Just remember: You only get one point for nobs. If you’re tha non-dealer, you may want to hold off putting a Jack into your opponent’s crib. That means you won’t know if a Jack in your hand will score nobs or not. Double pair royal (four-of-a-kind) = 12 pointsĮveryone discards into the crib before the dealer reveals the pone’s cut card as the starter card.Many cribbage players play for years and never see this four-card combination. The perfect hand happens when the starter card is a 5 and your hand consists of all three other 5s and nobs. The perfect cribbage hand, or 29-point hand, will get you the highest score possible in a game of cribbage. You get two points for heels in cribbage because he has two heels.Ĭheck out the other scoring rules for cribbage. Here’s a quick breakdown of how the two rules work:Ī Jack in the same suit as the starter cardĪs soon as the dealer draws the starter cardĪ good way for beginners to remember the difference is that you get one point for nobs because Jack has one head. Nobs is not to be confused with nibs, or “two for his heels.” This is when the dealer draws a Jack as the start, or turn up card. One For His Head, Two For His Heels: Nobs vs. “One for his nobs” is the full rule, or sometimes “one for his knob.” No one is totally sure where the term originated, but we do know that “knob” is British slang for “head.” We’re also not sure why the Jack gets special treatment rather than any other face cards.

It doesn’t matter if you’re the dealer or the pone if the start card is a heart and you have the Jack of hearts, you can score for nobs.Īre all Jacks worth extra points in cribbage? No, if a Jack is a different suit than the starter card, you won’t get extra points.

You’ll score it during the show when you score all your other cards - it doesn’t give you any extra points during pegging. “Nobs” is when you have a Jack of the same suit as the start card. (Make sure you know how to play cribbage before jumping into learning nobs!) How Nobs Works We’ll break down how the right Jack can help you win a game of cribbage. Now, you won’t get extra points for any old Jack in your hand - that would make it too easy. Rather than relying on a winning combination of cards, nobs lets you score points for holding a single card: the Jack. Of all the cribbage rules that can give you surprise points, nobs is one of the most unique.

Perfect cribbage hand