Cribbage Classic

The average hand is 8.1, and the average crib is 4.6. After playing nearly 3000 games, my average hand is 8.1, and my average crib is 4.6. This tells me that the game is indeed random, despite what some reviewers suggest. Additionally, it wouldn’t make sense for a developer to have the game tilted in their favor, nobody would want to play. One reviewer collected data on 15 games and claimed this was evidence of collusion since the computers hands averaged much higher than theirs. Imagine tossing a coin 15 times and getting 10 heads/5 tails. Is this evidence the coin is skewed? No! Probabilities occur over a large number of trials. My win percentage at the pro level is 57%. Given all things are fair, I would expect the percentage to be closer to 50%. The difference? Mostly Pegging! The programmer has a flaw that I (wouldn’t say “exploit”) can take an advantage of. Additionally, having the moxie to discard points and playing the probabilities for a favorable hit card. All in all, I enjoy the game a lot!

It’s a fun game to pass the time, but it’s not realistic at all. There are far more 12, 16, 20, etc. point hands than occur in an actual game of cribbage, like ridiculously more. And as others have noted, it seems the AI’s cards are fluid and not set, so they seem to have far more scoring plays against you than is realistic. They always seem to have the card to pair you up, the card to make 15 or 31, or the card to go one more over the top of you on a pegging run. It gets annoying. Now to rebut what a lot of people are saying as far as accuracy goes... I’ve been playing this for over 2 years and have well over 2,000 games in my statistics, and I have not once, not one single time, seen an inaccurate count. Maybe I just haven’t happened to see an error yet, but I think with over 2,000 games it would have happened at least once. My guess is that people don’t realize that in order for a flush to occur in the crib, the draw card must also be of the same suit. Also, somebody commented that an 8877 hand should always yield a minimum of 12 score, but what they are failing to recognize is that the analyzer is considering the two cards you are putting into the crib as well. So if you have an 8877 but put a k&5 into the crib, your minimum score is 10 after they collect their 2 points.

I have enjoyed the game and learned a great deal in playing. Telling the player (only after the game is over in my case, I don't want hints) the sub-optimal moves has changed my thinking about how to play some hands. It does count perfectly every time - unquestionably. My two tiny flaws relate to strategy and one of them (the game doesn't take board position into account) has been noted. My larger concern is the way the program plays hands - always lowest card first (with minor exceptions), refusing to play a card that puts the count at 21 (even if it is a third 7) and not knowing when to "play off" to avoid a run. Plays 6s after 4s on opening lead, opening up a 5-point pegging opportunity for me. Only leads face cards if that is all it has or if it has a 5. If I lead a face card and he plays a 3, for instance, I know he has an 8 (rule of 11 is a good one but too strictly applied). Essentially, the computer will always play its lowest card other than to pair, run, or with Jacks and fives. Makes it easy to outflank and score sizable pegging advantages over the course of a game.

This is a good app for learning how to play the game. I think it manipulates the cards to accomplish that. I sense trends in how hands are dealt and because you are playing essentially against a computer it has total control over how the game plays out based on your moves how you play the game and how you look at their examples of what would be the better choice in your crib selection and pegging points. For me it is also slow in how the cards are not dealt fast enough. It can't beat playing with real cards and real people. No computer manipulation there. But then this again is designed to offer you council on how to improve your game. What I need is an app simply to play the game. Not sure it exists. I have to say that when I first started I got a win average of around 65% and now I am barely above the 50% mark. It does seem to deal itself large counting hands like 16-24 frequently while I get crap cards that mostly have no hope for improvement. Therein lies my biggest frustration with this app. But I keep playing it whenever I have a free moment to slip in a game.

I hadn’t played cribbage in years & this was a great refresher game. I always play Pro and it always counts correctly. On rare occasions it has gotten a card stuck during crib discard process & there is no way to recover except to start a whole new game, not even just the hand. I can live with a rare bug but hope this can be fixed. I would also like an option to see what’s in the crib even if game ended due to a player reaching goal points during pegging or hand points. Doesn’t impact game; I’m just curious. I like the feature of recommended discard: sometimes just to confirm my choice & sometimes I don’t agree. I also like that it is still just chance & not tied to the cut card; I have seen 2 equally appearing choices & the recommendation chose the poorer of the two based on final cut. That is how it works in real world & I would not want that changed. Overall great app for few quick minutes of play.