Competitive Cribbage - Spring 2023

The Spring 2023 Season of Competitive Cribbage is Live!

The very busy Winter 2023 season of competitive cribbage has now closed. All of the stats and top finishers are locked and recorded. Winter 2023 was one of the most (almost nearly the top) active seasons so far! It had more players than we have had in quite a long time, and a lot more matches played than ever before! That says a lot, considering the seasons are a little shorter now than they were when we first started. I know some of you still had times where finding a match was harder than ideal, and other times where you were matched with someone with a lower CR that you may have felt shouldn't have been matched. I understand that frustration, and I'm working on some ideas to help address that better in the future. Our journey to the best system may never reach a final destination, but it will be a work of constant improvement. The best solution to both of these for right now will be to encourage your friends to participate too. The more people who play more often, the faster matches can be found and the closer those matches will be.

Although the weather outside where I am right now isn't exactly "spring like" just yet, I hope it will be soon! I have been very busy getting app updates and features developed lately, so this Spring 2023 season keeps the format consistent with no significant changes.

Winter 2023 was an exciting season that also welcomed several new players. The Top 50 has quite a few new players. I still love seeing new players come in and make a run for it (as one definitely did this season)! Thank you to all for participating and bringing your friends! Thank you also to everyone who participated at every level, even if you didn't make the final Top 50.

In 1st place for Winter 2023, we have "iPeg" up from 5th last season, and definitely a regular top finisher. Honestly, that is pretty impressive. Someday we will need to have iPeg share all of their secrets with the world. 2nd place is someone entirely new to the Top 50, and relatively new to Cribbage Pro as well, "rookie22". I suppose the username says it all. In 3rd we have "nob4one", who we have seen around these parts before as well. Other interesting movements in the Top 50 included "dcpastore", who made a valiant run for 2nd or 3rd, but got bumped back to finish 5th. "Domerzag" moved up 27 placed to finish in 11th place, and "rattle15" finished in 12th up 24! It was super fun for me to watch the battle for positions towards the end of this season, and in particular the 2nd, 3rd and 4th positions in the last few days. I hope you all enjoyed it as well! There are, of course, many others who made some significant gains, and many familiar names on the list as well, so a hearty Congratulations to you all!!

Everyone who finished the season in the Top 50 ("Recent" list), has been awarded both a special in-game "board peg" as well as Cribbage Pro Gold that can be used in the Cribbage Pro Contests system and then redeemed for cash (awards must be used at least once in a Contest to be cashed out to USDC, see the full terms and conditions for details). The Gold awards do expire, so use them or lose them! If you are awarded Gold, and are not sure what it is good for (or how to access the Contests system), read through the links above or email us any time if you have questions. On iOS you will need the "Cribbage Pro Contests" version of the app, and on Android and Windows you need to install the game using the Amazon Appstore. It is super easy to do, so don't let that app install process get in the way of some good cribbage fun! The Cribbage Pro Gold awards are as follows (not cumulative):

• 4 Gold for Top 50
• 7 Gold for Top 25
• 10 Gold for Top 10
• 20 Gold for 3rd Place
• 30 Gold for 2nd Place
• 50 Gold for 1st Place

The top finisher is awarded the "crown" board peg, and all others in the Top 50 are awarded a "star" board peg. These pegs are shown to everyone when playing in online multiplayer games, and they are permanent, so if you see your opponent has one of them you can know that they have earned it by finishing in the Top 50 in competitive play.

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

Here was the final Top 50 for Winter 2023:

1	iPeg	26	tassie08
2	rookie22	27	dkatz1877
3	nob4one	28	Dpac
4	Dhrun	29	lbolt58
5	dcpastore	30	pegmstr77
6	yvanobc12	31	SharksFin
7	balment	32	MTBiggs
8	scoot1234	33	4KA
9	WhyADuck	34	cbx1000z
10	Gssj21	35	kansas666
11	Domerzag	36	UberPooch
12	rattle15	37	Chipchamp
13	BigD4Life	38	gmric5
14	TC2	39	scottniq
15	Paludeja	40	deeney0
16	cyrusg	41	pscohen
17	Mrpadre	42	warrior14
18	yank29	43	Chelsea64
19	dph	44	reefmad
20	fbc2k23	45	rpmcd
21	gotupeggd	46	5150dog
22	Doksboy	47	monniermb
23	TrumpetJ	48	Duane1952
24	Shavesy82	49	aela
25	nvsru911	50	Mharold

The levels in Competitive Matchmaking are available in the FAQ.

New Version of Cribbage Pro Available in Beta!

Just another reminder, that the Beta is still available, and hopefully wrapping up relatively soon! If you haven't checked it out yet, you can read more about it in the blog post about the Cribbage Pro Beta.

As a reminder, if you have played here and have some thoughts on what you would like to see around prizes, structure or anything else, please email us at support@FullerSystems.com with your suggestions.

New Cribbage Pro Beta Available on Mobile!

Cribbage Pro Is Getting New Features!

As you may have read in the recent Competitive Matchmaking Season blog post, we recently released a "Beta Test" version of the upcoming release of Cribbage Pro, and I have recently added some exciting new features there! Have you ever wondered what was the best discard decision among all of the possibilities, and why? Now you can know with our new hand "Grade" tool, which is also integrated into the hints system! It is even visible for your opponent's hand, and even in multiplayer games! I plan to discuss more about how that feature works in the future, but I'm also excited to announce that the beta is now available for those on iOS and iPadOS devices through the Apple TestFlight system! For Apple users, just use this link to sign up and get started with the latest version of Cribbage Pro here: https://testflight.apple.com/join/EbFA7iuB (For the "Contests" version on iOS, use this link: https://testflight.apple.com/join/3UstfEqD)For Android users, continue to simply go to the Google Play Store listing for the free version of Cribbage Pro on your Android device (if reading this on a different device, you can sign up here) and select the option to sign up for the Beta and install it directly there.

As a beta tester, you will be able to get early access to all of the new features, while also having your input guide the future of Cribbage Pro! I have received a lot of great feedback already, and it has shaped the game, and in particular the new features. I am listening, and really want your input!

You can always switch back out of the beta at any time, but if you have any suggestions at all, please take a moment and send an email to support@FullerSystems.com with your feedback about the beta. This beta version uses a new "game engine", which is kind of like an operating system for games. As such, it will look a little different around things like how it scales to fit your screen, animations/sounds, some new options/settings, prompts/input screens, and other similar non-cribbage specific things. If you have used the desktop Mac/Windows version of Cribbage Pro, then much of this will look familiar (if you have the latest updates just released - so be sure to get that update).

This is a beta test version, which means it could still have a few bugs we need to work out. If you see one, let us know right away and don't assume we already know about it!

The beta will likely continue into January (Update: February/March) 2023 before this new version will become the full released version for everyone to use. Having all of you help beta test is extremely valuable to me, so go check it out and brag to your friends about getting early access to some fun new features!!

UPDATE Feb 2023: The feedback and participation has been amazing! Thank you all so much for participating, and even more so for providing great feedback. We have decided to run the beta a few weeks longer than originally planned. This will allow more time to make more improvements, while also giving everyone a little more time to play with the game and provide more feedback. I'm so excited to get this update out to everyone, but also want to make sure it is the best it can be! Keep that feedback coming!!

