How Many Points Is 4 of a Kind in Cribbage?

Four of a kind scores 12 points in cribbage, and three of a kind scores 6, whether the cards land in a hand, in the crib, or during the play. The scores are pure pair-counting: every pair hidden inside the set takes its own 2 points, and four matched cards hold six pairs.

The ladder is fixed, and the number of pairs inside each set explains it:

The American Cribbage Congress rulebook, Bicycle's rules, and pagat's cribbage pages all give the same three values, in the hand, the crib, and the play alike. None of the three records a house variant that scores the sets differently; the only thing that varies between sources is what the sets are called.

Why is four of a kind worth 12 points?

Cribbage never scores a matched set as one lump; it scores every pair the set contains. Three 9s hold three distinct pairs (first with second, first with third, second with third), so they count 3 × 2 = 6. Four 9s hold six: 9♠ 9♥, 9♠ 9♦, 9♠ 9♣, 9♥ 9♦, 9♥ 9♣, 9♦ 9♣. Six pairs at 2 points each is the whole story of the 12.

The classic miscount is calling four of a kind "two pairs" and announcing 4. The set does not split into two pairs; all six pairings score, by the same logic that makes three of a kind 6 rather than 2 with a spare card. Under the optional muggins rule, whatever part of the 12 you fail to announce, your opponent may claim.

What is four of a kind called in cribbage?

Every authority prices the sets identically and names them differently. The American Cribbage Congress rulebook's scoring chart calls three of a kind a triple and four of a kind a quadruple. Pagat's cribbage pages keep the traditional names, pair royal for three and double pair royal for four, and Bicycle's rules call three of a kind a triplet.

If the table argument is over the words, the words carry no weight. The American Cribbage Congress rulebook's glossary defines only the pair itself, with no entry for the traditional set names. Authorities that disagree on the names still agree on the numbers, 6 and 12, so call the set whatever your table calls it and peg the same.

What can the starter add to four of a kind?

At the show, the starter counts as a fifth card of both hands and the crib. Three of a kind plus a starter of the same rank is therefore scored as four of a kind: 12 points, not 6 plus 2. The starter pairs each of the three held cards, three new pairs at 2 each, and 6 + 6 makes 12.

Hold all four, though, and the starter can no longer touch the set, because a 52-card pack has exactly one card of each rank in each suit and no fifth card exists. What a starter can still add is fifteens, plus nobs in the single case covered next. Runs are impossible, since the five cards cover at most two ranks and a run needs three in a row. A flush is impossible too, in a hand or the crib, because four cards of one rank wear all four suits.

Why are four jacks always worth at least 13?

Four jacks are the only four of a kind that can score nobs, and with them the point is guaranteed. The four jacks cover all four suits, and the starter cannot be a jack because you hold every one. So whichever card turns up, exactly one held jack matches the starter's suit: 12 + 1, a guaranteed 13. No other four of a kind holds a jack, so no other can score the point.

Only one starter improves on 13: a 5, which lifts four jacks to 21. Each jack counts ten and makes a fifteen with the 5, so four fifteens add 8 to the 12 and the nobs point. Any other starter adds nothing, because two jacks already overshoot fifteen at 20 and no single card counts more than 10.

What is the highest hand built on four of a kind?

Four 5s with any ten-value fifth card score 28, the most a held four of a kind can reach. Each 5 makes a fifteen with the ten-value card, four fifteens for 8, and any three 5s make another, four such trios for 8 more. The quadruple itself adds 12, and 16 plus 12 is 28. The American Cribbage Congress puts the odds of a 28 hand at 15,028 to 1.

The only score higher is the 29 hand, built from the same material. Hold three 5s and a jack, and the fourth 5, matching the jack's suit, arrives as the starter. Counted together at the show, the top two hands in the game are both a quadruple of 5s plus one ten-value card.

How does four of a kind score during the play?

During the play, matched ranks escalate only in immediate succession. A card matching the rank of the card just played pegs 2, an immediate third card of the rank pegs 6, and an immediate fourth pegs 12. Each score goes to the player who lays the card completing it.

Any card of another rank breaks the chain, and so does a count reset: cards played before a go or an exact 31 never combine with cards played after it. Play 3, 3, king, 3 and the whole line pegs 2, for the pair, because the king sits between the second and third 3. The players need not alternate, though. Once your opponent says go or is out of cards, your own consecutive cards still pair each other, so a player holding all four 2s can peg 2, 6, and then 12 unassisted.

The starter takes no part in any of this. Play points come only from played cards, and the starter is never played; it joins the hands and the crib at the show. You cannot pair the starter while pegging, and no fifth card exists to turn a quadruple into five of a kind.

Can every four of a kind be pegged for the full 12?

No. The running count may never pass 31, and four cards of one rank add four times their counting value. The full climb to 12 therefore only fits ranks whose four cards total 31 or less: ace through 7.

Four 7s bring a fresh count to 28; four 8s would reach 32. For 8s and every rank above, the fourth card always bursts the count, so those quadruples earn their 12 only at the show.

Three of a kind faces no such wall. Even three ten-value cards reach just 30, so a triple can be pegged at any rank from a fresh count. Chains begun mid-count have less room again: four 7s need the count at 3 or lower before the first 7 falls.

The 31 ceiling still leaves room for the biggest single-card score in the game, commonly cited at 15 points, and it runs through four of a kind. An ace and a 2 open the sequence, and all four 3s follow. The last 3 completes the quadruple for 12, lands the count exactly on 15 for 2 more, and takes 1 as the final card. Two hands cannot produce that six-card sequence, so the line belongs to tables of three or four players.

Do two tens and a jack make three of a kind?

No. Cards pair by rank, never by counting value or suit, and a 10, a jack, a queen, and a king are four different ranks that happen to share a count of ten. That shared ten-count is what starts the classic table dispute.

In the play the trap is at its sharpest. Two 10s followed by a jack come to 2, for the pair of 10s, and nothing more: the jack pairs neither 10, whatever the running total says. King and queen at the show fail the same way, because ten-value cards of different ranks make no pair, no triple, and no quadruple.

Playing at a real table and arguing the count? Muggins is a digital cribbage board for iPhone and iPad: lay the phone flat, play with your own deck, and pull the knobs to peg each score once the table agrees on it. The app only keeps the score; the cards and the counting stay yours.

By the Nobs Cribbage team Last reviewed 2026-08-09