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Cribbage
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[[Category:Games]]The most games of cribbage on the Williams campus in a four-year period were probably played between the [[Fall 2001|Fall fall of 2001]] and the [[Spring 2005|Spring spring of 2005]], during which ran a continuous tournament between two students. A concise history of this semi-epic battle, complete with win-loss statistics, is collected in this article.[[Image:Cribbage500_pegging.jpg|right|thumbnail|Zach and Jonathan square off in the semi-millenial match (#500), held beachside (by [[Perry]] [[volleyball]] court).]]==Rules of the Game==There is little need for this article to enumerate the rules of Cribbage. If you do not know how to play, one of the following sites can teach you. The Williams Cribbage championship was played without the Muggins rule; otherwise all rules were standard. Winter Study Tournaments, however, have been played with the muggins rule in effect.* [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cribbage Wikipedia Cribbage Page] Includes simple rules section.* [http://www.cribbage.org/rules/ Tournament Rules of Cribbage] ==Winter Study Tournament Winners==2012 - Jackie Lusardi '14 2011 - Sean Donnelly '14 ==2010-2011==Durring the 2010 and 2011 school year, two frosh, Julia Simon and Sean Donnelly, lived in Sage E. Over the course of the year they played approximately 212 games of cribbage. At that rate, they would have easily beaten the existing record for games played over 4 years, if not for unforeseen circumstances which ended their competition after only one year. However, over the course of the year they did a lot to advance cribbage playing on campus. After organizing a successful tournament during Winter study (Sean won, and Julia was skunked and eliminated in the first round twice) they went on to co-found Williams Cribbage, an organization to gather existing cribbage players for games and to teach new people how to play. More information on Williams Cribbage is available by emailing jss2
==The 2001 - 2002 Season==
In the [[Fall 2001|Fall fall of 2001]], [[Jonathan Landsman ]] '05 and Zachary McArthur '05 were freshmen living together in [[East#East_3|East 3]]. In the first week of school, Jonathan noticed a cribbage board lying on the top shelf of Zach's bookshelf. "You play?" he asked. "Yes," replied Zach. "I'm looking for an opponent." So it began. In Zach's first journal entry of freshman year, on September 3rd, he wrote "Oh and Johnathon down the hall plays cribbage!! What a surprise! He beat me in the 1st game we played."
Though the spectator base was still fairly small, and confined mostly to the current residents of East 3, the first year of cribbage was considered by some to be most exciting. Of all four years, the 2001-2 season featured the greatest number of changes to the frontrunner. Analysts have since speculated that this was due to the players' slow acclimation to each others' style of play, and some house rules. For example, Zach taught Jonathan the rule that five flushes are the only kind that score in the crib. He also engaged in some head games, claiming that King-7 was the most dangerous throw to your opponent's crib. Jonathan believed this garbage, until Zach's father visited and accidentally disillusioned his son's opponent.
The two players also decided not to play with the optional “Muggins†"Muggins" rule, which penalizes players for miscounted hands. This latter decision was key in ensuring the efficiency of games, and a high game volume in future years, as Zach and Jonathan were able to play games in ten minutes before a shift, a class, a final exam, and other less important engagements. Senior year, they had reached such fluidity as to be able to watch ''Boiling PointPoints'' and still hold down a decent game.
===The 100th Game of 2001 - 2002===
[[Image:Cribbage100.jpg|right|thumbnail|The first century match: Game #100 in the [[East 3]] [[common room]], 14 April [[Spring 2002|2002]].]]
The hundredth game of the first year was played in the [[East 3]] common room, and received moderate publicity via an email sent 28 April 2002 to the [[East]] and [[Fayerweather]] dorms:
===Highlights of 2001 - 2002===
* '''Exactly 100 games are played.''' So began the tradition of making the 100th game in a year a special event.
:Zach has occassionally made allegations that Jonathan “refused†"refused" to play more games after the 100th, in the final two weeks of school, but this seems unlikely for strategic reasons given that Jonathan was losing at game 100. Jonathan claims he had “finals"finals.â€"
* '''Historic 28-point hand.''' A 28-point hand is extremely rare, and second in score only to the 29-point hand, which was never attained by Zach or Jonathan.
:In one of only two games ever to occur between Jonathan and Zach's father, Jonathan came back to win from a 25-point deficit in the 3rd stretch when he was dealt all four fives, and a king was cut. The odds of getting a 28-point hand in a 2 player game are 1 in 15,028, so I believe we can attribute this occurence to sheer luck and not Jonathan's skill.
