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Thursday, April 30, 2009

I heart cribbage with strangers...

From I Heart Strangers:

"...so, kelsey and katie were on their way to drink some coffee and play some cribbage. i'm pretty sure i've never played cribbage, but i was right in my guess that it's the game with the peg board. that's all i know, though... well that and katie said they were "old ladies" because they were playing it. but i think people of any age should feel comfortable playing cribbage..."

Full post here...

Tric-trac and other board game studies...

From Articles About Everything:

"...We’re not sure when or where Tric-Trac originated. The object is not to bear pieces off the board, but to make points, which are scored with cribbage-like holes on the side of the board. Pieces not removed from the board. Points are scored if you “could” land on certain points with your dice throws, though you don’t actually land on them, you just note them and score - these are conventions of gentility. Your opponent can score any points you forget to mark, like cut-throat cribbage..."

Read more...

Old man's game...

From citizen.com:

"...Cribbage is an old man's game I'm told. But for me, it is ever linked with my father and his father and my childhood. They would deal the cards, then play, count off points with little pegs that marched forward on the two tracks of the wooden cribbage board, and calling out, "Fifteen two, fifteen four, and a pair is six." The game would go on for at least an hour. One day, I hoped, my dad would teach me the secrets of the inexplicable "Fifteen two, fifteen four, and a pair is six." And when I was 13, he did, beginning a tradition we would play out for years, until his death. Through the fifteens, we would move the little pegs around the cribbage board as we'd peg out the small details our lives, keeping the lines of communication open between us..."

Full story...

Wednesday, April 29, 2009

Blanc de Noir: Of Siegerrebe, Cribbage, and Norsemen


Blanc de Noir: Of Siegerrebe, Cribbage, and Norsemen

Birdhouses and cribbage boards...


From Knox News:

"...One of Brown's most elaborate creations was an adapted cribbage board for a woman who is blind. The finished product looked like a small writing table with drop-down leaves. With the leaves fully extended, the tabletop measured 42 inches long and served as the cribbage board. Brown drilled holes in the tabletop and made 6-inch crib pegs so the woman could play the game easily.

"That cribbage board was a work of art," says Symington, who reports that the recipient was thrilled to receive it..."

Full story here.

Desperate cribbage players... and housewives...

From MSNBC:

"The game changes...
Dave seems legitimately upset, all unkempt and unshaven. But is it because of Edie's death or because he didn't get to kill Katherine? Mike sends Susan to look in on him, and she ends up telling him she was the real driver the night his first wife (and child) died. He tells her that everything that ever mattered to him is gone. Then she sees a gun, which makes her think he's going to kill himself. So she offers to play cribbage (her idea of a cure for the blues), then she steals his gun, knives, and pills before leaving him alone. He finally opens up, and admits he's blaming himself for Edie's death. To convince him it's not his fault, she tells him about the accident: She was the driver! And Dave has a new target for his vengeance. So, the first 19 episodes of the season have been for nothing, and now we'll get to the good stuff, right? Finally? If, by "good stuff," we mean Dave going after MJ (who apparently wasn't a target when Mike was the killer)."

Original article here.

Mr. Cribbage...

From The Tribune:

"CRIB PLAYERS HONOURED

WELLAND -- Fonthill Legion's Steve Danku was honoured as this year's Mr. Cribbage as the Niagara District Men's Cribbage League wrapped up its season by handing out awards.

Fonthill Legion won the league championship, while Little Nashville finished in second place and won the A Division playoffs. Welland Legion captured the B Division playoff.

Doubles winners were Gerry Ogilvie and Larry Reddy of Boat House with Valley Way Legion's Dave Somerville the singles winner."

Original article here.

Friday, April 24, 2009

Cribbage cameraderie...

From WEAU 13 News:




Read full article here.

Desmoines students learn cribbage...

From the Desmoines Register:

"Strategy, not luck, is the name of the game during cribbage play at Cowles Montessori School on Tuesday afternoons.

Cowles teacher Heather Anderson organized the Cribbage Club for third- through sixth-grade students and taught them how to play.

"I selected cribbage because it is a game I have played since I was a small child," she said. "My grandmother taught me how to play and I have always enjoyed playing with my family. I was amazed at how quickly the kids picked up this game. The kids really love playing this game and they are using higher thinking skills as well as math skills each hand they play.""

Full article here.

Whitecourt cribbage...


From the Whitecourt Star:















Read full story here.

Friday, April 17, 2009

ACC Grassroots cribbage clubs!

CommunityWalk Map - ACC Grass Roots Cribbage Clubs National Map

So, I hear you're a cribbage player?


From Boof's BergBlog:

"...I turned around and there was the grandma holding a deck of cards eagerly to talk and play a round with me.
"yes, absolutely" I said and we sat down and shuffled the deck.

Me and the Grandma played about 8 games of cribbage before a cousin whispered in my ear,
"you know, you don't have to play with her if you don't want." I laughed it off because this was indeed a blessing.

I love cribbage. Me and my old roommate played about 700 games of cribbage (in which case I think I won most :0), some of my best father/son memories are playing cribbage with my dad, and I have indeed double skunked someone in my past. I find cribbage to be the absolute best conversation game ever and me and the Grandma were engaged in a pretty interesting conversation. I asked her about the family, her travels, and the history. I loved it..."
Read more...

Monday, April 13, 2009

Wine barrell stave cribbage board...


