How Does a Cribbage Board Work?
A cribbage board is a scoring track of 120 holes plus a game hole, and every point in the game is pegged on it the moment it is scored. Each player moves two pegs up their own lane, and the first peg to reach hole 121, the game hole, wins on the spot.
What are the parts of a cribbage board?
A traditional board has four rows of 30 holes, arranged in two pairs, plus one or more game holes. Each pair of rows is one player's lane: 120 holes of scoring track, with the pegs turning at the ends of the rows. Game is played to 121 points, so the track covers every score from 1 to 120, and the game hole is the 121st and final hole. Everything else on the board (the streets, the skunk line, the stinkhole) is a landmark along that track.
If you want one on paper, our printable board template puts both tracks on a single US Letter page, with the skunk line marked. Peg it with golf tees, or tape it to wood and drill.
How do the two pegs work?
Each player scores with two pegs, moved leapfrog-style: when you score, your back peg jumps ahead of your front peg by exactly that many holes. The front peg always shows your current score, and the back peg preserves the score you had before. The same two pegs record every point, whether from pegging, from counting the hands, or from the crib. That trailing peg is the board's audit trail: the gap between your pegs shows exactly how many points your last score claimed, so any move can be checked on the spot.
Where are the landmarks on the board?
The track divides into four streets of 30 holes each: 1–30, 31–60, 61–90, and 91–120. The boundary between holes 90 and 91, where Fourth Street begins, is the skunk line; a loser who never crosses it has been skunked, commonly counted as a double win. Hole 120, one short of game, is the stinkhole. And hole 121 is the game hole: pegging into it wins the game instantly.
Why does cribbage use a board at all?
Cribbage scores continuously. The dealer can peg 2 before a single card is played, when a jack turns up as the starter; more points land throughout the play, and more again at the show. The game ends the instant either player reaches 121, in any phase of the hand, even on that starter jack. A game can therefore be over in the middle of a hand, which is why scores are pegged as they happen rather than tallied afterward. The board keeps the running position visible at a glance, and the trailing peg keeps every score honest.
Got a deck on the table but no board? Muggins is our digital cribbage board for iPhone and iPad: lay the device flat, play with your real cards, and pull the knobs to peg. It keeps the score while the game stays on the table.
By the Nobs Cribbage team Last reviewed 2026-08-01