===Final Statistics, 2001 - 2002===
<table border=5><tr><td><pre> Total games: 100Total skunks: 12 Zach: 57 (6 skunks) Jonathan: 55 (6 skunks) Total games: 100, including 12 skunks
</pre></td></tr></table>
'''Note:''' Tally of games were made on the East 3 [[quote board]], which was a sheet of contact paper stuck to the western wall of the common room and marked with magic markers. No one seems to have recovered the quote board at the end of the year, and the tallies have been long lost, presumed destroyed by a custodian. As a result, the exact sequence of games and skunks are not known.
Out of deference to tradition and a certain homesickness, the [[common room]] of [[East#East_3|East 3]] was again chosen as the site for the century match. Dan Krass '05 and Al Gordon '04, were hired to commentate for the event. Latecomers trickled in as Dan and Al interviewed the players on their game plans, and on the season so far. A modest crowd of spectators witnessed Zach's sound defeat.
<blockquote>Pop quiz, hotshots: you're sitting at a table across from the smartest, most attractive specimen of your desired sex you have ever dreamed of. What do you do? Normally, an invitation to play bridge would be in order, but there are only two of you. So what, my friend, DO YOU DO?<p>
It is time . . . for <b>***Zach and Jonathan's Big 100, 2003***</b></p><p>
Zach and I will be playing our 100th match in the East 3 common room TONIGHT AT 9:00, for tradition's sake. The [[frosh ]] there have no idea. We hope they won't beat us up. The score now is Me 58, Zach 55, so Zach can put himself very close with a skunk (win by 31), or take the first 100 with a double skunk (win by 61). This promises to be an exciting match. We are looking for a commentator (only someone with a deep knowledge of the game, please, this is world class stuff here. Yes, I'm kidding) and a pregame and maybe halftime show. Zach and I are a show in ourselves, though. It's going to be lots of fun, everything is in jest. . . except the game, which is for all the marbles, the honor, the glory, the affirmation of our manhoods. If you can't make it at 9, show up as soon as you can. We'll likely be there until 9:30.</p><p>
And Bridge night will start this week at 9:30 in the usual place, Currier North 3rd floor common room, unless Cribbage spectators, like hungry children asked to wait for the pie to cool on the windowsill before digging in, just cannot bear any delay and break down to get down and dirty, bridge style, right there in the East 3 common room.</p><p>
Good wishes to you all, my friends.</p></blockquote>
Some, including Jonathan, probably did not know what lengths Zach had to go to to make the 9pm starting time. A [[Men's Golf Team]] dinner at the [[Williams Inn]] saw the team sit down at 7pm, get noticed for service at 7:30pm, eat appetizers at 8:15pm, and be served the main course at 8:45pm. After wolfing down lamb chops (ha, ha), Zach turned to the 70-year-old Williams alumnus who was paying for dinner and calmly said, "Thank you so much, but I have to run - I have a big cribbage game." He then literally ran the half-mile across campus to the Odd Quad, arriving in East 3 with a minute to spare.
East 3 freshmen who popped their heads into the common room were understandably a bit confused at a card game surrounded by fans and being announced in a semi-serious manner. The game was a runaway from the beginning; exhausted from the sprint, Zach had nothing left in his tank and lost handily to Jonathan, who had napped all afternoon in preparation for the big game. Color analyst Dan Krass praised Jonathan's aggressive pegging while questioning many of Zach's decisions and faulting his conditioning - it was clear that the strenuous off-season golf training regimen just had not kept him fit enough to put up a fight in the 100th cribbage game.
===Highlights of 2002 - 2003===
* '''A special sequence''' of play is recorded: 4-4-4-3-2-A-3-2. This sequence carries the distinction of having every card after the first score at least two points. Player 2 comes out on top, scoring fifteen to 1's twelve.
* Cribbage communication logistics are tested by the necessity of maintaining '''two scoreboards''' on opposite ends of campus. Syncronization proves less of a problem than vandalism, which claims two boards handmade by Zach and posted in the central [[Prospect]] vestibule. Only his “Upstate "Upstate vs. Downstate†Downstate" themed scoreboard -- a reference to Zach's Rochester and Jonathan's New York City origins -- has survived to date.
===Final Statistics, 2002 - 2003===
<table border=5><tr><td><pre>
</pre></td></tr></table>
By the third year, Zach and Jonathan were essentially cribbage machines, able to play full games in an average of 15 minutes with ease, or as little as 10 when rushing. Distances were again a test to the rivalry: with Jonathan having returned to the [[Odd Quad]] on [[Currier]] third floor, and Zach perched high in [[Gladden]] 5, altitude became a significant factor in addition to distance. Nevertheless, the competition churned onwards.
