218
edits
Changes
rules
[[Image:CribbageSmr04.jpg|right|thumbnail|Jonathan (left) and Zach (right) face off in [[Morgan#East|Morgan East]], [[Summer 2004]]. Photo taken by Alaya Kuntz '04.]]
==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.
* [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cribbage Wikipedia Cribbage Page] Includes simple rules section.
* [http://www.cribbage.org/rules/ Tournament Rules of Cribbage]
==The 2001 - 2002 Season==
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 Point'' and still hold down a decent game.
===The 100th Game of 2001 - 2002===
===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.�"
* '''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.
* '''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===
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 of grass surrounded by conrete sidewalk right in front of Jonathan's dorm of [[Currier]]. Before the event, Jonathan and Zach labeled squares of the cicuit 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 [[CC]] co-presidential campaign of [[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.
Total games: 109, including 16 skunks
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