Cribbage
Sir John Suckling lived in England in the 17th century. He was a graduate of Trinity College, Cambridge and is said to have been knighted by King Charles I at the age of 21. During his life he was a poet, playwright, lawyer, MP and soldier. Some of his poetry survives to this day, but Sir John's main claim to fame is that he is credited with the invention of Cribbage.
Cribbage, which was a medal event at the 3rd MSO in 1999, is a game usually played either by two players, or by four playing in partnerships. It uses the standard 52-card pack. Cribbage is not a trick-taking game. Players score points for having scoring combinations of cards in their hand, and during a phase of the game called "pegging" where players play cards onto the table in turn.
The earliest form of Cribbage was played with five cards per player. Nowadays, a six-card version is much more common, and is played all over the English-speaking world. However, the five-card version still survives in some parts of England.
The American Cribbage Congress (ACC) was formed in 1979. Today it has more than 7,000 members and some 150 affiliated clubs. One club with a nice Web site is the Baltimore Cribbage Club. There is a national ranking system for players, where you can be awarded titles by accumulating master points in tournaments. The ACC also organises the Cribbage world championship, usually held in May. The 1999 championship had 240 players in the main tournament, and the winner was Greg Schleusner of California. The 2000 championship is to be held in Quincy, California from 5 to 7 May.
In the UK, Cribbage - sometimes just called crib - is played as a pub game, and there are many local leagues. One example is the Salisbury & District League, which plays the 5-card version of cribbage.