Competitive Cribbage - Winter 2023

The Winter 2023 Season of Competitive Cribbage is Live!

The Autumn 2022 season has closed, and all stats and final top finishers recorded. Can you feel that chill in the air (apologies to our friends in the southern hemisphere)? I definitely can, and with it the Winter 2023 Season of Competitive Cribbage is here! This new season is just a little longer than usual at 112 days. Please also read through this post for some important news about a new upcoming version of Cribbage Pro.

Autumn 2022 was a shorter season (77 days), for mostly logistical reasons, with a few less players as well, which tends to happen this time of year as everyone is busy with so many things. In some ways it was more competitive in a tighter time frame, well at the same time a handful fewer participants is one less person to win against and makes some room for others to join the list. At the same time, I know this also meant having to wait a little longer to find a match. Please continue to spread the word about Competitive Cribbage with your cribbage playing friends. Or, better yet, help a friend learn the great game of cribbage and join us here! I humbly suggest that Cribbage Pro is a great tool to teach the game.

The Top 50 has quite a few players new in the mix. I love seeing new players come in and make a run for it! Thank you to all for participating and bringing your friends! Thank you also to everyone who participated at every level, even if you didn't make the final Top 50.

In 1st place for Autumn 2022, we have "kb92129" (from sunny San Diego perhaps??), up from 19th last season. Impressive. 2nd place is "TC2" '(3rd last season, and someone we have all seen around these parts before). In 3rd we have "Dhrun", who was in 11th last season. Other interesting movements in the Top 50 included "ernie313" who moved up 15 places to be 6th (and was several places higher earlier), "MondoMan" up 35 to 7th place, "hillchem" finishing in 11th up 36 places! A hearty Congratulations to you all!!

Everyone who finished the season in the Top 50 ("Recent" list), has been awarded both a special in-game "board peg" as well as Cribbage Pro Gold that can be used in the Cribbage Pro Contests system and then redeemed for cash (awards must be used at least once in a Contest to be cashed out to USDC, see the full terms and conditions for details). The Gold awards do expire, so use them or lose them! If you are awarded Gold, and are not sure what it is good for (or how to access the Contests system), read through the links above or email us any time if you have questions. On iOS you will need the "Cribbage Pro Contests" version of the app, and on Android you need to install the game using the Amazon Appstore. It is super easy to do, so don't let that app install process get in the way of some good cribbage fun! The Cribbage Pro Gold awards are as follows (not cumulative):

• 4 Gold for Top 50
• 7 Gold for Top 25
• 10 Gold for Top 10
• 20 Gold for 3rd Place
• 30 Gold for 2nd Place
• 50 Gold for 1st Place

The top finisher is awarded the "crown" board peg, and all others in the Top 50 are awarded a "star" board peg. These pegs are shown to everyone when playing in online multiplayer games, and they are permanent, so if you see your opponent has one of them you can know that they have earned it by finishing in the Top 50 in competitive play.

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

Here was the final Top 50 for Autumn 2022:

1	kb92129	26	tomato777
2	TC2	27	seachica
3	Dhrun	28	tassie08
4	nob4one	29	236Postie
5	iPeg	30	jjonell
6	ernie313	31	enaud58
7	MondoMan	32	0ffpiste
8	Mrpadre	33	TheBull82
9	scoot1234	34	Rex254
10	dkatz1877	35	wintea1
11	hillchem	36	rattle15
12	mailliw	37	duke62
13	Br1Guy	38	Domerzag
14	Paxter	39	gsosin
15	Bass2K9	40	SH00TER
16	Yompopo	41	TrumpetJ
17	Warpegs	42	Roget
18	31four14	43	lbolt58
19	brettniko	44	Swodis
20	dronergal	45	gtgplayer
21	4KA	46	808HWK
22	IAMFAST	47	pscohen
23	BigD4Life	48	boltsfan9
24	yank29	49	vhray
25	PalmerR	50	ST13

The levels in Competitive Matchmaking are available in the FAQ.

New Version of Cribbage Pro Available in Beta!

We recently released a beta test version of an upcoming release of Cribbage Pro on the Google Play Store. If you have an Android device and would like to check it out, then go to the Google Play Store listing for the free version of Cribbage Pro on your Android device (if reading this on a different device, you can sign up here) and select the option to sign up for the Beta and install it. You can always switch back out of the beta at any time. This beta version uses a new "game engine", which is kind of like an operating system for games. As such, it will look a little different around things like how it scales to fit your screen, animations/sounds, some new options/settings, prompts/input screens, and other similar non-cribbage specific things. If you have used the desktop Mac/Windows version of Cribbage Pro, then much of this will look familiar. As this is a beta test version, it means it could still have a few bugs we need to work out. If you see one, let us know right away and don't assume we already know about it.

The game itself is the same, and the way things work hasn't changed in any meaningful way. So, you may wonder why we did this if nothing major is changing. The short answer is that this new system will allow us to do much more in the future, and add more features that many have asked for, while doing it in an efficient way. Today, when I make a change of any kind to the game, I generally have to do the work 3+ times (once for each platform the game currently runs on). That takes, as you might have guessed, roughly 3x the amount of work to do just about anything. I sure would like to be able to have that time to work on making the game better, and so that is a major advantage of this change - more features, faster and more consistently. The other reasons are more technical, and involve how game engines work to make a game better in ways that if I tried to do it on my own would take huge amounts of time. The various game engines give you these things "for free" (it is included as part of that system - not to be confused with actually not costing any money). That means I can also develop new things for the game faster overall.

I hope to run this Android version of the beta for a few more weeks before possibly bringing a test version to those of you on Apple devices (the testing system with Apple is a bit more "involved"). If that is something you know you want to be involved with, then install the Apple provided "TestFlight" app from the App Store now so you are ready to go when it is available.. Following that, this new version will become the full released version for everyone to use. If you have some time, consider trying it out and giving me your feedback (good, bad, "meh" - or anything else). Having all of you help beta test is really helpful, and so your feedback in that and always is extremely valuable to me!

As a reminder, if you have played here and have some thoughts on what you would like to see around prizes, structure or anything else, please email us at support@FullerSystems.com with your suggestions.

Competitive Cribbage - Autumn 2022 Season

The Autumn 2022 Season of Competitive Cribbage is Live!

The Summer 2022 season is in the books, and all stats are locked in and recorded. I'll keep the intro short this season, as I have some ideas to share after the important details about last season. If you are most interested in that, then scroll down past the first table on this post.

The Top 50 has quite a few players new in the mix. I love seeing new players come in and make a run for it! Thank you to all for participating and bringing your friends! Thank you also to everyone who participated at every level, even if you didn't make the final Top 50. Don't forget to invite your friends to compete and see who really is the best cribbage player!

In 1st place for Summer 2022, we have "ThreeG" (welcome back)! 2nd place is "iPeg" (so close, yet...) In 3rd we have "TC2", who was in 25th last season, but has been near the top a few times now as well (see below). Other interesting movements in the Top 50 included "dkatz1877" who moved up 45 places from last season to be 4th, "bbaer1" up 29 to 8th place, "cyrusg" up 22 to 10th and of course the many new faces who are scattered throughout the Top 50 this season who fought particularly hard in the final days of the season to make the cut! Congratulations!!

