By Ann St. Martin Stout
Leaves Are Free
I learned to play cribbage from my dad when I was 13. I was taught on the board made by his father, Ernest G. St. Martin of Claremont. The look and patina of the board spoke of its age. The nifty brass plate, etched with his name, pivoted on a nail to reveal the rectangular compartment for the deck of cards, and the drilled half-inch hole, deep enough for the pegs. The pegs were nipped off finish nails.
I taught my husband Greg how to play the first year we were married. It came in handy during our four months of travel in our van a few years later. Many nights, we sat at the campsite picnic table, oil lamp glowing, as we played. (When we tired of cribbage, we’d play rummy or hangman!)
Through the years, we’ve made our own cribbage boards and shared the game with our children. Some have latched on to it more than others. A few years ago, we taught our only granddaughter (at the time about 12). We could see the proverbial wheels turning as she considered her hand, sometimes asking for help deciding what to throw in the crib. But the first time she beat one of her teachers (us) in a game, we knew the training was complete.
Last weekend, as part of Newport’s 109th Winter Carnival, I played in a cribbage tournament. It was my first time ever in public. About 24 people signed up as they arrived at The Grateful Dane Lodge at the intersection of Schoolhouse Road and East Mountain Road. Both single-player and teams of two players were options.
First game I lost to a fellow named Arthur and won against him later in the evening. Proceeding through the “losers” bracket, I played a family, one by one, including the grandmother Susan, the grandson, and both his parents. As the evening drew on, I could tell I was getting tired and making poor choices in my play. I made it to the next-to-the-last round when I lost to Susan. She went on to win the medal after she played the winner from the “winners” bracket. (It was double elimination.)
Nikki Murphy who organized it, and Keith and Nicole Evans, owners of the Lodge and Blu Bar were all welcoming hosts, and enthusiastic about being a part of Newport’s historic Winter Carnival.
No discussion of cribbage would be complete without noting that the highest possible cribbage hand made with the five available cards is 29, consisting of three 5s, and right Jack, (whose suit of the Jack matching the turned over 5). That combination has loads of “fifteens” and pairs.
A score of 19 (and a few other totals) is impossible to get. A player may use the cribbage slang claiming a score of “nineteen” which actually means it is a zero-point hand.
It’s worth mentioning that although we know that a cribbage game ends with the first player to attain a high score of 121, it just isn’t the same keeping score on a piece of paper. The cribbage board makes it authentic.
For all these years of my exposure to cribbage, I thought it was a French-Canadian game, because of my father’s background. I looked it up today (for this column) and guess what? It originated in England in the 1600s, as a derivation of Noddy, a game which has now disappeared. Cribbage has survived, nearly unchanged, as one of the most popular games in the English-speaking world.
