i. The players cut for deal. The ace is lowest in cutting. In case
of a tie, they cut again. The holder of the lowest card deals.
ii. Not fewer than four cards is a cut; nor must the non-dealer
touch the pack after he has cut it.
iii. Too many or too few cards dealt constitutes a misdeal, the
penalty for which is the taking of two points by the non-dealer.
iv. A faced card, or a card exposed during the act of dealing
necessitates a new deal, without penalty.
v. The dealer shuffles the cards and the non-dealer cuts them for
the "start."
vi. If the non-dealer touch the cards (except to cut them for the
turn-up) after they have been cut for the start, he forfeits two
points.
vii. In cutting for the start, not fewer than three cards must be
lifted from the pack or left on the table.
viii. The non-dealer throws out for the crib before the dealer. A
card once laid out cannot be recalled, nor must either party touch
the crib till the hand is played out. Either player confusing the
crib cards with his hand, is liable to a penalty of three points.
[In three and four-hand cribbage the left-hand player throws out
first for the crib, then the next; the dealer last. The usual and
best way is for the non-dealer to throw his crib over to the
dealer's side of the board; on these two cards the dealer places his
own, and hands the pack over to be cut. The pack is then at the
right side of the board for the next deal.]
ix. The player who takes more points than those to which he is
entitled, either in play or in reckoning hand or crib, is liable to
be "pegged;" that is, to be put back as many points as he has
over-scored, and have the points added to his opponent's side.
[In pegging you must not remove your opponent's _front_ peg
till you have given him another. In order "to take him down,'' you
remove _your own back peg_ and place it _where his front peg
ought to be_, you then take his _wrongly placed peg_ and put
it in _front of your own front_, as many holes as he has
forfeited by wrongly scoring.]
x. No penalty attaches to the taking of too few points in play,
hand, or crib.
xi. When a player has once taken his hand or crib, he cannot amend
his score.
xii. When a knave is turned up, "two for his heels" must be scored
before the dealer's own card be played, or they cannot be taken.
xiii. A player cannot demand the assistance of his adversary in
reckoning hand and crib.
xiv. A player may not, except to "peg him," touch his adversary's
pegs, under a penalty of two points. If the foremost peg has been
displaced by accident, it must be placed in the hole behind the peg
standing on the board.
xv. The peg once holed cannot be removed by either player till
another point or points be gained.
xvi. The player who scores a game as won when, in fact, it is not
won, loses it.
xvii. A _lurch_--scoring the whole sixty-one before your adversary
has scored thirty-one--is equivalent to a double game, if agreed to
previous to the commencement of the game.
xviii. A card that may be legally played cannot be withdrawn after
it has been once thrown face upwards on the table.
xix. If a player neglect to score his hand, crib, or any point or
points of the game, he cannot score them after the cards are packed
or the next card played.
xx. The player who throws up his cards and refuses to score,
forfeits the game.
xxi. If a player neglect to play when he can play a card within the
prescribed thirty-one, he forfeits two holes.
xxii. Each player's hand and crib must be plainly thrown down on the
table and not mixed with the pack, under penalty of the forfeiture
of the game.
The player who refuses to abide by the rules, loses the game.
Bystanders must not interfere unless requested to decide any
disputed point.