Competitive Cribbage - Winter 2025

It's time to cozy up with some more competitive cribbage! The Winter 2025 Season of the Cribbage Pro competitive matchmaking tournament is here – giving you the perfect excuse to stay in, play, and outpeg the competition while the frost settles in outside. Jump in to test your skills, sharpen your strategy, and experience the thrill of top-tier cribbage – all from the warmth of home!

Before diving into the exciting news about what's new for Winter 2025, let's take a brief moment to summarize the finish to the Autumn 2024 season.

Autumn 2024

The autumn season had a lot of new faces bringing their top game, and it is always fun to see new names on the list. There was also some interesting drama in the top spots during the final days of the season. We had 4th place jump up to 2nd, bumping everyone else down while 3rd dropped to 5th within just the last 48 hours. It is a good reminder that it is hard to try and just sit comfortably with playing only a few games in the last few days of a season, as we have seen that backfire on a regular basis if you don't have a substantial lead.

For the final results, holding on to first place we have someone we have seen before at the top many seasons back now, "Mrpadre" (up 26 positions from last season), followed by "31four14" in 2nd who has been playing and competing for several seasons with a past best of 17th place (and the player who made that jump from 4th just prior to the end of the season). In 3rd we have "locust" who is also a long time player, but new to the Top 10 (placing 62nd last season, but a best of 14th several seasons back). Lastly, as a quick honorable mention, we have our last season first place finisher "DAiello" in 4th.

Special awards for the Top 50 players include in-game board pegs: the top player receives the "crown" peg, while others in the Top 50 get the "star" peg. These pegs are prominently displayed in online multiplayer games, serving as permanent badges of distinction earned through competitive play.

Reminder: Complete 10 matches per week! See the FAQ for details on the timing each week

Here was the final Top 50 for Autumn 2024:

1	Mrpadre		26	dkatz1877
2	31four14		27	bastien13
3	locust		28	Hansolph
4	DAiello		29	yank29
5	BigCrbNRG		30	IAMFAST
6	Dhrun		31	TripJames
7	nob4one		32	yvanobc12
8	dixietix		33	Checkop
9	tbowl75		34	niltes
10	Crackula		35	AJackOLit
11	lbolt58		36	Kinger765
12	dcpastore		37	Domerzag
13	jwr13		38	a2zCrib
14	Dpac		39	MatchMe
15	jjonell		40	Meow80
16	wfdove		41	Grandude
17	pappy9837		42	Cryb2nite
18	whersh		43	ernie313
19	UberPooch		44	flybill
20	BearJoo		45	hawkeyewn
21	4KA		46	Alaska47
22	linurbug9		47	KayGee
23	vJimc		48	gmric5
24	WactownD		49	dph
25	Orelvis		50	kpcrib123

The levels in Competitive Matchmaking are available in the FAQ.

Improvements for Winter 2025!

In feedback that I get from time to time, I have heard a couple of general themes that are being addressed with changes starting this season. These themes are suggestions about finding ways to keep games moving quickly, improving the turn time limits and enhancement of the player disconnect / reconnect system. Each of these have changes that I believe will help make the game experience better for everyone, and these changes are why we are requiring all participants in the competitive season to have the latest current update of the game in order to play.

First, on the disconnect / reconnect system, there have been improvements made to better track player activity, monitor device connection quality and reduce "time to reconnect". All of these things are "under the hood" changes that have been made for all multiplayer formats in Cribbage Pro, with some special consideration given to the competitive matchmaking games in particular. Of course this doesn't prevent someone from rage quitting, and the system waiting for a reconnect. That is just the nature of online games. However, it should keep accidental disconnects from happening as often, and when they do happen it should improve the recovery of the connection to continue playing. The end results should be fewer disconnects and faster reconnects for everyone, with continued improvements planned for future updates as well based on how these changes perform over time.

