Cribbage

My Dearest Best Friend, Wife, and All Time Favorite Cribbage Partner, Susun, and I have been playing cribbage for at least 25 years.  We were taught by a Canadian Snow Bird Couple who RV-camped near our straw bale home beside Montezuma Well National Monument in Rimrock, Arizona.

Al & Shelia were hard core cribbage players and stern task masters for us newbies.  We learned The Game from two Calgary Masters of Cribbage.  Sweet Susun and I have been playing ever since. We played for years on the small boards so common in The Game.

As we grew older, we both wished for a bigger board.  One day in February 2016 we were walking through the Tumacacori Mesquite Sawmill in Far Southern Arizona not far from the Mexican Border.  Suddenly I saw a perfect little piece of mesquite and had an inspiration.  I blurted out to Susun, "LOOK!  That one could be a cribbage board!"  She agreed and we paid $25 for the small mini-slab of mesquite.

I really didn't know how to proceed to make my first Big Board.  I let the mesquite sit for over a year before finally deciding on a course of action. I made a "dummy board" first to absorb all my mistakes.  Then then the mesquite board was born sometime in late Spring of 2017.  

It was an instant favorite for both of us and we've been playing on it ever since.  We've grown so fond of our Little Big Board than we can't imagine playing cribbage on one of the small store boards ever again.

As the years passed, I often encouraged woodworkers we encountered to make big board for cribbage.  One of those woodworkers actually laughed at my suggestion. The other either rolled their eyes or shrugged or both.

In early May 2021, we happened to be at the Idaho Falls Farmers Market where a truly talented woodworker was selling bowls, cutting boards and all of the typical items.  I suggest he make cribbage boards and his reply was, "What's cribbage?"  That's when I knew the only way to bring Big Boards to Life was to make them myself.

We were camped near Stanley, Idaho, in Sawtooth Mountain Country in early June when I saw a Facebook ad for the JA Sawmill in Idaho Falls.  Right then and there, I knew it was destiny.  I was going to make Big Boards.  It took awhile to connect with JA Sawmill but once we came together the wheels started turning and we now have a great partnership.

Playing Big Board Cribbage is unlike any other cribbage you've played.  Everything is spread out and there is ample spacing between the pegs and lines of peg holes.  It is a very tactile game now and so much fun to heft the brass (or other) pegs used for the Big Boards.

We feel certain you will enjoy Big Board Cribbage as much as we do.  We recommend you give it a try!