How to Play Travel Cribbage with 3-4 Players

Updated August 20, 2024.

In this post, we share our best tips for playing cribbage with with 3 or 4 players -- even on a 2-track board!

Table of Contents

3 Players on a 2-Track Cribbage Board [Customer Tip] 3-Player Cribbage Boards 4 Players on a 2-Track Cribbage Board Cribbage Rules of Play for 3-4 Players: How Many Cards to Deal Products Featured in This Blog

3 Players on a 2-Track Cribbage Board [Customer Tip]

Although the typical cribbage board has 2 tracks, tabletop boards often come with 3 or 4 tracks for playing with 3 or 4 players. But in a pinch, you can make any 2-track cribbage board -- like our Travel Cribbage Board -- work for 3 players. Customer Kaylie shared with us her family secret for using 2 tracks for 3 players:

Here's how: the 3rd player plays the course backwards using a unique set of pegs. They start at the finish hole and ends at the start hole.

Travel Cribbage Board with 3 players on 2 tracks: A Walnut Studiolo Travel Cribbage Board has 2 tracks and is set up for playing with 3 players. Players 1 and 2 use the brass and black pegs in the regular starting holes, while Player 3 is using wire pegs at the finish hole.

A Walnut Studiolo Travel Cribbage Board has 2 tracks and is set up for playing with 3 players. Players 1 and 2 use the brass and black pegs in the regular starting holes, while Player 3 is using wire pegs at the finish hole.

Kaylie says that, in the rare event that two players need to share the same hole (say, Player 2 and Pplayer 3), the 3rd player just hopscotches tracks to Player 1's track for that pegging, then goes right back.

The third set of pegs may have to be MacGyvered to look distinct from the other pegs, such as toothpicks, matchsticks, pushpins, or kindling slivers.

As shown here, what some customers have done is to order the Travel Cribbage Board with Cast Peg Tube (which has a larger storage tube), and then add-on an extra set of Wire Cribbage Pegs from our Replacement Parts section.

The wire pegs look distinct from the cast pegs (particularly the red set!) and they are skinny enough to fit inside the same storage tube.

From L to R: Players 1 and 2 are playing from the beginning with cast pegs, and player 3 is playing backward from the end with wire pegs. Image credit: Walnut Studiolo.

A 3rd set of wire pegs fits inside the cast pegs storage tube on Walnut Studiolo's Travel Cribbage Board

Kaylie says though it may not be perfect, they've been doing it this way in her family since she was a kid!

3-Player Cribbage Boards

Although the typical board has 2 tracks, certain tabletop boards and our new travel cribbage board designs have 3 tracks.

If you play with 3 people often, it's worth seeking out these boards for less confusion and an equal playing experience for all players. No MacGyvering needed!

4 Players on a 2-Track Cribbage Board

Playing with 4 players on 2 tracks is even more straightforward: no special equipment needed.

The players simply play as teams, with 2 people on each team. Each player pegs his own points using the team's pegs.

Close-up image of a woman moving a cribbage peg on a small travel game board by Walnut Studiolo

Using normal cribbage pegs to play with 4 players on a 2-track board as teams. Image credit: Erin Berzel.

Cribbage Rules of Play for 3-4 Players: How Many Cards to Deal

For the actual card play, there is really only a small change to the number of cards dealt, and the number of cards discarded to the crib per hand.

For 3 players: Deal 5 cards to each player (instead of 6) and 1 card face-down to the table for the dealer's crib. Each player then discards 1 card to the crib instead of 2, for a total of 4 cards in the crib (1 from each of 3 players + 1 dealt facedown).

For 4 players:Deal 5 cards to each player (instead of 6). Each player then discards 1 card to the crib instead of 2, for a total of 4 cards in crib (1 from each of 4 players).

Check out our house cribbage rules for concise game rules on how to play cribbage.