The History of Cribbage

Cribbage was invented by Sir John Suckling in the 17th century. He was a poet, soldier, and gambler who reportedly cheated many of his nobleman friends by sending them packs of marked cards as gifts and then teaching cribbage to them using the marked decks so that he could win large sums of money. Cribbage was adopted by sailors and spread around the world, especially to places where the British had a strong presence. The game became especially popular in North America. When Commander Dick O’Kane played a perfect hand in cribbage just before he sank a record number of enemy ships on patrol, it became the official game of American submariners. In fact, the crib board that O’Kane used is still traditionally passed down to the oldest active submarine in the American fleet. While cribbage has waned slightly in popularity in recent decades, there are still weekly cribbage nights hosted at various bars, social clubs, and community centers and the game still has fervent fans all over the world.