This year brought a small decline in total number of games played, after a substantial rise from freshman to sophomore year. Scholars explain this by focusing their study on the [[Winter Study]] period of this year, during which Zach and Jonathan attended [[Lessons In Go]]. Some scholars of this era have offered their Theory of Divertment Dilution to explain this phenomenon. It holds that, with Zach and Jonathan now faced with a choice of how to spend their time together, between playing Go and Cribbage, the overall probability that cribbage is played diminishes when total free time is held constant. This theory has met with stiff resistance from scholars of the Second Year, who assert that, if the theory held, there ought to have been a reduction of cribbage play in year two in light of increased Ms. Pacman play.
Whatever the governing force behind it, the decrease in total games seems not to have impacted total skunks, which went from 15 to 16 this year. From Jonathan's claim of 9 of these to Zach's 7, coupled with similar trends Senior Year and after, analysts mark this year the beginning of a shift in Jonathan's gameplay to follow a more aggressive strategy. A look at all four years shows that this may have been the key to Jonathan's downfall: in every year, the leader in skunks was also the loser of the century match, and the year's series.
===The 100th Game of 2003 - 2004===
[[Image:Cribbage300.jpg|right|thumbnail|The players and spectator gallery encircle the scoreboard for a photo op at the conclusion of the third century ceremonies. Zach, winner, third from top left, stands behind his peg, Julia Brown '06. Jonathan kneels in the lower right; his peg, Margit Sande Kerback '05, is second from top left. Dan Burns '06, match commentator, is second from top right. In the background is [[Currier]] house. Photo taken by Mrs. Mary Lundberg, Zach's [[Your Mom|mom]].]] By the third year, the popularity of the Cribbage Series had grown to monumental size, at least in the minds of the two people playing it. Planning for the big 100th game (#317) began in September. The scoreboard this year was finely crafted for display outdoors, and Zach's mother attended the event: a life sized cribbage game in the Odd Quad.
:'''Date:''' 10 April 2004
:'''Subject:''' The Ulitmate Ultimate Cribbage Game of the Century
<blockquote><p>You've followed their amazing story for years . . .</p><p>
Zach McArthur vs. Jonathan Landsman, year three, game 100, for ultimate bragging rights.</p><p>
Be in the odd quad at 1 pm for an amazing cribbage event to last about 30 minutes – -- a little light after-lunch fun, nothing that you can't break from work to do.</p><p>
For the history of this great tradition, born two and a half years ago in the great entry of EAST 3 and enshrined in its continued hallowed place ever since, show up tomorrow and be regaled with the information live from the famed players themselves, and your commentators, well-versed in the cribbage arts, DAN BURNS (and possibly AL GORDON too).</p><p>
* * * CURRENT MEMBERS OF EAST 3 -- come and see what's behind the washable crayon graffiti on your common room wall! The cribbage spirit infusing your entry; it is part of your heritage!</p></blockquote>
The site was the [[Odd Quad]], a tringle triangle of grass surrounded by conrete concrete sidewalk right in front of Jonathan's dorm of [[Currier]]. Before the event, Jonathan and Zach labeled squares of the cicuit circuit of sidewalk with numbers from 1 to 30, so that human “pegs†"pegs" could make the rounds four times to reach victory. Live assistants were needed to play the role of peg for each player; for Jonathan, the lovely Margit Sande-Kerback '05 stepped forth, and for Zach, the enchanting Julia Brown '06 presented herself.
The wood-burned scoreboard was brought from its place in Currier to be displayed on a post, which was actually an ancient sign promoting Amy and Todd, from the [[CCCollege Council]] co-presidential campaign of [[Spring spring 2000]]. The spirit imbuing the wood, the game's excellent placement, and the growing reknown of cribbage all contributed to draw the biggest and most enthusiastic spectatorship yet, at about 20 people. It was a very windy day, and everyone except the pegs huddled around the two players kneeling in the grass, both to share warmth and to protect the game from blowing away.
The result is less important than the historical record of the event itself, but if you must know, Jonathan was thrashed in front of friends, friend's family, and girlfriend.
