How Do Go and 31 Work in Cribbage?

The running count in cribbage's play phase can never pass 31. A player who cannot lay a card without going over says "go", and whoever lays the last card of the sequence pegs 1 point, or 2 for landing exactly on 31. The count then resets to zero and play continues.

How many points is a go worth?

Every count sequence ends with exactly one of these points, and it always goes to the player who laid the final card:

The 1 and the 2 are alternatives, never added together. Landing on 31 scores 2 in total, not 2 for the 31 plus 1 for the go. The end-of-play "one for last" is the same rule applied to the final sequence, not a separate bonus.

What happens when you say go?

1. Say "go" only when you must. If any card in your hand can be laid without pushing the count past 31, you have to play it. Passing while holding a playable card is a fault the American Cribbage Congress calls a renege.
2. Your opponent keeps playing. After a go, the other player must lay every card they legally can, not just one more. They peg any fifteens, pairs, or runs their own cards form along the way.
3. The last card takes the point. Whoever lays the final card of the sequence pegs 1 for the go, or 2 if that card brings the count exactly to 31.
4. The count resets to zero. A new sequence starts with the cards still in hand, led by the player who did not lay the last card. Saying go only passes the current sequence; you play again once the count resets.

A worked example

Say the pone (the non-dealer) holds 7, Q, 10, 10, and the dealer holds 8, 4, 2, K. The play could run like this:

1. The pone leads the 7 (count 7).
2. The dealer answers with the 8, making the count 15, and pegs 2 for the fifteen.
3. The pone plays the queen (count 25).
4. The dealer plays the 4 (count 29).
5. The pone's two 10s would both push the count past 31, so the pone says "go."
6. The dealer still holds a playable 2 and must lay it. The count hits exactly 31 and the dealer pegs 2, with no extra go point on top.
7. The count resets to zero, and the pone leads the new sequence because the dealer laid the last card.
8. The pone leads a 10 (count 10), the dealer plays the king (count 20), and the pone plays the last 10 (count 30). Nobody has cards left, so the pone pegs 1 for the final card of the play.

What if both players say go?

Sometimes the player who was told "go" cannot play either. Nothing new is laid: the last card already on the table stands, and whoever played it pegs the single point before the count resets.

A genuine deadlock like this can only happen at a count of 22 or higher. Every card is worth 10 at most, so at 21 or below both players can always play, and the ACC rulebook accordingly bars renege claims at those counts.

Who leads after the count resets?

The lead in the new sequence belongs to the player who did not lay the last card. Put the other way around, the scorer of the go or the 31 never leads the next count.

The reset is also a hard wall for scoring. A card played before the reset cannot pair with or extend a run of a card played after it, even though the same players keep playing from the same hands. The starter card stays out of all of this: it joins the hands only at the show.

What if you say go by mistake?

A mistaken go can simply be taken back, as long as neither player has laid another card or pegged a point since. In casual games there is no fixed penalty beyond that; many tables just correct the mistake and play on.

Under ACC tournament rules the stakes are higher. An uncorrected go while holding playable cards is a renege. The opponent is awarded 2 points for each card that could have been played, so three withheld playable cards cost 6 points.

How does the play phase end?

The final sequence ends like every other one: the very last card of the play pegs 1, or 2 if it lands the count exactly on 31. When one player runs out of cards first, the other plays out alone under the same rules. Playable cards must still be played, combinations still peg, and the last card takes its point.

Any of these points can win the game, because the first player to reach 121 wins immediately in any phase. Some house rules forbid pegging out on a go or last card, but that is a variant, not the standard rule.

What changes with three or four players?

With three or more players, one go does not end the sequence by itself. Each player who cannot stay at 31 or under says go in turn, and the rest keep playing until nobody can. The last card played takes the 1, or 2 for exactly 31. After the reset, the new sequence continues with the next player to the left, and everything else works as in the two-player game.

How do good players use the go?

The go phase rewards whoever still holds cards that fit under the ceiling. Because no card is worth more than 10, a lead of 4 or lower can never be turned into a fifteen. The reply tops out at 14, which is the classic reason to open small.

Never lead a 5. Sixteen of the 52 cards are worth ten, the largest single value group in the deck, and every one of them makes fifteen on your 5. For the same reason, avoid bringing the count to 21, where those same sixteen cards land exactly on 31 for 2.

Late in the count, low cards are the whole game. Past 21 only small cards remain playable, so the player still holding them collects the go and last-card points. Because 31 pegs double a plain go, experienced players count ahead to land on it.

Playing at a real table and losing track of the count? Muggins is a digital cribbage board: lay the phone flat between you, play with your own deck, and pull the knobs to peg. The app keeps the score; the cards stay real.

By the Nobs Cribbage team Last reviewed 2026-08-01