How Many Holes Are There In A Cribbage Board?
What’s special about cribbage is, of course, its board! While cribbage can be played without it, surely the best way to enjoy the experience is by playing with the board.
What makes playing with the cribbage board more fulfilling? Besides its unique and noteworthy design, the cribbage board helps with scorekeeping; the scoring system itself is unique!
Scores are registered by moving the pegs into the holes forward along the board, and this is called “pegging“. Some cribbage boards have only the essential number of holes on them while modern cribbage boards have extra holes.
What are these holes and how many holes in a cribbage board are necessary to play with?
How Many Holes In A Cribbage Board?
There is no exact number of holes on a cribbage board because of their vast variation. In this article, the number can, however, be separated into two parts: traditional and conventional cribbage boards.
1. Traditional Cribbage Board
A vintage or traditional cribbage board has 60 holes. For a long time, a cribbage board was designed to be for two players, where there are 30 holes for each player and one game hole each. Also initially, a game of cribbage was played to 61 points.
Over time, cribbage games have evolved to be played to 121 points, still for a two-player board. Players would make a whole lapse including over the opponent’s holes.
It is important to note that the number of holes does not include the starting holes which can be one or two for each player, and also the 61st or 121th hole.
All in all, a traditional cribbage board has a total of 60-64 holes.
2. Conventional Cribbage Board
A modern cribbage board that is widely available in the current market is usually designed for three players. Each player has 120 holes, including some extra holes.
The extra holes that are usually included on a conventional cribbage board are:
- The 121st hole or the game hole (usually 1)
- Starting holes (2 or 3 for each player)
- Holes to keep track of the number of cribs won by players
- Holes to keep track of the number of go’s won scored by players
- Holes to keep track of side games (muggins, fifteens, etc.)
- Holes to keep track of the overall score of a match
Tips: The uses of these extra holes in a cribbage board is up to the players to decide, being creative in one’s way. This is what makes cribbage an exciting hidden gem.
We cannot give a specific number for conventional cribbage boards because they vary vastly, but it is around 367-400 or more, for a board for three players.
