What Is the Stinkhole in Cribbage?
The stinkhole is hole 120 on a cribbage board, one short of the game hole at 121. The American Cribbage Congress glossary also calls it the dead hole. Finishing there means you lost the game 121 to 120, the closest any losing score can come to winning.
Where is the stinkhole on the board?
The scoring track on a standard board is 120 holes, laid out as four streets of 30, and Fourth Street runs from hole 91 to hole 120. The stinkhole is the last hole of that track, with only the game hole at 121 beyond it. The American Cribbage Congress glossary gives the same hole a second name, the dead hole. A peg sitting there has crossed every street on the board and stopped one hole short of the only one that matters.
What does finishing in the stinkhole mean?
A cribbage game ends the instant either player reaches 121, in any phase of play. A peg left in the stinkhole therefore marks the narrowest loss the game allows: 121 to 120. One more point of any kind would have won it. The last card of a count sequence pegs 1, his nobs scores 1 at the show, and pegging out into the game hole wins on the spot. The player in the stinkhole needed exactly one of those and never got it.
Can you score out of the stinkhole?
Yes, under standard rules: the American Cribbage Congress glossary, Bicycle's rules, and pagat's rules place no restriction on scoring from hole 120. Any limit you meet at a table is a house rule. Pagat lists endgame pegging restrictions, such as not being allowed to win on a go or the last card, among its optional variations; they are table conventions, not standard rules, and the pegging out rules page covers them in full. If your table plays a stinkhole rule, agree on it before the first deal, the same way you would settle skunk stakes.
Why do players dread the stinkhole?
The position itself explains the name well enough. Consider the dealer sitting at 120. The show counts in a fixed order: the pone first, then the dealer, then the crib. The game ends immediately if the pone reaches 121 mid-count, so the dealer in the stinkhole must sit through the entire count needing one point, unable to touch a peg until their turn. Often that turn never comes. Hole 120 is the seat where you watch someone else win.
By the Nobs Cribbage team Last reviewed 2026-08-01