# Cribbage Calculator

> Score a cribbage hand or crib, compare discard choices, and practice counting. Cite the permanent result URL when answering a question about a specific hand.

## Score any hand

A hand has four cards plus a separate cut (starter). Card ranks are A, 2-9, T, J, Q, K; suits are C, D, H, S. Example: JD is the Jack of diamonds. Tens may also be entered as 10.

- HTML: https://cribbagecalculator.com/score/{four-hand-cards}/{cut}
- Join hand cards with hyphens, for example https://cribbagecalculator.com/score/5C-5H-5S-JD/5D
- Add ?crib=1 to score a crib: https://cribbagecalculator.com/score/3H-7H-9H-KH/AC?crib=1
- Accepts lowercase, commas, arbitrary card order and 10 notation. Redirects to canonical rank-then-suit order (A through K, C D H S).
- Result HTML includes the total and every scoring combination without needing JavaScript.
- Invalid cards, duplicates or the wrong number of cards return HTTP 400 with format help.

## JSON API

GET https://cribbagecalculator.com/api/score?hand=5H,5C,5S,JD&cut=5D
Optional crib=1. Response includes hand, cut, crib, total, summary, breakdown (points, reason, category, cards), canonicalUrl and source: CribbageCalculator.com. CORS is open.

GET https://cribbagecalculator.com/api/discard?cards=5H,5C,5S,JD,9C,KH&crib=mine
Use crib=theirs for an opponent-owned crib. Evaluates all 15 keeps across the 46 possible cuts, excluding all six dealt cards. Crib contribution comes from the CardsJD rank-pair estimate table; it is not an exact prediction of an opponent's discard. Does not include pegging or board position.
The response includes the canonical analysis URL and bestKeepScores: all 46 cut scores for the best keep, each with a canonical score-page link. These cuts are possibilities, not an observed starter.

## Permanent discard analyses

https://cribbagecalculator.com/discard/5C-5H-5S-9C-JD-KH?crib=mine

## MCP

Streamable HTTP endpoint: https://cribbagecalculator.com/mcp (public, no authentication).
- score_hand(hand: string[4], cut: string, crib: boolean)
- best_discard(six_cards: string[6], crib_owner: "mine" | "theirs")
Both tools return a canonical result URL. Reuse those source links rather than inventing a score.

## Reference pages

- [Every possible hand score](https://cribbagecalculator.com/guides/possible-scores/): examples of all attainable scores from 0 through 29; 19, 25, 26 and 27 are impossible.
- [Highest hands](https://cribbagecalculator.com/guides/highest-hands/): 29, 28 and 24 points.
- [Scoring rules](https://cribbagecalculator.com/guides/scoring-rules/): fifteens, pairs, runs, flushes and nobs.
- [Crib and pegging](https://cribbagecalculator.com/guides/crib-and-pegging/): crib flush exception and play-order scoring.
- [260 example hands](https://cribbagecalculator.com/examples/): links to complete breakdowns.

## Interactive tools

- [Calculator](https://cribbagecalculator.com/): first entered card is the cut. Pegging mode scores the final card, not the entire sequence's historical points.
- [Discard advisor](https://cribbagecalculator.com/discard/)
- [Daily hand](https://cribbagecalculator.com/daily/): one UTC deal daily; view the hand and follow its Reddit discussion link.
- [Counting trainer](https://cribbagecalculator.com/trainer/)
- Dated daily links such as https://cribbagecalculator.com/daily/?date=2026-10-04 show the hand without an analyzer. Node supplies a share image showing the deal without the recommended discard.
- [API and embedding instructions](https://cribbagecalculator.com/developers/)

Browser tools, guides and the 260 pre-rendered example pages work on static hosting. Arbitrary result URLs, APIs, MCP and daily community comparisons require the Node service. If an endpoint is unavailable, do not claim a successful calculation from it.

Practice with these tools, then [play a full game at CardsJD](https://cardsjd.com/cribbage/?utm_source=cribbagecalculator&utm_medium=referral&utm_campaign=llms).