Everyone who finished the season in the Top 50 ("Recent" list), has been awarded both a special in-game "board peg" as well as Cribbage Pro Gold that can be used in the Cribbage Pro Contests system and then redeemed for cash (awards must be used at least once in a Contest to be cashed out to USDC, see the full terms and conditions for details). The Gold awards do expire, so use them or lose them! If you are awarded Gold, and are not sure what it is good for (or how to access the Contests system), read through the links above or email us any time if you have questions. On iOS you will need the "Cribbage Pro Contests" version of the app, and on Android you need to install the game using the Amazon Appstore. The Cribbage Pro Gold awards are as follows (not cumulative):

• 4 Gold for Top 50
• 7 Gold for Top 25
• 10 Gold for Top 10
• 20 Gold for 3rd Place
• 30 Gold for 2nd Place
• 50 Gold for 1st Place

The top finisher is awarded the "crown" board peg, and all others in the Top 50 are awarded a "star" board peg. These pegs are shown to everyone when playing in online multiplayer games, and they are permanent, so if you see your opponent has one of them you can know that they have earned it by finishing in the Top 50 in competitive play.

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

Here was the final Top 50 for Summer 2022:

1	ThreeG	26	bigshane0
2	iPeg	27	scoot1234
3	TC2	28	seachica
4	dkatz1877	29	Paludeja
5	VGKnights	30	zackzoey
6	nob4one	31	Doksboy
7	Mrpadre	32	bj1949
8	bbaer1	33	Trucha1
9	rattle15	34	cribfan44
10	cyrusg	35	Dempegs
11	Dhrun	36	yank29
12	lbolt58	37	Chelsea64
13	mountains	38	BrutusSt
14	TempestN	39	JonKneeGo
15	2CRIBKING	40	Gssj21
16	pileated	41	jjonell
17	Yompopo	42	MondoMan
18	Mharold	43	viclen
19	kb92129	44	flashmatt
20	Lapete88	45	Domerzag
21	ernie313	46	nvsru911
22	medzy	47	hillchem
23	Geofred1	48	SH00TER
24	fpster	49	pscohen
25	sheepman	50	1bh1

The levels in Competitive Matchmaking are available in the FAQ.

Top Competitive Cribbage Stats

Recently I was asked a question related to the top players in competitive cribbage, and it got me thinking about how things have gone over the last 9 seasons (yes, it has been that long - 10 if you count the "beta test" season). This led me to wonder who has been at the very top throughout all of these 9 seasons. Here are a few tables that focus on just the top 3 of the list over all of the seasons.

Who has been in the Top 3 how many times (out of 9 total seasons)?:

Player	Count
iPeg	6
Dhrun	5
TC2	3
ThreeG	3
dkatz1877	2
BigD4Life	1
cyrusg	1
ernie313	1
kb92129	1
Mrpadre	1
nob4one	1
Nytric456	1
PegSurfer	1

Who has been in the Top 3 by final rank?:

Rank	Player	Count
1	iPeg	4
1	ThreeG	3
1	Mrpadre	1
1	Nytric456	1
2	Dhrun	2
2	iPeg	2
2	BigD4Life	1
2	cyrusg	1
2	ernie313	1
2	PegSurfer	1
2	TC2	1
3	Dhrun	3
3	dkatz1877	2
3	TC2	2
3	kb92129	1
3	nob4one	1

There are multiple ideas (as shared by a few of you), about what to do with this list. One possibility is to run a "Tournament of Champions" for everyone on the list (or maybe just some, or add everyone from the Top 5 instead of 3). There are several variations on this idea, but in order to prioritize it as something to consider, I would really like to know what everyone thinks.

Please either comment here or email and let us know what you think. Could a tournament be fun to see done in some way, even if you are not on the list? If you are on this list and are interested, send us an email confirming your interest. Lastly, assuming there is interest in a tournament of some kind, would you be interested in watching the games live as they happen (streamed live on YouTube, Twitch, Facebook, etc)? If you think that would be awesome, and if you would want to participate in some other way (say, to add color commentary as I'm not sure anyone wants to hear my voice announce the games), let me know. Again, please add your thoughts in the comments or share via email. I will say that I personally find the idea of watching a live game against these players pretty interesting, but that might just be me.

As a reminder, if you have played here and have some thoughts on what you would like to see around prizes, structure or anything else, please email us at support@FullerSystems.com with your suggestions.

Competitive Cribbage - Summer 2022

It is time for the Cribbage Pro Summer 2022 Season of Competitive Matchmaking! If you are here primarily for what is new/changed, then scroll down to the final "News for The New Season" section below. The Spring 2022 season has fully wrapped up, and as usual it was entertaining to watch the rise and fall of different players throughout the season again. I still find myself cheering for different players on and off throughout the season. I admit I also often wish I could personally participate, but  we have a rule that employees/contractors are prohibited from this and Contest play (and from the leaderboards entirely, in case you were wondering).

The Top 50 had quite a few new faces yet again this season. It is great to see all the new challengers working so hard to make their way to the top! Everyone loves an underdog, I suppose. Things just seem to be getting more and more competitive, so thank you to all for participating and bringing your friends! Thank you also to everyone who participated in this great game of cribbage, even if you didn't quite make the Top 50. I hope you enjoyed the journey.

In 1st place for Spring 2022, we have "Mrpadre" for the first time! It is nice to see Mrpadre back this season, as they were in the top 10 last season as well! 2nd place is "ernie313", and ernie313 has been in the Top 50 many times in the past as well, finishing last season at 33rd. In 3rd we have "Dhrun", who was in 2nd last season and also becoming a regular around these parts. Other interesting movements in the Top 50 included "WhyADuck" who has placed in the Top 50 before, but wasn't there last season and is 4th this season, and "Br1Guy" who we have definitely seen before, moving up just a bit from 13th to 9th! "scoot1234" came up from 28th last season to finish 19th this season, while "jjonell" came from 42nd to finish 36th.

Everyone who finished the season in the Top 50 ("Recent" list), has been awarded both a special in-game "board peg" as well as Cribbage Pro Gold that can be used in the Cribbage Pro Contests system and then redeemed for cash (awards must be used at least once in a Contest to be cashed out to USDC, see the full terms and conditions for details). If you are awarded Gold, and are not sure what it is good for (or how to access the Contests system), read through the links above or email us any time if you have questions. On iOS you will need the "Cribbage Pro Contests" version of the app, and on Android you need to install the game using the Amazon Appstore. As it looks like many are not using the Cribbage Pro Gold they win (which makes it kind of a useless prize for them), this part of the prize may change for the Summer 2022 winners (please email us your suggestions). The Cribbage Pro Gold awards are as follows (not cumulative):

• 4 Gold for Top 50
• 7 Gold for Top 25
• 10 Gold for Top 10
• 20 Gold for 3rd Place
• 30 Gold for 2nd Place
• 50 Gold for 1st Place

The top finisher is awarded the "crown" board peg, and all others in the Top 50 are awarded a "star" board peg. These pegs are shown to everyone when playing in online multiplayer games, and they are permanent, so if you see your opponent has one of them you can know that they have earned it by finishing in the Top 50 in competitive play.

