English Pub Cribbage Game, "Knob and Heel"

The only card game that can be legally played for money in English pubs, cribbage evolved from a shipboard game called noddy. It was one of the few games that could be played on the rolling seas, as it used pegs and holes that could be carved directly into a sailor's bunk. A 17th-century British poet made cribbage popular in English courts, where he distributed packs of marked cards to the aristocracy, inevitably beat them out of tidy sums, and managed to gamble his way to a $7 million contribution to King Charles I's army.

Mahogany-stained three-fold case includes cards, pegs, and rule book. Dimensions: 5 1/2"W x 2"H x 3 1/4"D