what the lead suit is for the trick. Hearts may not be the lead suit until they have been "broken," meaning that they have already been played in a previous hand in that game. Hearts may also be lead if the leading player does not have any cards of any other suits.

After a card is lead for the trick, if a player does not have any cards in the leading suit, they may play any other card into the trick, including a Heart. The player who plays the highest numeric card of the lead suit will always take the trick, even if a higher card of a different suit is played in that trick. You must always play a card of the lead suit unless you don't have any cards of that suit.

Play progresses in this manner until all 13 tricks have been taken. At this point the game will tally up your score for the round just played, and for all of the rounds you have played up to this point. Credits will be added based upon how well you are doing and how well your opponents are doing. Remember, the object is to have the lowest score! You can cash out your credits for iCoins at any point in the game.

"Shooting the Moon"
There is only one instance in the game of Hearts in which the player aims to take as many Hearts as possible. If a player is able to take all 13 Hearts AND the Queen of Spades in one round, they have "Shot The Moon" and they automatically get 0 points for that round, and the 3 other players each get 26 points for that round. It takes great skill to Shoot the Moon and you will be rewarded with many credits for doing so!

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