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

Here was the final Top 50 for Spring 2022:

1	Mrpadre	26	koala29
2	ernie313	27	nvsru911
3	Dhrun	28	Domerzag
4	WhyADuck	29	gotupeggd
5	Gssj21	30	wfdove
6	nob4one	31	aela
7	iPeg	32	cyrusg
8	scout3	33	sagdog16
9	Br1Guy	34	Dempegs
10	shudbgolf	35	Legonaut
11	wightness	36	jjonell
12	PALONSO	37	bbaer1
13	236Postie	38	farleysma
14	VGKnights	39	pscohen
15	Cutch13	40	Paludeja
16	hillchem	41	vhray
17	nhguy	42	IAMFAST
18	hunterIT	43	Buikemad
19	scoot1234	44	SH00TER
20	cribfan44	45	james500
21	lbolt58	46	dph
22	UberPooch	47	jehcjehc
23	BigD4Life	48	brewski42
24	jwr13	49	dkatz1877
25	TC2	50	yank29

The levels in Competitive Matchmaking are available in the FAQ.

News for The New Season

Some of you have been asking, and patiently waiting, for some bigger changes. However, there will not be big changes for this season.

During the Spring 2022 season, while you were all playing (and we were watching all the ups and downs and crunching the numbers), we spent a lot of time working on several different ways to bring ideas around a single game match to the competitive system. The idea was to lighten the games required, and the time needed to participate, as not everyone is able to do so with a 3 game match. Ultimately, it just didn't work out as hoped, and so we couldn't release it.

We worked through several different ways to try to provide for a single game match, but in testing and analysis, it just could never provide good results. What I mean by that is our system simply could not accurately isolate the skill from the luck with just a single game, even if the total number of games played went up significantly (which it is also unclear if that would be the case). Playing more games against other players just doesn't compensate. This means, among other criteria, that it couldn't accurately predict the winner (meaning the skill calculated isn't good enough), or then subsequently calculate the skill rank adjustments to be made reliably as a result, when tested against real world game data. Either the skill ranking system we use (even with various tweaks/changes to it), or the game of cribbage itself, just doesn't allow for it to happen. I personally try to hold a high standard for everything we do, and if anything can't be shown to meet or exceed that standard, no matter if we have spent a lot of effort on it, we will not release it.

As we have tested lots of different skill ranking systems before selecting the one used today, I honestly don't think that is the problem, but likely this is just the nature of cribbage that there can often be a non-trivial amount of luck in a single game. Frankly, the "Best of 3" isn't perfect (and I think there are things we can still do to help more there), but given the limitations (like the amount of time people can play), it ends up being a good compromise. So, because of all that time working on these things that didn't result in changes this season, we decided to not make any other core changes. There just wasn't enough time. There are some minor things, but mostly just around making the system more reliable, and bug fixes. So, we have decided to put this task aside for now, and to move on to other improvements that many are also asking for.

As a reminder, if you have played a few seasons here and have some thoughts on what you would like to see around prizes, structure or anything else, please email us at support@FullerSystems.com with your suggestions.

Calculating the Odds of Winning a Cribbage Game – Part 1

A Guest post by Donald E. Heller

As an almost life-long and daily cribbage player, one of the things I enjoy about the game is the ebb and flow of a typical match. At any point in time, player 1 can have a strong lead, looking like a lock to win the game, and then player 2 can get two or three great hands and pass her opponent to go on and win the game.

As this occurs, I often think about what the odds were of player 1 winning the game given the score and position on the board. For example, if I am ahead of the other player 90 to 75, what are the odds that I will win the game? This calculation is similar to what sports websites often do for games in progress. One example from ESPN is shown in figure 1 below.

Figure 1: ESPN win probability chart for Major League Baseball (screenshot courtesy ESPN)

In this game, in the top of the 4th inning and none out, and Cleveland ahead 2-0, ESPN calculates that Cleveland has a 67.3% chance of winning the game. This is based on the score and point in the game, along with ESPN’s calculations of the skills and track records of each of the two teams and their respective players.

Is it possible to calculate similar odds of winning in cribbage? My curiosity led me to a web search, but I could not find anything along the lines of what I was looking for. Being a user of Cribbage Pro, I reached out to the team there to see if they knew of anyone who had ever done these calculations. They did not, but said that they were willing to share some data with me if I was interested in doing the calculations myself. Being an experienced quantitative researcher, I agreed to take on the challenge.

Fuller Systems (the developer of Cribbage Pro) generously provided me with the data necessary to do the calculations from their log files of Cribbage Pro users. After providing me with a small sample file of anonymous data (data that couldn’t be tied back to any Cribbage Pro user), I worked on extracting the data and analyzing it. I was able to do the odds calculations I had hoped for, so Fuller Systems then provided me with a set of larger files – 72 files, each representing a consecutive hour’s worth of log records from Cribbage Pro games over the course of three days, and containing the step-by-step records of games played on the app. These are massive files, each one of the 72 with over one million records in it. In order to make the data analyzable in Stata, the statistical software that I use, I had to extract samples from each game and then combine these samples from the 72 files into a single, smaller file that could be analyzed to do the odds calculations.

This smaller file represented over 600,000 games that were completed during the 72-hour period for which Fuller Systems provided me with the data. From the scores at each point in time, and knowing who won each game, I was able to calculate the odds of each player winning the game given the score.

There are certainly some limitations to these calculations. I did not know anything about the players, so I could not conduct a sophisticated point-in-time prediction for each game that takes into account the skill and track record of each player, similar to what ESPN does in its predictions. So these predictions are what I would describe as “player-neutral,” i.e., they only relate what we know about a score at a given point with who won the game in the end, but nothing about the skill of the players.

Another limitation is that I did not calculate the odds for every potential score. To keep the analysis simple, I analyzed scores that were reasonably close and would typically be found in games. In other words, I did not calculate the odds of winning when the score was 115 for player 1 to 60 for player 2 (though one could intuit that player 1 would have very high odds of winning the game and skunking player 2).

With these caveats, table 1 shows some examples of what I found. The full table can be found here (note: in the table the “Win %” is the percentage of games won by player 2; the win percentages were calculated only for those scores that had at least 100 occurrences in the data).

Table 1 – Odds of winning for a variety of scores

Player 1 score	Player 2 score	Odds of player 2 winning
30	40	61%
60	70	78%
60	80	84%
90	91	54%
90	95	61%
90	100	76%
100	110	78%

In general, the wider the margin between the two players, the greater are the odds that the player who is ahead will win. But this pattern, however, is not perfect. Figure 2 below provides one example. As noted, the closer player 2 is to winning when player 1 has a score of 100, the greater the odds are that player 2 will win the game. But you will note the interesting dip starting when player 2 has a score of 117.

