A DEDICATED cribbage player is to visit Malvern and Ledbury as part of a 4,000-mile round-trip to play the historic card game across the country.
Siv Sears, a 38-year-old teacher from Hayling Island, is visiting The New Inn, Lower Howsell Road on Monday, February 15, to play the 400-year-old game.
As part of his challenge, he is hoping to play cribbage in all 39 of the ‘ancient’ counties before his 39th birthday on Friday, June 10. So far, he has visited 20 counties, with Malvern completing the Worcestershire leg.
Before then, Siv will play the organiser of the Ledbury and District Crib League at the Farmer’s Arms in Ledbury on Sunday, February 14, to complete the Herefordshire leg of his unique adventure.
Mr Sears told the Observer: “As far as I am aware, nobody else is doing what I am doing.
“Matthew Engel is noted as the first person to visit all 39 of the ancient counties but I’m going to be the first to play cribbage in all of them.
“After a quick Google search, I noticed that Malvern has its very own cribbage league.
“I gave them a quick ring and they welcomed the idea of me coming down to play.
“But before I play of the evening, I’m going to take a walk around the famous hills which I’m really looking forward to.”
Mr Sears, who spent 15 years as a teacher in Taiwan, China, first learnt to play the game as a child after learning the rules from an old friend.
The objective of the game is to be the first player to reach a set target of points, usually 61 or 121, and points are scored by card combinations that add up to 15 and for pairs, triples and runs.
And for Mr Sears, there are more reasons behind his challenge than just to play cribbage.
“The game is a huge part of our generation,” he said. “It’s been around for approximately 400 years.”
“The cribbage scene over in America is very professional, there’s the American Cribbage Congress which is said to be the game’s biggest organisation in the world.
“There is nothing like this in the UK and I’d hope one day that there will be one.”
Mr Sears will also be documenting his exploits and is hoping to publish a book once his adventure is complete.
Being a teacher, he has had to plan his games around the school holidays and has already racked up 1,600 miles after completing the southernmost counties of the UK.
“When you look at it, it’s quite a lot of miles covered just to play the game but I love it,” he said. “I did not actually plan on doing this at all, it all started from the one game in Suffolk and I thought to myself, why not play cribbage in every county?
“When I told my friends and family they just laughed at me because they thought I was joking.
“The game is on the decline in the UK so I want to get it more recognised.”
Mr Sears will be arriving at The New Inn at 7pm on Monday and is urging Observer readers to give him a game. As part of his challenge, he wants people to send him stories about the game to help him publish his book in the near future. Anyone who has any information can email him on [email protected].