For the changes to turn time limits, the first thing that was done is to improve the synchronization of the timers between both players. This will help make it more clear when someone has actually exceeded the turn time limit, and help prevent any false alerts that their time was exceeded when it really had not expired on their device before they initiated the play. However, the big change here is that for competitive matchmaking games only, the turn time limit is now a split timer of 10 seconds to discard, and 6 seconds for all other plays instead of the full 10 seconds every turn. Most players were already performing within those limits, so for many this won't change much at all in your side of the game. However, there were some players where even playing that last card would take the full 10 seconds every time, and that just frustrates everyone who has experienced it and is not in the spirit of true competitive play. A 4 second difference in the timer for playing a card may not sound like much, but it all adds up. In the end, I think this will be a very positive improvement for everyone, and possibly one we can consider adding as an option in classic multiplayer games too.

Finally, to keep games moving quickly without needlessly waiting on your opponent to do the only thing they can do, and related to the previous item around timers, all competitive matchmaking games are now set to always use "Auto Go" and "Auto Deal" every game. That means it does not matter what you set in the overall game settings for those settings (single player and the casual classic multiplayer games aren't impacted by this change and continue to use those overall settings). In this competitive format, the game will now always automatically deal the cards for every hand, and always automatically send the "Go". So now there is never any waiting 10 seconds for your opponent to just give the "Go". It will all happen automatically for both players.

With all of these improvements combined, I hope you will all find this season even more fun than ever! As always, if you have any questions, feedback on what you would like to see around awards, structure / format or anything else, email us any time at support@FullerSystems.com.

Competitive Cribbage - Autumn 2024

Attention cribbage enthusiasts of all ages and skill levels! The world’s largest online cribbage tournament kicks off again with the Autumn 2024 Season in Cribbage Pro. Join now to experience thrilling competitive play and sharpen your cribbage skills today!

As the leaves slowly begin to turn for us in the northern hemisphere, let's briefly reflect on everyone's accomplishments in the Summer 2024 season. The competition was as fierce as ever, with some nail-biting finishes even near the top, where there was a chance of an apparent "tie" happening (more on that below). Now, we're eager to see how you'll raise the stakes this autumn.

The Summer 2024 cribbage season has drawn to a close, with all the statistics and top performers etched into the record books. The season kicked off with great enthusiasm, and as the hot summer days kept heating things up, participation levels stabilized at a solid average that keeps growing from season to season - particularly when compared to year over year. Building on the momentum of the previous active season, it's been fantastic to see so many dedicated players continuing to embrace the competitive format's exhilarating spirit. Although the number of players this season were slightly below the previous, compared to the same season last year we had far more players.

Some have asked me recently what that means in terms of actual total players, so I'll give you some rough numbers. Last year (2023), for the summer season there were roughly four thousand players. This summer (2024) saw nearly five thousand players. For the other 2024 seasons prior to that, it was even more. To add even more color to this, there were about 250 thousand (yes, a quarter of a million) matches played this last season, and remember those are "best of 3" matches. That does mean that clearly some players didn't play very many matches (sometimes they played a few and didn't place where they wanted to and so stopped playing), but in any case that's a lot of games! This is why I say this is the largest cribbage tournament in the world. Of course I also believe this is simply the best competitive cribbage anywhere, because it has all of you playing in it!

On a related note, the Daily Cribbage Scrimmage challenges have become a popular feature, adding excitement and competitive spirit to our cribbage community. If you haven’t participated yet, now is the perfect time to join in. Sharpen your cribbage skills, compete against friends, and enjoy the fun - even when your schedules don’t match up.

As we transition into the cooler Autumn 2024 season, we're keeping the format the same as last season, with no changes in format. However, I want to add an important remember here. The penalty for not making the 10 matches per week is not trivial, and it can build up from week to week. As you miss the minimum for more weeks, that confidence factor diminishes to the point that it can become difficult for you to find a match. This becomes more noticeable towards the end of the season, where I regularly hear from some players in that position who are having trouble finding a match. This has always been because they have had a lot of weeks with penalties. If you can avoid the penalties by playing your minimum matches per week, then finding a match will be easier for everyone.

Summer 2024 Wrap Up

The summer season was a testament to the growing strength of our community. Although there are always slightly fewer players in the summertime, we still saw some fierce competition, with many positions decided by razor-thin margins. Even the top positions were moving and swapping places until the very end. Notably, "DAiello" claimed the crown (coming from 8th last season), followed closely by "iPeg" and "dcpastore" (who had a nice climb up the Leaderboard last season too). We also witnessed some good improvements from "nob4one" (up to 6th, from 9th), "scout3" (34th to 18th), and "Mrpadre" (40th to 27th).

