Losing Cribbage / Backwards Cribbage / Lowball You know, it's the nineties, and everything, including the games are all speeded up.

Anyway, our own Speedo variation we've found to be eminently playable and fast.That's the only way we ever play anymore, since the original way seems so slow and tedious. I can look at ALL my cards, until I pass (even one point over)the skunk line, and put away the 4 in the crib I choose, of course it still holds that if you wish to count a straight in scoring you need to keep the straight IN your hand, because of course, it doesn't count if it's in the crib. Works quite nicely.ĭo you mean that the non-dealer gives the dealer two cards, and then the dealer discards any four from eight? So we sort of play a bit differently as we approach the skunk line, hoping not to pass it on that turn, at least, so we can have one more look at the full cards. (If the other player has not passed the skunk line he/she may still see examine the cards passed to them).

But the catch is that once any player pegs PAST the skunk line, they may not look at their crib at all. This rule, as it applies to both players lets the game progress very fast. Contributed by Maria Thomas ( Cribbage: which is played normally (in 2 handed only) and the personally invented variation we always use is that players can inspect the cards passed to them for their crib and choose the best scoring cards to discard (to the crib).