History of cribbage Rules of cribbage How to play Swiveller's Cribbage

Swiveller's Cribbage

Cribbage was invented in the early 1600s by Sir John Suckling, the English poet and courtier, and immortalised by Charles Dickens in the Old Curiosity Shop with the exploits of Richard Swiveller and the Marchioness.

Download Version 1.5

To install Swiveller's Cribbage, download cribbage.zip (~700 KB), extract the files into a folder using WinZip, and then double click on setup.exe.

If you are unfamiliar with WinZip then here is a self extract version, SwivCrib.exe (~740 KB). Once you have downloaded it onto your computer, double click on the file SwivCrib.exe and the game will install.

The program will run on versions of Windows 95 or higher. If you want to play cribbage on Windows 3.1 then you can download a prior version swivcrib122.zip. You also may need to put an additional file vbrun300.dll in either the c:\windows\system folder or in the same folder as cribbage.exe.

The Marchioness, holding her cards tight in both hands, considered which to play. Taken from 'The Old Curiosity Shop' by Charles Dickens.

With this version you can:

Ask the computer for a hint on which cards to discard.
Replay the previous hand so you can examine different discard strategies.
Choose your own and the computer's hand.
View the playing log.
Play using Muggins, so if you incorrectly score your hand the computer will claim the difference in points. Note the computer sometimes incorrectly scores its own hand so you have the opportunity to take points off it. The Muggins option can be turned off.
See your points being pegged on the cribbage board. Pegging can be turned off for faster play.
Auto Score. Let the computer do all the scoring for you.
Choose your level - Beginner or Expert. Even if you have never played cribbage before then you should pick it up pretty quickly as the computer guides you on what you should be doing and there is an online help telling you about the various card scoring combinations and the ethos of the game.
Duplicate Play. You can play a predefined hand so you can compare your score with other people, and not use the excuse 'Oh well, I'm sure you had better cards than me!'
Change the background and text colours to suit your taste.
See the backs of the computer's cards so you know how many cards are left to play.

You can read a review of Swiveller's Cribbage from Nick Smith of Rocket Download.

This is a shareware game, so after you have used it for a while you should register it. Registration is just 10 US dollars and you can pay online now using PayPal's secure payment facility by clicking

You will immediately receive a Registration code which when entered into the game's Registration screen along with your name will register the game to you and prevent any 'Please Register' messages from popping up during game play.

If you have any comments, bug reports, or suggestions for improving the game then please send me, William Bridge, an email - williambridge@stanwardine.com.

Here is a screen shot showing typical play

Swiveller's Cribbage