What is Lowball?
Lowball turns the aim of cribbage around. The cards are dealt, discarded, played and counted exactly as in the standard game, and every point is pegged in the usual way, whether you want it or not. But the first player, or the first side in a partnership game, to reach the target loses.
When that happens the game ends at once, and the player or side with the fewest points among the others wins. With two players, or two partnerships, that is simply the other side. With three or four players playing alone, two players can tie for the fewest points; then nobody wins and the game is a draw.
The skill is in avoiding points: keep cards that do not combine into fifteens, pairs and runs, throw a crib that scores little when it is yours, and steer the play so that your opponents are the ones who make fifteen, pair and peg the go. You still have to play a card whenever you can without passing 31, so you cannot always avoid scoring.
Rule changes
| Rule | Standard Cribbage | Lowball |
|---|---|---|
| Aim | Standard CribbageBe the first to reach the target. | LowballAvoid reaching the target: score as few points as you can. |
| Scoring | Standard CribbageFifteens, pairs, runs, flushes, nobs, his heels, the go and 31 all score. | LowballThe same points, pegged in the same way. You cannot refuse a score. |
| The play of the cards | Standard CribbageYou must play a card if you can without passing 31; otherwise you say go. | LowballThe same, so you sometimes have to play a card that scores. |
| End of the game | Standard CribbageAs soon as a player or side reaches the target, in the play or in the counting. | LowballThe same moment, but that player or side loses. |
| Winner | Standard CribbageThe player or side that reached the target. | LowballThe player or side with the fewest points among the others. |
| A tie for fewest points | Standard CribbageCannot happen: the first to the target wins. | LowballWith three or four players playing alone, a tie for the fewest points is a draw. |
| Muggins | Standard CribbageCan be chosen as an option. | LowballNot played: hands and the crib are always counted for you, so nobody can leave points uncounted on purpose. |
| Other options | Standard CribbageA game to 61 or 121, partnership play for four and Muggins can be chosen. | LowballLowball works to 61 or 121 and in partnerships. Many players prefer the short game to 61. If Muggins is also chosen, Lowball is played without it. |
History
Playing cribbage to lose is a house variation rather than a rule found in the standard rulebooks. Several cribbage house variations share the same idea of avoiding points instead of scoring them. One, called Lowball, ends the game when a player reaches 60 points, and that player loses; the player who described it found a game to 120 too long when playing for low. Another, Backwards Cribbage, makes the first player to reach 121 the loser.
The rule here follows those descriptions: everything is scored as usual, and the first player or side to reach the target loses. You can play it to 121 or to 61, the usual short game, which comes closest to the 60 points of Lowball. The way the winner is chosen among three or four players, the fewest points among the others, and the draw on a tie for fewest, are this site's own choices, since the sources describe only the two-player game.