I love cribbage! (Obviously, or I wouldn’t have written so many articles on it!)
But one of the things that hold a lot of folks back from trying cribbage is the need for the board.
While I admit, the board is one of the cooler aspects of the game, it’s not even needed to play it.
Yes, I’m saying it is possible to play cribbage without a board.
The cribbage board is useful for keeping track of points and raising awareness of the skunk lines, but it’s easy to play without a board too. 5 simple alternatives include:
- Keeping track of points on a piece of paper
- Using a virtual board
- Using objects to track points
- Make your own using a template
- Track points on phone or tablet
For more info on the cribbage board and these ways to play without one, read on!
Check out our comprehensive guide on the rules of cribbage and how to play with examples, scoring breakdowns, and vocabulary guide.
Table of Contents
What Is A Cribbage Board Needed For In The Game?
The cribbage board is the iconic item in cribbage.
It contains a board with 121 holes for tracking points, often in 2 or 3 lanes.
Some of them come in some pretty interesting shapes, but they’ll often go around their shape one time.
There are also typically lines every 5 holes to help make counting points easier.
In the middle or at the top, there’s another set of holes for tracking games won in a match.
Sometimes, you also see double-lines or skunk pictures drawn around the board as well.
For more information, on skunk lines in cribbage, check out the article at the link.
The cribbage uses holes and lines to keep track of the number of points earned.
The goal of the game is to be the first player to get to 121 points.
Cribbage uses pegs, little plastic or wooden pieces, to go inside the holes in the board.
The pegs leap-frog each other, so you always know the last count you made (in case a mistake was made).
All of this is an interesting, complex, and visual way to keep track of points and games won.
It seems too simple to boil it down to this, but it’s the truth.
Essentially the cribbage board does this:
- Tracks the points
- Tracks how many games you won
- Tells you where the skunk lines are (90 points for single skunk and 60 points for triple skunk)
If you can do this without the board, you don’t need it.
Though, I’d suggest you get one because they’re cool to look at.
Some are more expensive, yes, but most are affordable.
This simple cribbage board by Bicycle is the one I think most people start with.
Can You Play Cribbage Without A Board?
Are you really playing cribbage if you aren’t using the board?
Some people say no. To them, the board is an integral part of the game, despite how simple the board’s function is to the game.
Others, like me, say yes.
The cribbage board is an iconic part of the game, but the bigger, unique elements to the game include the three phases (the discard, the play, and the show) and the way you count points.
To me, this is what makes the game.
A lot of my family plays cribbage, so I took a quick poll while writing this article.
The results were largely unclear, but I’m not surprised.
As you can see from the first graph, most of my family agreed (this is out of 16 people surveyed) that it’s possible to play cribbage without a board.
But as this second graph shows, more than half thought the board was important enough to the game to make it so playing without a board wasn’t real cribbage.
5 Ideas For Playing Cribbage Without A Board
If you still want to play without a board (and I hope you do!), here are 5 simple ideas for getting it done.
Keep Track Of Points On A Piece Of Paper
The simplest way to play without a board is to use a piece of paper and a pencil or pen to track the points.
I see two main ways to do this:
- Tally marks
- Adding points each time
Tally marks – Write both names down on a piece of paper. Track points with tally marks using the traditional four vertical lines and one diagonal slash to make easy groups of five.
Every 20 points (four groups) I’d circle them to make it easier to see the groups.
When someone reaches 121 points, they win!
Adding points – This is for those who feel lost looking at all the tally marks.
I’d suggest drawing two long columns down a piece of paper with each player’s name at the top.
Now, you add the point total up each time you score, crossing off your previous score.
This is a bit closer to actual cribbage because you’ll see what your previous score was if there was a mistake in counting made.
The downside of this one is in the pegging or play phase.
A lot of little points happen here, meaning you’ll use a lot of space for the counting.
Use A Virtual Board Or App
If you don’t have a board, but you want to look at one, get a virtual cribbage board or app.
There are some apps that allow you to play the whole game on the app, but if you want just the board, there are those too.
This lets you play with the physical cards hand while still using a virtual board.
One quick and free one is here at C. Liam Brown website.
They even have a discard calculator here for practicing advanced cribbage strategies.
Use Objects Like Coins To Track Points
If you want the physical aspect of counting points, use small objects like coins or paper clips to keep track of points.
This one is tough for me because it means you’ll need around 240 potential objects!
I have a hard time with that many things, but you can keep track easier by grouping them into 10s.
Or, if you have a good assortment of coins, trade in your ten pennies for a dime and keep track of them by their coin value.
If you’re looking to help young kids with counting coin value, this is an awesome way to practice with a game.
Make Your Own
It’s pretty to make your own simple DIY board.
Get some cardboard and print off a template, such as the free one at this link:
Then, glue or tape the template onto the cardboard.
I like to use different colored paper clips for this.
I bend the paper clip end so you can stick one end into the “peg holes,” but you still have the bigger end on top.
Track Points On Your Phone Or Tablet
If you liked the idea of using a piece of paper, but you don’t have one handy, just use your notes app or something to manually write down the points.
It’s a bit of a pain, but it’ll get the job done!
And who knows? You may even end up getting the perfect 29 hand.
Learn how to count a 29 hand in cribbage in our article here.
