Monique Schmitt, age 13, of Jamestown, N.Y., for her question:
WHO INVENTED CRIBBAGE?
An English poet, Sir John Suckling, is credited with inventing and naming the popular card game called cribbage about 350 years ago.
Cribbage is played by two persons with a deck of 52 cards and a board for scoring.
Sir John took some of cribbage's features from an older game called Noddy. Unfortunately, we know almost nothing about this earlier game.
Colonists who came to the New World in the mid 1600s brought cribbage with them and the game flourished. Social clubs where cribbage was featured were established in many New England cities.
In the game, each king (which is the highest card), queen, jack and 10 count for 10 points. Each ace counts one point and each other card counts its face value.
To play, each player receives six cards and lays away two face down to form a "crib." The deck is cut by the dealer to produce the "turn up." Cards are played face up alternately, nondealer first, in front of a player who announces the total point values.
The object is to carry the total to 31 or as close as possible without exceeding it.
Points are also scored in cribbage for making a count of 15, and for playing cards in sequences or pairs or more. Players try to peg, or score, a total of 121 points. The game can also be played to 61 points.
If a player cannot lay down a card without going beyond 31, he must say "go." His opponent then pegs one point after playing as many cards as he can without passing 31. Whenever a "go" occurs, the opponent of the one who last played begins a new count.
When each player has used all his cards, he pegs the total points for his hand.
In pegging a game of cribbage, each combination of 15 points and each pair counts two points. A run of three or more cards in sequence scores one for each card. Three cards of a kind count six, and four of a kind count 12.
At the end of the hand, the non dealer counts his score first. Each player includes the turn up card in the count of his hand.
A player holding a jack of the same suit as the turn up pegs one for his "nobs." The crib belongs to the dealer, and he adds its value to his score.