Video cribbage game

A gaming machine for providing a video poker card game to a player, comprising:

• a user interface for allowing the player to place a wager;
• a video display;
• a controller coupled to the user interface and the display for providing a virtual deck of playing cards and allowing the player to place a wager using the user interface, each of the playing cards having a rank and a suit, for randomly establishing an initial player hand consisting of a predetermined number of the playing cards, displaying the initial player hand on the video display, a allowing the player to discard zero or more of the playing cards in the initial player hand using the user interface, replacing any discarded card in the initial player hand with a randomly chosen playing card from the deck of playing cards, forming a final player hand, and displaying the final player hand on the video display, and for establishing a player score as a function of the final player hand using a set of cribbage type counting rules, displaying the player score on the video display, comparing the player score with a predetermined total, and responsively awarding the player an award as a function of the player score, the predetermined total, and a predetermined pay table if the player score exceeds the predetermined total.