Figure 2: Calculated odds that player 2 wins the game when player 1 has 100 points

The reason for this can be found in the laws of probability. For example, if you flip a true coin, you know the odds are 50 percent that it will come up tails, and 50 percent that it will come up heads. If you flip it ten times, you would expect five heads and five tails. But if you conducted this experiment of ten coin flips a number of times, you would probably find that it was not always split 50 percent between heads and tails. And if you conducted 100 coin flips, the same would be true – you would likely not have exactly 50 heads and 50 tales.

The same is true in the game of cribbage. While you would expect that a wider lead would lead to an increased chance of winning the game, this is not necessarily always true, even over the hundreds of games represented by each of the scores in the table. Another reason for this is that the scores used in my analysis are taken at random points in time, e.g., at the end of the hand, or during the counting of a hand, etc. So who wins the game could be impacted by who has the deal and who is counting when the score in the analysis was used.

Part 2 of this post will explore this phenomenon further. For now, I hope that you enjoy using the table to look up your odds of winning the game as you play cribbage. But remember – these predictions are not perfect, and as they say, your mileage may vary!

Donald E. Heller is a retired professor and college administrator, and lives in San Francisco. He was taught the game of cribbage as a child, and plays daily with his wife as well as on Cribbage Pro.

Competitive Cribbage - Spring 2022 Season

It is the time you have all been anxiously waiting for, a new competitive season of Cribbage! Welcome to the Spring 2022 Season of Competitive Matchmaking for Cribbage Pro! Where we are, it is definitely that time of year again, and spring has sprung. I know for many there are a few more weeks of winter weather, but here the flowers are blooming, the bees are buzzing and I am sneezing - it is springtime! The Winter 2022 season has completed, and if you had any bets placed on who was going to be at the top, there were not a lot of surprises this time around. Overall, the Top 50 leaderboard still had some new faces, and the season had more matches played than any of the previous 3 seasons! It was a fairly hard and long battle for many to reach their rankings. As always, continue to tell your friends about competitive cribbage, and take advantage of those prizes! Thank you to all who were once again able to participate in this great game of cribbage! For those who couldn't make the commitment to Winter 2022, I hope you can find the time to join in the fun this season.

In 1st place for Winter 2022, we have "iPeg". Welcome back, iPeg! 2nd place is "Dhrun", and I admit I was kind of rooting for Dhrun this season. In 3rd we have "nob4one", which is someone we have seen around these parts before too, and great to see come up from 13th last season. Other interesting movements in the Top 50 included "hillchem" moving from 15th to 7th, and "Yompopo" who came all the way from 41st to 12th! The next biggest moves between seasons were "Br1Guy" who rose 24 places from 37th to 13th, and "RatKing" from 32nd to 14th!

As with past seasons, everyone who finished the season in the Top 50 ("Recent" list), have been awarded both a special in-game "board peg" as well as Cribbage Pro Gold that can be used in the Cribbage Pro Contests system and then redeemed for cash (awards must be used at least once in a Contest to be cashed out to USDC, see the full terms and conditions for details). The top finisher is awarded the "crown" board peg, and all others in the Top 50 are awarded a "star" board peg. These pegs are shown to everyone when playing in online multiplayer games, and they are permanent, so if you see your opponent has one of them you can know that they have earned it by finishing in the Top 50 in competitive play. The Cribbage Pro Gold awards are as follows (not cumulative):

• 4 Gold for Top 50
• 7 Gold for Top 25
• 10 Gold for Top 10
• 20 Gold for 3rd Place
• 30 Gold for 2nd Place
• 50 Gold for 1st Place

Remember to complete your 10 matches per week. See the FAQ for details. Play early, and play often!

Here was the final Top 50 for Winter 2022:

1	iPeg	26	IAMFAST
2	Dhrun	27	jjpears20
3	nob4one	28	scoot1234
4	flashmatt	29	Looie3nba
5	yank29	30	gmric5
6	Mrpadre	31	Freddie69
7	hillchem	32	SergeLam
8	ryguy2021	33	ernie313
9	TC2	34	SH00TER
10	Domerzag	35	Podracer
11	lbolt58	36	fab50
12	Yompopo	37	yvanobc12
13	Br1Guy	38	kb92129
14	RatKing	39	konadive
15	pileated	40	dixietix
16	enaud58	41	dcpastore
17	31four14	42	jjonell
18	pscohen	43	gsosin
19	VGKnights	44	Barusu1
20	nvsru911	45	mountains
21	rattle15	46	Wyorwk
22	EVW	47	tassie08
23	pegmstr77	48	catpat
24	dkatz1877	49	Trucha1
25	greyday	50	Paludeja

The levels in Competitive Matchmaking are available in the FAQ.

Some Changes This New Spring 2022 Season

Although we had hoped to add several changes this season, we were unable to do so because of competing priorities leaving not enough time to get everything tested and ready to go. So this new season is keeping changes to just a little widening of the difference in CR allowed to make a match in the matchmaking system. Last season had it around 1000 CR, but we tweaked it up a bit to allow for some broader competition. This was needed due to how quickly the lower CR players were bumped out of being able to play (find a match) so early on in the season. We want to be able to welcome players into the season for a longer period of time, and not have people lose all hope early on as the time require to find a match grows beyond the time they have available to play. Again, more changes in the future, but for now that is the noteworthy change for this season aside from some bug fixes, etc.

As a reminder, if you have played a few seasons here and have some thoughts on what you would like to see around prizes, structure or anything else, please email us at support@FullerSystems.com with your suggestions.

Competitive Cribbage - Winter 2022 Season

Welcome to the Winter 2022 Season of Competitive Matchmaking for Cribbage Pro! Yes, it is still 2021 when we start this season, but I think we have had enough of 2021. The Autumn 2021 season has ended, and in a way that I honestly did not expect. So many new faces on the Top 50 leaderboard this last season, several of which came in at the "last minute" to make their way into the top rankings, and of course a new 1st place player as well! Please continue to tell your friends about competitive cribbage, and of course the chance to win the prizes! Thank you to all who were once again able to participate in this great game of cribbage!

As many will attest, it takes some significant commitment to achieve this, and so I want to very sincerely recognize that hard work here. I'm humbled by the individual effort put in by so many. That said, I also hear that it would be nice to lower that level of work a bit to allow more people a chance to participate. This season we are making some smaller changes, but won't be making the bigger changes until next season when I do plan to include more of your suggestions. Before I get into the more minor changes this season later in this post, let me take a moment to recognize the top players last season.

In 1st place, we have "ThreeG". Great job on achieving this rank and beating out some great competition! 2nd place is "iPeg", and I am sure you are all deeply saddened to see them fall from 1st place, after sitting there multiple seasons. In 3rd we have "Dhrun", which again I know took a lot of work to get there! There were several big improvements again this season, but we really saw a lot of new players in the Top 50, so congratulations to you all as well.

As with past seasons, everyone who finished the season in the Top 50 ("Recent" list), have been awarded both a special in-game "board peg" as well as Cribbage Pro Gold that can be used in the Cribbage Pro Contests system and then redeemed for cash (awards must be used at least once in a Contest to be cashed out to USDC, see the full terms and conditions for details). The top finisher is awarded the "crown" board peg, and all others in the Top 50 are awarded a "star" board peg. These pegs are shown to everyone when playing in online multiplayer games, and they are permanent, so if you see your opponent has one of them you can know that they have earned it by finishing in the Top 50 in competitive play. The Cribbage Pro Gold awards are as follows (not cumulative):

• 4 Gold for Top 50
• 7 Gold for Top 25
• 10 Gold for Top 10
• 20 Gold for 3rd Place
• 30 Gold for 2nd Place
• 50 Gold for 1st Place

Remember to complete your 10 matches per week. See the FAQ for details. Play early, and play often!

