In this form of the game _six_ cards are dealt to each player. Two being
laid out for crib, four are still left in hand, and the scores accordingly
average very much higher than in the five-card game. The only material
difference of procedure is {50} that in the six-card game the scoring of
three extra points by the non-dealer is omitted, both players being
considered to start on an equal footing; and secondly, that the cards,
instead of being thrown down as soon as thirty-one or the nearest possible
approach to it, is reached, are played out to the end. The player who
failed to score for the "go" leads again, giving the adversary the
opportunity to make fifteen, or pair him if he can. Each plays alternately
as before, the player of the "last card" scoring "one" for so doing. If
there is only one card left after the "go," the leader still scores it as
"last card." The general principles laid down as to five-card cribbage
apply equally to the six-card game, save that in the latter, as hand and
crib consist of the _same number_ of cards, the non-dealer is no longer
under the same compulsion to baulk the crib, even to the destruction of his
own hand. The two objects--preserving the hand and baulking the opponent's
crib--are in this case on the same level, and either may legitimately be
preferred, as the nature of the hand may render desirable.
In consequence of the greater facility of scoring, it is customary to play
six-card cribbage twice round the board, _i.e._ to make the game 121
points.