===Final Statistics, 2003 - 2004===
<table border=5><tr><td><pre>
</pre></td></tr></table>
==See also:Final Analyses ==* [http[Image://enCribbage500_margit.jpg|right|thumbnail|The ladies dig cribbage skillz.]] As the rivals' college cribbage careers wound down, questions were raised about the Future. The two were highly accomplished at using cribbage to put off homework, but would they both put their procrastination skills to work on avoiding post-graduate employment? Zach certainly did, only picking up a job in September 2005 when a friend's father called him at home to inquire if he was working. Zach, in fact, had been lying in bed playing cribbage against his computer at that very moment. He took the job.wikipedia Jonathan, however, managed only a single day off between graduation and starting work as a gardener near Philadelphia.org/wiki/ Since graduation, Jonathan has whipped Zach consistently both face-to-face in his garden cottage in Devon, PA and online in the exclusive Yahoo! Cribbage Wikipedia Cribbage PageAdvanced Lounge 3. However, Jonathan has had a striking advantage online, using an obviously biased Yahoo! Games forum to begin at least 65% of the games with the advantage of the opening crib. To his credit, he has put this unfair edge to decent use in building a 13-game post-graduation lead over Zach by July of 2006. Additionally, an integral part of cribbage - trash-talking during play - is a much muted factor over online instant messager as compared to face-to-face insults. Scholars agree that Zach's written barbs online appear to be worth at least 5 points per game less than they have proven to be in personal encounters. Zach is not worried, however, as his 3-1 years won advantage will forever hold up - "the rest of life" only counts as a single year, so he is guaranteed bragging rights forever no matter how many games J-dawg wins in the long future ahead. === In Search of the Truth: Who's Better? === Of the 508 games of cribbage played between Fall 2001 and [[Commencement]] 2005, Zach was victorious in 264 games, Jonathan in 244. However, only 31 of Zach's victories were skunks, to Jonathan's 36. This accounts for the smaller margin of difference in the final score: Includes simple rules sectionZach 295, Jonathan 280.* As [[httpPsychology]] majors, Jonathan and Zach were eventually endowed with a knowledge of basic statistical tests, and from the point of learning the chi-squared analysis -- the statistical test with the power to determine which of the two was, statistically, a better player -- frequent such tests would be used to analyze the running tally of wins and losses, usually by the player who was ahead. Interpreting data by a Pearson's chi-square analysis is done using the formula: :<math> \chi^2 = \sum_{i=1}^{n} {(O_i - E_i)^2 \over E_i}</math> where <math>O_i</wwwmath> is an observed frequency and <math>E_i</math> is an expected (theoretical) frequency asserted by the null hypothesis. In the case of the 508 games played in the four years of cribbagecompetition, our expected number of wins for each player is 254. Note that we use the word "expected" here in the cold, impartial sense of the statistician, who generates his expectations on pure probability. In this expectation, therefore, we ignore such obvious cues as, for example, the blondness of one player, the increased height of one player (resulting in a lower brain to total mass ratio), city of birth, etc.org We can plug this expected value and the observed number of wins into the equation to determine the <math>\chi^2</math> value for the analysis: :<math>\chi^2 = {(264_z - 254)^2 \over 254}+{(244_j - 254)^2 \over 254}</math>:<math>\chi^2 \approx 0.787401575</math> We now compare this value of <math>\chi^2</rulesmath> to a threshold value of <math>\chi^2</ Tournament Rules math> in our chi-squared distribution of two degress of freedom. In experiments of this kind, it is customary to take a confidence level of at least 95% as evidence that your data demonstrates a significant trend, however to have a confidence of 95% that one player were better than the other in this case we would need a <math>\chi^2</math> value of '''3.84''' or greater. 0.787... is far too low, corresponding more closely to a confidence of about 40%. Though it went against the standards of every academic field, including his own basic training in Psyc statistics, Zach seemed satisfied by this level of confidence. He wrote, ''There was a time senior year when a t-squared analysis ''[sic.]'' on the number of victories each showed that Zach was, statistically, a superior cribbage player to Jonathan. Once that point was reached, Zach felt his point was proven and lowered his level of play, allowing Jonathan to win a few games and regain a bit of dignity... at least statistically speaking.'' ==Cribbage]moments== ===Play sequences=== *'''A23423A2'''*'''J54345''': 10 pts by one player to 0*'''4443526'''*'''Q23A23Q''': a palindrome!*'''75757''': a zero-point palindrome!*'''3425A67''': same day as previous!*'''34372424''': 0 points*'''446352A3'''*'''3576422'''*'''J5555 JJ2'''*'''77564 354'''*'''3645273 6'''*'''735462A''': 17 pts pegged by Zach*'''J2T32AAA'''*'''3425634''': in-person game*'''7462345'''*'''42T843''': with J at 119 and Z at 120 ===Hands=== *'''A777 A''': Zach, 20 pts*'''78889''': 21 pts in Zach's crib, first hand. biggest post-grad crib*'''AAAA''': by J-Dawg, who then discovered that this is the only hand not helped by any cut*'''QQQQ 5''': Zach, 20 pts*'''5555 7''': by J-Dawg, 20 pts. useless 7 cut by Z*'''2222 9''': by J-Dawg, 20 pts ===Trash talk=== *''I ate Forge wings for dinner beats your hand.''<br>--Z*''Where's your crib? . . . Oh yeah, I stole it.''<br>--Z*''I've had more flushes today than in all of history combined.''<br>--Z:''Diarrhea?''<br>--J*''Man, I don't even ''need'' to look at the score to know I'm beating you.''<br>--J