Larry Snow’s connections to the game of cribbage go back to his childhood, when he learned to play from his father in an historic house in the small foothills town of Indian Hills.
“I have seven siblings. So, quality time with my dad spent playing cribbage, and with eight kids, you can imagine it was hard to come by,” he said.
But Snow’s father, Robert, who died in 2018 at the age of 96, had ties going back even further, to World War II, when he fought with the 2nd Marine Division in three island assaults in the Pacific Theater: Tarawa in 1943, and Saipan and Tinian, both in 1944.
After one of those battles, and despite orders from their commanding officer, the soldiers raided the Japanese “pillboxes” – camouflaged defensive bunkers – that remained. One, Snow said, “proffered a plethora of war paraphernalia,” as well as personal effects that included a beautiful rice paper-adorned cribbage board and game box.
The box is now part of Snow’s collection of around 300 cribbage boards from all corners of the world, including one made from Alaskan scrimshaw; a European, Victorian-era board dating to the late 1800s, with abalone and mother of pearl inlays; a 123-year-old board depicting the Antlers hotel in Colorado Springs; and a rare cast-iron, Civil War-era “hedgehog” board.
This weekend – Sept. 11-12 – Snow, who is president of the , a national organization founded in 1991, will host like-minded lovers of the game during the 26th annual Cribbage Board Collectors Society Convention in Arvada.
While collectors enjoy playing the game — which consists of a regular deck of cards and a board with holes in it, where people move pegs as they earn points — they’re equally fascinated by the boards themselves, which take on innumerable shapes and sizes around the world, and are made with just about every material imaginable. Invented in the 1600s, the game helped sailors pass the time aboard ships, which also helped it become known on every continent.
This is only the third time the convention has come to Colorado, which is why Snow goes all out when it comes to designing a commemorative cribbage board that is available to every attendee (the convention registration fee is $150).
For the previous two conventions, he designed boards that depicted Colorado history. The first looked like a brick, complete with a center medallion fashioned like a brick-maker’s mark; it honored an old Denver nickname, brick city, which came about after a fire resulted in a law requiring buildings to be made of stone or brick. The second honors the transcontinental railroad completed here in the 1860s; it featured a locomotive, tracks and tiny railroad spikes used for pegs, among other details.
This time, the board will give a nod to Colorado’s gold rush roots, although Snow didn’t want to give away too many details until the convention. Suffice to say, it will be cool.
The 2026 CBCS convention takes place Friday, Sept. 11, from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m., and Saturday, Sept. 12, from 9 a.m. to 8 p.m. at the Arvada Hilton Garden Inn, 5458 Olde Wadsworth Blvd. The registration fee includes the convention, presentations, a banquet and a commemorative cribbage board. The convention includes games, show-and-tell, presentations, a silent auction and a tourement. Get more information at cribbageboardcollectorssociety.org.