From LumberJocks.com:

"I made this for my brother for a Christmas gift. He plays cribbage and I thought it would be fun. I found a paper pattern on the internet, printed it out, taped it to the barrel stave and started drilling free hand with my drill press. Needless to say, there is a reason they make templates for this job. It took me several tries and it still did not come out perfect. I used a Sharpey fine point to draw in the numbers and track. I finished it with polyurethane. I made the game pieces from pop-rivets..."

Read more...

Friday, April 10, 2009

Cribbage: redefined...

From Waking Ambrose:

"CRIBBAGE, n. A substitute for conversation among those to whom nature has denied ideas. See EUCHRE, PEDRO, SEVEN-UP, etc.

2009 Update: A card game for those rich in virtue, poor in friends and in possession of pen or peg."

Read full post with many clever comments and additional definitions of cribbage.

Thursday, April 9, 2009

Two past Siberia and wax on the cribbage board...

From Two Stops Past Siberia:

"Cribbage by Candlelight

So, the way it goes really is that I write letters on my computer at home, and then when I get to the internet, I post them. Consequently, some things happen in the mean time.

One of those things was a few nights ago. I taught my homestay siblings Cribbage. I have a board out here (Thanks Tif!) and they just love to play. The other night, we got a game going, with the three of us, and the power went out. This meant that we brought out a candle, and set it right on the board..."

Read more...

57 countries...

Somewhere along the line we added a bunch of new countries to the list of Cribbaholics. A while ago I moved the country tracker to the bottom right of the page.... which means to see it I have to scroll ALLLLLLLLLLLLLL the way down to the bottom of the page. Not a problem, really, but since then I have not kept as close of an eye on when new countries were added to our fan-base.

Anyway, now you know. There are 57 countries on the list now!!!! That's serious Cribbaholism. (?)

Cheers all,
Joe

Spending time with Chippewa Valley Cribbage Club...


From WEAU 13 News:

"It's a game where a skunk or a double skunk will earn you points, where "pegs" are key and "29" is king.

And it's a game where you can make friends.

In this Wandering Wisconsin report, we spend some time with the Chippewa Valley Cribbage Club.

Every Wednesday night cribbage competitors come to get in on a deal.

"We'll be playing 9 games all together."
"I have 2,4, and 3... that's 7."
"You go one game and you move so you don't play the same person all the time."

Cal Carter says, "best 2 handed game you can find. Can't play poker two handed."

In amongst the sea of cards, cribbage boards and cans, is the creator of the club.

"We just have a grand old time," says Terry Pederson. He picked the game up more than 50 years ago.

Just as clearly as he sees the cards, he saw a need, so he founded this club 8 years ago.

Pederson continues, "I've always had a flair for cards. It's mathematically oriented it's based on odds you play the odds 80/20 rule, 80% of the time something should happen only you have to worry about the 20% of the time when something happens."

He says 100% of the time, they have a good time..."

Full story here.

The lowly math of cribbage...

From The Lowly Mathematician:

"Today, I want to talk about card games… On a recent trip home, I had an opportunity to teach my fiance how to play one of my favorite card games. Cribbage. If you are unaware, cribbage is a game in which each player (or team, as the case may be) attempts to score the most points during several rounds. The goal is to be the first team to 121 points. The scoring system and play are somewhat complex, so I’ll just direct you to the wikipedia entry [1] for cribbage, but suffice to say that the game is quite fun. I’ll assume that the reader understands the scoring rules for cribbage for the rest of this post.

While we were playing, we came across several hands which were very difficult to count. For instance, consider the hand:

A-H 2-H 3-H 4-H (5-H)

where - is a card in the hand, and (X-Y) is the cut-card. This hand has the peculiar — and at first unnoticed — property of being worth 12 points. Though it’s not necessarily apparent. The obvious run and flush give 10 points easily, but the sum of all the cards is fifteen, something that is not readily seen, since there are so many cards involved in the sum. This and other odd hands led me to realize that it was probably best for me — especially since we play at night, when my brain is not at its finest — to leave the tedious task of counting these “weird” hands to a computer. The issue was — where to get such a program. Certainly such things exist. But that requires reconnaissance and time, time that I could be spending doing something more interesting.

Like writing my own.

Therefore, I present to you, in only around 200 lines of Haskell, a full library for playing card-like structures, complete with shuffling, dealing, and permutation-irrelevant equality, as well as a cribbage score counter which uses this library for counting cribbage scores…"

Read full post here.

Thursday, April 2, 2009

Atlas Pegged: Who is John Galt?


Not many people realize it, but Ayn Rand's fictional hero in the novel "Atlas Shrugged" would probably have enjoyed a good game of cribbage. Ok, you can say this is speculation, but let's look at the facts:

Cribbage is a game of skill that requires thinking - John Galt is a man of the mind.

There! What else do you need to convince you? As it turns out, I myself am a huge Ayn Rand fan and have been for many years. My real purpose in writing this particular post is to highlight a new campaign to send copies of Atlas Shrugged to government officials in order to educate them. And if they refuse to read perhaps they will at least get the idea that there are many of us out here not happy with the current direction of the government's policies.

If you have not read Atlas Shrugged, or are unfamiliar with Ayn Rand now is the time to read. It may be your own life you save.

In order to facilitate your ability to read AS and play cribbage at the same time (two things that obviously go together) I will for a limited time (Until April 30, 2009) send a free copy of Atlas Shrugged to anyone who orders two Crash Cribbage boards from www.crashcribbage.com. That's right!!! Free! Just mention that you want to "Play cribbage with John Galt" and you will get the boards and the book right in your mail box.

Now, let's play cribbage, John!

Cheers,
Joe Kane