Here was the final Top 50 for Autumn 2021:

1	ThreeG	26	4MrHand
2	iPeg	27	glaicer29
3	Dhrun	28	jkruger
4	card55	29	ernie313
5	flashmatt	30	gstorm77
6	kcguy	31	Paxter
7	Saskie	32	RatKing
8	lbolt58	33	VGKnights
9	WhyADuck	34	dkatz1877
10	XLNC21	35	Linkup
11	UberPooch	36	0wl
12	Domerzag	37	Br1Guy
13	nob4one	38	cribberoo
14	jwick60	39	jwr13
15	hillchem	40	dph
16	xdb1135	41	Yompopo
17	rattle15	42	DdsG
18	nvsru911	43	shudbgolf
19	chiyo1	44	stephzzz
20	beth0223	45	gmax
21	Cmoney421	46	airmark7
22	jjonell	47	Trucha1
23	mountains	48	Rhuby
24	better69	49	Birddoggy
25	Swodis	50	lovJesus

The levels in Competitive Matchmaking are available in the FAQ.

Important Changes This Season

Now to briefly go over some important changes this new season. First, we have changed the rule about how late you can come into the season and start playing. You now must have completed your placement matches 3 weeks prior to the end of the season. This should give enough time to let the ranking settle out the top players without the potential for a few lucky matches to drive rankings sideways at the end of a season.

Second, multiple pieces of the matchmaking system have changed. The biggest change is that we now will enforce a maximum CR difference between players once you get to the Diamond level. That means you shouldn't see someone who is 1000 CR lower/higher than you being matched at that point (and it is fairly unlikely at the lower levels too). The second change is a bit more complex to describe, but put simply it tweaks how the system determines if it thinks the matchup will produce a "good game" and let it through as a positive potential match. I think both of these changes will allow some more movement in the leaderboard in a good way, while also reducing that "risk" of waiting too long and being matched against someone too much lower than you. One of the real life "daily" impacts is that you may wait a little longer for a match, but also that you should not exit out of the matchmaking while waiting like before if you were trying to avoid that lower CR match. It will be fun to see how this all plays out, and note that we may make some tweaks throughout the season if it looks like it any of this isn't achieving the desired outcomes.

One last minor change is a tweak to how wait times are calculated. It is definitely far from perfect, but just remember it is based on what players of your similar level are seeing as wait times on average recently. As such, it will lose accuracy during slower times when fewer players are playing. I am honestly debating if this feature is very helpful, and so please let me know your feedback if you would rather that space on the screen be used for something else or just gone.

Finally, know that we are looking into some potentially bigger changes for the next season. If you have played a few seasons here and have some thoughts on what you would like to see done, please email us at support@FullerSystems.com with your suggestions. Similarly, if you have never played and something is holding you back, let us know. It is primarily what you all suggest that drives what I work on next, so let your voice be heard.

Older iOS or Android Device Not Connecting to Multiplayer?

Is your older iOS or Android device no longer able to connect to play online multiplayer games, but instead you get a general error about a potential account problem or other connection problem? If you have tried resetting your password and making sure your internet connection is working correctly, but still have problems, you may be experiencing a problem with not having recent security updates (or probably any updates at all recently) on your older device. If you are using an older iOS version older than iOS 10 or Android less than version 7.1.1 (with some exceptions), that older device does not have the latest security updates required to connect securely to the game servers. Without going into a lot of technical details as to why/how this has happened, know that there is this concept of a "root certificate" that your device is missing, but needs to be installed and trusted in order to be able to continue to connect to the game (and many other websites/apps in the future as well most likely). That root certificate is the one used by our website to secure it over HTTPS/SSL (again, skipping over most of the technical parts), and is provided by a company called "LetsEncrypt" (they provide our SSL Certificate). The solution is to add this root certificate to your older device manually. You need to use your device that is having problems to follow these high level steps:

1. On your device having the problem, go to https://letsencrypt.org/certificates/
2. Scroll down to the section below the image titled "Root Certificates", and under the "Active" listing the first item is "ISRG Root X1".
3. Under "ISRG Root X1", to the right of that is the "Self Signed" item linked as "der".  Select and download that "der" certificate file.
4. Open that file on your device and follow any prompts to install it as a root certificate. How you do this exactly will depend on your device. For example, here is how to install a certificate on an Android Pixel device. Other Android devices will require you to go to the Settings app and under a Security section to install the certificate, while most older iOS devices will guide you directly after trying to open the file.

Once installed, you may have to restart your device and then try again to use the game. If simply opening the certificate file you downloaded does not get you started on installing the root certificate, you may have to do a Google search for specific instructions for how to install it on your specific device. It is usually just a few short steps.

Finally, if you try this and still have problems, then this may not be what is causing your issue and you should email us at support@FullerSystems.com for further assistance.

Cribbage Pro Now Available on Windows & Mac!

After many requests, and a fair amount of work, Cribbage Pro is now available on both Windows PC and Mac!

	If you have a Windows computer, download Cribbage Pro from the Windows Store now!
	If you have a Mac, get Cribbage Pro on the Mac App Store!

You will find there are some fairly minor visual tweaks in this version of the game as compared to the current mobile version, but every features is there and ready for you to enjoy. There are a few new minor features, like the ability to log out and log back in easily and some new animations for cards when playing. We do hope to add even more in the future as we move to this new system that will eventually be used for all versions of the game, including on mobile devices.

If you use a Windows or Mac computer, please consider supporting the game by installing it and writing a review in the corresponding app store for it. As always, if you find anything that doesn't work as you expect or otherwise have any comments or suggestions, please email us at support@FullerSystems.com

Competitive Cribbage - Autumn 2021 Season

Welcome to the Autumn 2021 Season of Competitive Matchmaking for Cribbage Pro! Competitive Cribbage Summer 2021 (Season 5) has ended. It is always great to see players on the Top 50 to end the season that were not in last season. Somehow you all manage to play more and more matches each season, setting a new record for players and matches this last season yet again, so the competition is definitely fierce!

Don't forget to tell your cribbage friends about competitive cribbage, and of course the chance to win the prizes! You have my permission (ok, a request) to brag to your friends about your placement and challenge them to see if they can do any better. In any case, thank you to all who were able to participate in this great game of cribbage.

In 1st place, we have (yes, again) "iPeg". 2nd place is "BigD4Life" (up from 23rd last season) and in 3rd we have "dkatz1877" (up from 9th last season). A close call in 4th is "236Postie", so a special shout out for that run at the top. This season's other honorable mentions go to 5th place player "ernie313" who came up from 30th last season, "Br1Guy" who was 21st last season and now 8th, and "DertyFerd" in 10th rising from 44th. I believe those improvements certainly represent some real hard work to get there. There were a lot of other big improvements again this season, including several new to the Top 50, so congratulations to you all as well.

