When a player scores points, the rear peg is moved in front to show the new score. In any case, each player has two pegs: the forward peg shows the player's score to date, and the rear peg shows the previous score. However it is clear that it is now more common for both players to start from the same end, like this:

The above diagram shows the players starting at opposite ends of the board and pegging in opposite directions, which is the way I was taught and is consistent with for example Popular Card Games by Lawrence H Dawson - Wills, Bristol & London (1933). The holes in the board represent scores from 1 to 61. The points are recorded by means of a board and pegs. Points are scored mainly for combinations of cards either occuring during the play or occuring in a player's hand or in the cards discarded before the play, which form the 'crib'. To be the first to score 61 points accumulated over several deals. Cards rank K(high) Q J 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 A(low). Two players using a standard 52 card pack. Matthew Probert reports that Five Card Cribbage is popular around Hampshire and Surrey, although the six card game is also played there. For example, in South Wales it is played in pub leagues in combination with Nine Card Don (see the Don page for details). However the five card version does still survive in parts of Britain. The more modern Six Card Cribbage has now almost entirely replaced the original Five Card Cribbage game described on this page. It is basically a game for two players, though adaptations for 4 players in fixed partnerships, and for 3 players also exist.

Cribbage is traditionally supposed to have been invented in the early 17th Century it evolved from the earlier game Noddy.

Consecutive suit in cribbage play