I’ve played cribbage for most of my life, and like to teach people how to play. Today, Lisa and I tried a variation that I’m calling Cribbage Golf. It’s just like regular cribbage, but instead of trying to score as many points as you can, you try to score the fewest. Whoever goes out first (i.e. gets to 121 points) loses.
This turned out to be pretty fun, and went right down to the wire. Lisa won by four points — meaning she was four points behind when I went out.
Cribbage Golf: it’s fun and imposes different strategies on you. I think it’s especially good for experienced cribbage players just for the sake of messing with the usual approach. Give it a try!
ETA: After I posted this, I found an entire website dedicated to playing cribbage this way. The author calls it Lowball Cribbage, and the website features strategies for how to minimize points. I still like the sound of Cribbage Golf better, but Lowball is descriptive and apparently well-established.
There were many moments where I was having trouble counting to 31 just because I was trying to avoid scoring points, and force Lisa to score. And yes, seeing a pair of fives in your opponent's crib never felt so sweet.
Posted by Joe Chellman at February 2, 2009 10:46 AM
Like you, I've played cribbage most of my life. I've never heard of Lowball Cribbage but reading your post I immediately was able to visualize strategy. Throwing fives into the opponent's crib almost sounds cribbage'ly blasphemous though, doesn't it? I'm thinking that played a three hand game would be cut throat. Can't wait to try this. Thanks.
Posted by Mark at February 2, 2009 10:21 AM