I do have some potential inside information that may indicate iPeg could be taking a breather this new season. If you were sitting out and waiting for your chance to make a run at it, this may be your chance, or I suppose iPeg reads this and decides to not sit out! Should be a fun and exciting season either way. With that said, iPeg's accumulated Gold so far should make for a fun opponent in the Cribbage Contests system if you are looking for a way to make some extra cash. Maybe send iPeg a friend invite/challenge to put those winnings to good use! (sorry iPeg, you are about to get spammed with friend requests - the price of fame and fortune).

As with past seasons, everyone who finished the season in the Top 50 ("Recent" list), have been awarded both a special in-game "board peg" as well as Cribbage Pro Gold that can be used in the Cribbage Pro Contests system and then redeemed for cash (awards must be used at least once in a Contest to be cashed out to USDC, see the full terms and conditions for details). The top finisher is awarded the "crown" board peg, and all others in the Top 50 are awarded a "star" board peg. These pegs are shown to everyone when playing in online multiplayer games, and they are permanent, so if you see your opponent has one of them you can know that they have earned it by finishing in the Top 50 in competitive play. The Cribbage Pro Gold awards are as follows (not cumulative):

• 4 Gold for Top 50
• 7 Gold for Top 25
• 10 Gold for Top 10
• 20 Gold for 3rd Place
• 30 Gold for 2nd Place
• 50 Gold for 1st Place

Remember to complete your 10 matches per week. See the FAQ for details. Play early, and play often!

Here was the final Top 50 for Summer 2021 / Season 5:

1	iPeg	26	cribfan44
2	BigD4Life	27	Duane1952
3	dkatz1877	28	koala29
4	236Postie	29	RedRickM
5	ernie313	30	mbhenjum
6	Gssj21	31	james500
7	Shee7235	32	c3polerud
8	Br1Guy	33	MondoMan
9	VGKnights	34	SH00TER
10	DertyFerd	35	biyeme
11	fisher17	36	Cmoney421
12	kb92129	37	roberttt
13	lbolt58	38	SASK03
14	pegmstr77	39	Malbogia
15	rattle15	40	nob4one
16	cyrusg	41	auck
17	4KA	42	younggun9
18	Numan1	43	catslover
19	dixietix	44	Freddie69
20	dph	45	Yompopo
21	jwr13	46	gtgplayer
22	joekayak	47	Kev8888
23	hunterIT	48	Tutti
24	Trucha1	49	2Fnbad
25	dcpastore	50	scotiagir

The levels in Competitive Matchmaking are available in the FAQ.

Season 5 of Competitive Cribbage

Welcome to the Summer 2021 Season of Competitive Matchmaking for Cribbage Pro! Competitive Cribbage Spring 2021 has ended, and there was a lot of movement in the Top 50 this season. It looks like we had a lot of people using new strategies and everyone playing more often, with the most matches played in any season so far! At the same time, this season we have a lot of new faces in the Top 50 compared to last season. Don't forget to tell your cribbage friends about our competitive cribbage, and of course the chance to win the prizes, while seeing who the top players are!

As always, a sincere thank you to everyone who participated. You are the ones that make this so much fun to both play and spectate. A particular congratulations to the top finishers! In 1st place, we have "iPeg" (up from 6th last season). 2nd place is "cyrusg" (up from 100th last season, and pulled ahead at the end) and in 3rd we have "KenC456" (down from 2nd last season). Also, a few quick honorable mentions. First to our 4th place player "enaud58" who was also not in the Top 50 last season (up from 190th), then "VGKnights" who came up 6 places from last season to land in 5th, "lbolt58" who finished 6th and improved by 3, "flashmatt" finishing 7th while at 68th last season, and "Yompopo" improving 12 positions to finish 8th (just edging out "dkatz1877"). Many others had some significant improvements, so I could go on for a while (ok, one more, "Looie3nba" improving 15 positions to finish 13th), but see the full list below for the final Top 50 standings for last season.

As with past seasons, everyone who finished the season in the Top 50 ("Recent" list), have been awarded both a special in-game "board peg" as well as Cribbage Pro Gold that can be used in the Cribbage Pro Contests system and then redeemed for cash (awards must be used at least once in a Contest to be cashed out to USDC, see the full terms and conditions for details). The top finisher is awarded the "crown" board peg, and all others in the Top 50 are awarded a "star" board peg. These pegs are shown to everyone when playing in online multiplayer games, and they are permanent, so if you see your opponent has one of them you can know that they have earned it by finishing in the Top 50 in competitive play. We have increased the Cribbage Pro Gold awards for the lower ranks this time around, and so the new values are as follows (not cumulative):

• 4 Gold for Top 50 (double last season!)
• 7 Gold for Top 25 (+3 from last season)
• 10 Gold for Top 10
• 20 Gold for 3rd Place
• 30 Gold for 2nd Place
• 50 Gold for 1st Place

Remember to complete your 10 matches per week. See the FAQ for details. Play early, and play often!

Here was the final Top 50 for Spring/Season 4:

1	iPeg	26	hunterIT
2	cyrusg	27	31four14
3	KenC456	28	gsosin
4	enaud58	29	RedRickM
5	VGKnights	30	ernie313
6	lbolt58	31	tassie08
7	flashmatt	32	dcpastore
8	Yompopo	33	cribberoo
9	dkatz1877	34	nob4one
10	KJ2018	35	auck
11	RatKing	36	SharksFin
12	UberPooch	37	Moondog44
13	Looie3nba	38	cribfan44
14	2fast4you	39	WhyADuck
15	catslover	40	oddsmaker
16	Dpac	41	mgottit
17	duganbr	42	BrutusSt
18	Domerzag	43	herman605
19	pscohen	44	DertyFerd
20	Aureate	45	Trucha1
21	Br1Guy	46	jim1551
22	silentmax	47	wightness
23	BigD4Life	48	BahaShark
24	Roget	49	biyeme
25	CT398	50	Muldeezee

As a reference, the levels in Competitive Matchmaking are as follows:

Bronze - 1 - 1499 CR

Silver - 1500 - 1999 CR

Gold - 2000 - 2499 CR

Platinum - 2500 - 2999 CR

Diamond - 3000 - 3499 CR

Master - 3500 - 3999 CR

Grand-master - 4000+ CR

Season 4 of Competitive Cribbage

Welcome to the Spring 2021 Season of Competitive Matchmaking for Cribbage Pro! Although spring here in the northern hemisphere doesn't officially start for a few more weeks, I think many have had enough of winter this year. Competitive Season 3 has ended, and the involvement of everyone once again exceeded our expectations. I keep saying this, but it is really a lot of fun to watch everyone compete for the top placements and I hope you all feel the same way. Spread the word to your friends about this competitive cribbage format, and get them to join in the fun to see who is really the top player! Once again, this season grew and there were more matches played this season than before, and even more players who participated. We also had the most Grand-Master finishers in any season so far, so maybe we will have to add a new tier in the future.

