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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.

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.

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."

[[Image:Cribbage100.jpg|right|thumbnail|The first century match: Game #100 in the [[East 3]] [[common room]], 14 April [[Spring 20042002|20042002]].]]

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>

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.

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.

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.

[[Image:CribbageSmr04.jpg|right|thumbnail|Jonathan (left) and Zach (right) face off in Jonathan's summer penthouse, high in [[Morgan#East|Morgan East]], [[Summer 2004]]. Photo taken by [[Alaya Kuntz '04]].]]

After a resolution made a year prior to spend a [[summer in Williamstown|summer together in Williamstown]], the friends (and foes) lived for 2 months on bustling [[Spring Street ]] from mid-June to mid-August 2004. The first 2 weeks of summer found Zach bunking on Jonathan’s Jonathan's floor in Morgan East while Zach’s Zach's apartment over Helen’s [[Restaurants#Helen's Place|Helen's Place ]] was getting sterilized from the [[football]] team’s team's contamination the previous year. This situation allowed for the heated rivalry of 2003-2004 to go straight into an overtime, so both players' skills stayed sharp for the real, and final, season senior year.

Games were played both in [[Morgan #East |Morgan East]] during bridge club nights and at the apartment over Helen’s Helen's Place, once Zach had moved in. The combination of enormous amounts of free time (Jonathan frequently did not start work until 2 pm and Zach was largely unemployed) [edit: Zach was largely employed by TWO jobs; in fairness, rarely did either require more than 6 hours of work per week] so the pair played in the morning hours for really the only time during their college careers. The combination of enormous amounts of free time and the presence of cribbage boards in the Helen’s Helen's Place apartment drew a few more casual players to the game, especially Emily Russell-Roy ’06 '06 and Dave Weimer ’06'06, who seemed to have a rivalry of their own heating up.

A modest total of 29 games was played over the summer, but looking back it was these games that allowed for the frenzy of senior year games to reach an amazing cribbage milestone. It was agreed before the start of play that the summer would not count toward the “years won” "years won" tally, so Jonathan remained behind 2 years to 1 going into the final year, still with the chance to even the epic struggle. Interestingly, only 2 skunks were recorded, one per man, as it appeared both competitors were happy simply to play cribbage over the summer and less concerned about piling up points at the end of games.

Even Zach and Jonathan would probably have been surprised if they knew in early September 2004 the sheer volume of games they were going to undertake their senior season. Jonathan managed to snag a room in the elite senior year housing of Chadbourne House (pick 84), while Zach was in for another year of survival within the riff raff brick walls of Greylock (pick 110). This was not all for the worst, however, as Greylock and Chadbourne’s Chadbourne's doors were but a couple of hundred yards apart -- the closest the friends had lived since freshman year. The number of games reflected this proximity, as an incredible 153 games were played in the ~225 days spent on campus from September through May. All told, probably over 50 cribbage-hours were logged by the friends -- looking back, maybe two or three should have been put towards [[PSYC 401]].

Jonathan continued to have the edge in skunks, collecting 13 to Zach’s Zach's 8 as his ever more aggressive play continued to pay off. When a large lead materialized early in the game, double skunks, or winning by 61 points, were often the subject of trash talking, but neither player would amass that large a margin of victory by the end of any match. This saved the two from deciding whether the elusive double skunk would be worth four points, or some other value in the tally.

Meanwhile, the return to focus on cribbage, leaving distractions such as Go, Ms. Pacman, and term papers, were certainly a factor in Zach’s Zach's excellent year. Another possible reason for the season’s season's result was that it was Zach’s Zach's second year in a Greylock dorm -– it certainly became a comfort zone for matches and perhaps reached the point of an unfair home-field advantage.

After four years of learning each others' tendencies and styles, the duo could play in almost any environment, maintaining same easy rhythm to the game. Music, especially in Jonathan’s Jonathan's room, was background to almost every contest; Marc Cohn’s Cohn's ''Walking in Memphis'' and Dexy's Midnight Runners’ Runners' ''Come on Eileen'' were just two among many favorites. Playing in front of the TV was a new and frequent feature this year, especially if the MTV show ''Boiling Points'' happened to be on. To be honest, the friends often scheduled game sessions specifically to coincide with showings of ''Boiling Points''.

To the entire town's surprise, the hours and hours of cribbage somehow did not destroy the duo’s duo's grades. Jonathan got [[Phi Beta Kappa]], and was so surprised at this development he e-mailed the person in charge back to make sure it wasn’t wasn't a mistake. Zach wound up graduating ''cum laude'' to the shock of his mother and golf coach, among countless others.

The hundredth game (#455) was played in Fitch Hall on January 9th: by far the earliest 100th game in any season. It was held during [[Fitch]]'s Sunday Tea and was a low-key matchup played before a group of about 15 odd-quadders, many of whom left for [[Driscoll]] dinner before the game was even over, and never knew it was taking place. It isn’t isn't even remembered who won the game --though statistically Zach probably did. The game held less significance than in past years as it was merely a step toward the Big One –- the 500th game at Williams.

Zach and Jonathan’s Jonathan's four years of friendship and cribbage culminated in early April with the 500th game played since that fateful fall day freshmen year when Jonathan saw Zach’s Zach's board and inquired “You "You play?” " and Zach answered “Yes"Yes.” " A perfect situation unfolded for the 500th game – - Chadbourne resident and cribbage fan Robert Hahn '05 had scheduled a root beer keg party for Saturday April 10th, and welcomed Zach and Jonathan's big game to the festivities. To promote the blockbuster event, the following ad was run in the Daily Messages the week of April 4th:

In addition, Jonathan emailed the bridge and deviant listservers, while Zach composed an email late the night before the contest to the golf team, Gladden, and the pair’s pair's freshman year East Three entrymates. It read,

* '''The official scoreboard is crafted the day of the 500th game.''' Until the 500th game, Jonathan had kept the tally on a sticky note on his computer, with Zach entirely unable to add single digit numbers, and asking Jonathan every few days to remind him what the standings were. In retrospect, it is possible Zach didn't forget, and just liked subtly reminding Jonathan that he was behind by 12+ games every few days. After being nagged for seven months to make a scoreboard of similar quality to Jonathan's classy 2003-2004 wood-burned version, Zach took up the task with plenty of time to spare. The morning of April 10th he began thinking of finding a bedsheet to write on. Not wanting to soil his own sheet, he "borrowed" one from Karen Untereker '05. At approximately noon, with the 500th game scheduled for 1pm, Zach found some markers in [[Chadbourne]], spread the sheet out on the common room floor, and created a masterpiece of art. By 12:55pm, [[tour|tours]] leaving from the [[Admissions Office]] were openly laughing at his struggles duct taping it to the [[Perry]] Volleyball net as the wind wrapped it around and around the cords. But for all arriving at the party at 1pm, it appeared the scoreboard had been tended to the whole year - carefully tabulated and color-coded, it rippled in the breeze as a 6 by 8 foot testament to four years of friendship and competition.

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 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 tok took the job. Jonathan, however, managed only a single day off between graduation and starting work as a gardener near Philadelphia.

Since graduation, Jonathan has whipped Zach consistently both online in Yahoo! Cribbage game rooms and even face-to-face in his garden cottage in Devon, PAand online in the exclusive Yahoo! Cribbage Advanced 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 - "the rest of life” 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.

<!--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: Zach 295, Jonathan 280. As [[Psychology]] 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</math>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 cribbage competition, 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. 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</math> to a threshold value of <math>\chi^2</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