A special nod goes to some of our newcomers who made it into the top 10: "gm0n", "Checkop", "linurbug9", and "rpmcd". It is always fun and exciting to see new names working their way up!

I know that some of you had some rough drops in ranking from last season, so just a word of encouragement to hang in there and give it another run this new season! Everyone starts fresh, and this could be your chance to break into the top positions. Keep playing your minimum matches, and particularly if you start earlier in the season you can continue to improve every season.

As usual, we have the special awards given to those who secured a place within the Top 50. In recognition of your accomplishments, you've earned an in-game "board peg" symbolizing your achievement. The highest-ranking player receives the prestigious "crown" board peg, while all others in the Top 50 receive a distinctive "star" board peg. These pegs are prominently displayed during online multiplayer matches and serve as a permanent badge of distinction. If you see an opponent with one of these pegs, know that they've earned it through their performance in competitive play, securing a spot among the top contenders.

Remember: Complete Your 10 matches per week! See the FAQ for details.

Here was the final Top 50 for Summer 2024:

1	DAiello	26	jwr13
2	iPeg	27	Mrpadre
3	dcpastore	28	BennieO
4	Checkop	29	GoodHumor
5	linurbug9	30	scoman10
6	nob4one	31	mntwinsbb
7	gm0n	32	808HWK
8	rpmcd	33	Alaska47
9	Bes88	34	konadive
10	VGKnights	35	reefmad
11	Domerzag	36	SamGash33
12	lbolt58	37	speedo11
13	lostdutch	38	jeezumjan
14	Trumpno1	39	GJanke
15	Jpbrozek	40	PeggyBree
16	flashmatt	41	conelson
17	scout3	42	BigCrbNRG
18	yank29	43	TrumpetJ
19	cyrusg	44	noskunkie
20	236Postie	45	gsosin
21	SharksFin	46	JeffPask
22	vegasbrad	47	abaca
23	TC2	48	a2zCrib
24	ernie313	49	pscohen
25	cribber91	50	tassie08

The levels in Competitive Matchmaking are available in the FAQ.

Potential Leaderboard "Tie" Situations

Before we wrap up the summary for the season, I do want to talk about the apparent "tie" situations we can see from time to time in the Leaderboard CR that is shown. For instance, in this final Leaderboard for the season, we have a whole number tie in CR shown at positions 20 and 21, 24 and 25, 33 and 34, 35 and 36, etc. A question I sometimes get about this is simply asking how is the tie broken in those situations. There are actually two answers to that question.

First, the tie that you see is almost always not an actual tie, but it just appears that way in the rounded value you can see as the CR shown on the screen. In reality, the CR is calculated out to 15 decimal places, and I have yet to see anyone finish the season with an actual tie in the Top 50 at that level. To continue the earlier example, positions 24 and 25 actually have CR values of 4204.377940010873760 and 4204.204572520185920 respectively, but those both round to just "4204". So that is is the first way that any tie is broken - by the fact that it just isn't a true tie even though they are very close.

Second, and this really only applies at the very start of a season when there are few matches actually played yet, the tie is broken by the player XP in classical multiplayer games. This may sound kind of arbitrary, but it exists just as a starting point for each season until players actually start playing matches. In fact, usually within the first hour of the season, that factor becomes completely obsolete and the CR is the only thing that matters. So it is just a kind of placeholder until matches are finished for the season, but in theory it would also break a true numerical tie situation. There is actually a third level there as well, where the tie would be broken by the players overall win percentage in competitive matches, but reaching that third level of tie breaker is pretty much never going to happen. I don't know the exact probability there, but it will be extremely small and highly unlikely to happen. So, before you ask, no there is no 4th level currently in the system to further break a tie. I suppose if we did get into that situation, I would use something like past performance in past seasons potentially.

If you have any questions, feedback on what you would like to see around prizes, structure or anything else, email us any time at support@FullerSystems.com.