A big thank you to everyone who participated, and a special congratulations to the top finishers! In 1st place, we have "ThreeG" (up from 16th in last season). 2nd place is "KenC456" (new this season) and in 3rd we have "TC2" which is someone who is becoming a regular top 10 finisher! As our regular reminder to keep improving and fight your way to the top, we recommend reading through the cribbage strategy tips and the many related blog posts to sharpen up, and if you're serious about improving there are tons of great strategy books out there that you should really consider.

As with past seasons, everyone who finished the season in the Top 50 ("Recent" list), have been awarded both a special in-game "board peg" as well as Cribbage Pro Gold that can be used in the Cribbage Pro Contests system and then redeemed for cash (awards must be used at least once in a Contest to be cashed out to USDC, see the full terms and conditions for details). The top finisher is awarded the "crown" board peg, and all others in the Top 50 are awarded a "star" board peg. These pegs are shown to everyone when playing in online multiplayer games, and they are permanent, so if you see your opponent has one of them you can know that they have earned it by finishing in the Top 50 in competitive play. The Cribbage Pro Gold awards are as follows (not cumulative):

• 2 Gold for Top 50
• 4 Gold for Top 25
• 10 Gold for Top 10
• 20 Gold for 3rd Place
• 30 Gold for 2nd Place
• 50 Gold for 1st Place

Remember to complete your 10 matches per week. See the FAQ for details. Play early, and play often!

Here was the final Top 50 for Season 3:

1	ThreeG	26	yvanobc12
2	KenC456	27	Doksboy
3	TC2	28	Looie3nba
4	Gssj21	29	konadive
5	fisher17	30	nob4one
6	iPeg	31	Mharold
7	4KA	32	2fast4you
8	BigD4Life	33	jimmy15
9	lbolt58	34	MTBiggs
10	rattle15	35	MyLuckSux
11	VGKnights	36	180558
12	cribfan44	37	Domerzag
13	jmath714	38	Br1Guy
14	CT398	39	cbx1000z
15	calgary99	40	47don
16	jjonell	41	better69
17	Task	42	Dpac
18	dcpastore	43	jwr13
19	canucount	44	jmbird989
20	Yompopo	45	Aureate
21	gsosin	46	Duane1952
22	WhyADuck	47	Birddoggy
23	rocks19	48	sums11
24	LePone	49	Cribbfest
25	scout3	50	charron

As a reference, the levels in Competitive Matchmaking are as follows:

Bronze - 1 - 1499 CR

Silver - 1500 - 1999 CR

Gold - 2000 - 2499 CR

Platinum - 2500 - 2999 CR

Diamond - 3000 - 3499 CR

Master - 3500 - 3999 CR

Grand-master - 4000+ CR

Season 3 of Multiplayer Competitive Matchmaking!

UPDATE: We have just extended this season by one more day to end 2021-02-24 23:00:00 UTC, to better align calendars for future plans.

UPDATE: Remember, you need to complete 10 matches per week, or face a CR penalty due to reduction in the ranking confidence factor. See the FAQ for details.

The competitive seasons just keep on rolling! It was a blast to watch the competitive Season 2 evolve and grow. We saw roughly the same number of players, but thousands more matches played! We also saw many more new players involved, with many new names in the Leaderboard. Overall, the Competitive Matchmaking System saw about 40% more activity every day. What this means is that everyone who participated really worked very hard to earn that final ranking! I'm sure the global pandemic has been a part of how active the community has been in playing, but I do hope that you all have found this a fun season to participate in, and at the very least a helpful distraction during this time.

A big thank you to everyone who participated, and of course a hearty congratulations to our top finishers. In 1st place, we have "iPeg" (up from 5th place in last season). 2nd place is "TC2" (up from 6th) and in 3rd we find "dkatz1877" who is new to the Competitive Matchmaking Leaderboard this season, although active for many years in the game. If you were someone who didn't place this season, keep trying and I'm sure you will find your winning streak! Of course, we always recommend reading through the cribbage strategy tips and the many related blog posts to sharpen up.

I asked "iPeg" (aka Kelly Holt from Wisconsin, USA) to share some perspective on the great game of cribbage. If you want to earn a top spot yourself, it would be hard to disagree with this advice:

"People who are smarter and more eloquent than I have written entire books on detailed cribbage strategies, so I won’t begin to try to cover many of them, but I have a few guidelines that have helped me to win more often. One is to always discard and play your hand based upon statistics, and not hunches.  Another is to play the best players, from which you will learn the most.  A third is to self-critique your own play, and never stop learning and adjusting.  After playing for over twenty five years, I’ve changed the way I lead from certain hands in just the last year or two. And finally, read those cribbage books!"

As with last season, everyone who finished the season in the Top 50 ("Recent" list, not "All Time"), have been awarded both a special in-game "board peg" as well as Cribbage Pro Gold that can be used in the Cribbage Pro Contests system and then redeemed for cold hard cash (awards must be used at least once in a Contest to be cashed out to USDC, see the full terms and conditions for details). The top finisher, iPeg, is awarded the "crown" board peg, and all others in the Top 50 are awarded a "star" board peg. These pegs are shown to everyone when playing in online multiplayer games, so if you see your opponent has one of them you can know that they have earned it by finishing in the Top 50 in competitive play. The Cribbage Pro Gold awards are as follows (not cumulative):

• 2 Gold for Top 50
• 4 Gold for Top 25
• 10 Gold for Top 10
• 20 Gold for 3rd Place
• 30 Gold for 2nd Place
• 50 Gold for 1st Place

New Season 3

For Season 3, we have decided to not make any significant changes to the competitive matchmaking system. We have been pretty happy with the participation, competitive spirit and overall results of how the system performed in Season 2, and in some areas where we are debating making some changes we felt it was best to not do so over the coming holiday time. As always, email us your questions, feedback and suggestions or leave a comment here if you are looking for some community feedback on it (please don't use the comments area for account questions or other issues). We are constantly looking at ways to improve, and your input is the key to that!

Season 2 History:

Here was the final Top 50 for Season 2:

1	iPeg	26	bhills22
2	TC2	27	flashmatt
3	dkatz1877	28	gmric5
4	Luc88	29	Geofred1
5	silentmax	30	rattle15
6	hillchem	31	MTBiggs
7	fisher17	32	VGKnights
8	47don	33	Birddoggy
9	enaud58	34	cribbest
10	card55	35	cyrusg
11	jim1551	36	dcpastore
12	pepperbp	37	Neary74
13	Domerzag	38	dph
14	pscohen	39	Br1Guy
15	BigD4Life	40	jwick60
16	ThreeG	41	Kev8888
17	Trucha1	42	kpcrib123
18	ernie313	43	MadMax863
19	hawkeyewn	44	ALB5555
20	fltxnynzn	45	ringpress
21	yvanobc12	46	Cmoney421
22	cribber91	47	rocks19
23	jmath714	48	joekayak
24	a2zCrib	49	gsosin
25	Moondog44	50	erniem00

As a reference, the levels in Competitive Matchmaking are as follows:

Bronze - 1 - 1499 CR

Silver - 1500 - 1999 CR

Gold - 2000 - 2499 CR

Platinum - 2500 - 2999 CR

Diamond - 3000 - 3499 CR

Master - 3500 - 3999 CR

Grand-master - 4000+ CR