Games Like Cribbage

Cribbage is a well-loved card game that dates as far back as the 17th century. The goal is to score points, with the first player to reach 121 (or sixty-one) winning the game.

While Cribbage is a classic, there are plenty of other scored games to play with cards that you can consider when you want something a little bit different. Spades, 500 Rummy, and Hearts are just some of the few examples–let’s break down these games!

Spades

Spades is a scored game that awards points when a player ‘makes a contract’ or plays the same amount of tricks as they bid or predict at the beginning of each round. The number of cards dealt to each player or team depends on the number of participants and whether a classic game is played or a variation of it (e.g. Cutthroat Spades or Spades with Jacks).

At every round, each player makes a bid. The first player then leads with a suit of their choice and everyone else must play a card from the same suit. If a player can’t follow suit, they must play a Spade or discard. If a Spade is played, other players must also play Spades.

What is a Spade in cards? It’s one of the four playing suits–the one shaped like a leaf–and is used as the trump card in a game of Spades.

Contracts are given ten points for each trick bid, plus one point for overtricks (also called ‘bags’). You can play online Spades for free at Spades.co.

500 Rummy

The rules for 500 Rummy are simple. Players must play sets of three or four cards of the same rank (e.g. three Aces) or a run of cards in a sequence of the same suit (e.g. five, six, and seven of Hearts) to earn points. The winner is the first to obtain a score of 500.

The game starts with seven cards per player (thirteen for two-player games), with undealt placed faced down to form a stock and another card used to start a discard pile.

Each player may draw the top card from the stock or any card from the discard pile. If doing the latter, the player must take all the cards above the selected card and the drawn card must be played immediately. The player may then lay down any matched set or lay off any card that matches a set already on the table.

When any player discards all of their cards, the play immediately ends and the score is tallied. Each player is credited with the point value of all the cards they’ve laid down, minus the point value of all the cards remaining in their hand. Players can receive negative points per round (and even get a negative cumulative score).

Hearts

Hearts is sort of an anti-scoring game; the goal is to be the player with the lowest score at the end of the game. The cards are dealt based on the number of players–thirteen each for four-player games, seventeen each for a three-player game (with the two of Diamonds removed), etc.

The play starts with either the two or three of Clubs, with each player following suit or discarding a card of any other suit if they’re unable to do so. If a player has no Clubs after the first trick, a Heart or the Queen of Spades can’t be discarded. The highest card of the suit wins the round and leads the next.

At the end of each hand, players count the number of Hearts they’ve taken (and the Queen of Spades, if applicable). Each Heart counts as one point and the Queen counts as thirteen points. These are added up until one or more players reach one hundred points, at which the game ends!