What you need
A Phase 10 deck and 2 to 6 players. The deck has 108 cards: 24 each of red, blue, yellow and green numbered 1 to 12, four Skip cards and eight Wild cards, plus reference cards listing the phases. Keep paper and a pencil for the running score.
Phase 10 is a contract rummy created by Kenneth Johnson in 1982: each hand you try to complete one combination (a “phase”) before moving on.
Setup
Choose a dealer. Deal 10 cards face down to each player, one at a time. Put the rest face down as the draw pile and turn the top card over to start the discard pile. Players hold their cards so that the others cannot see them.
How to play
The player to the dealer’s left starts, and play goes clockwise. On your turn, draw one card (from the top of the draw pile or the discard pile), then end your turn by discarding one card face up on the discard pile. In between, you may lay down your phase and hit, as described below.
The ten phases
- Two sets of 3
- One set of 3 + one run of 4
- One set of 4 + one run of 4
- One run of 7
- One run of 8
- One run of 9
- Two sets of 4
- Seven cards of one colour
- One set of 5 + one set of 2
- One set of 5 + one set of 3
A set is two or more cards of the same number, in any colours (two sets may even be the same number). A run is four or more cards in numerical order, in any colours. One colour means all cards of the same colour, in any order.
Wild and Skip cards
A Wild card stands for any number or any colour. You may use several Wilds in a phase as long as it contains at least one natural card. Once laid down, a Wild stays where it is. If the dealer turns a Wild to start the discard pile, the first player may pick it up.
A Skip card, discarded on your turn, makes a player of your choice miss their next turn. It can never be part of a phase or picked up from the discard pile, and each player can be skipped only once per round of the table.
Making your phase
When you hold the complete phase, lay it down face up before discarding. You may lay down more than the minimum, but only one phase per hand, and phases must be made in order from 1 to 10. You get credit as soon as it is on the table, whether or not you win the hand.
Hitting
Once your phase is down, you may get rid of further cards by hitting: adding a card that fits to any phase on the table, yours or another player’s. A 4 goes on a set of 4s, a 2 or a 7 on a run of 3-4-5-6, a green card on a green colour phase, a Wild anywhere. You may hit only on your own turn and only after laying down your own phase.
Going out
After laying down a phase, try to go out by discarding or hitting all your cards. The first player out wins the hand. Everyone who completed their phase that hand, including the winner, moves on to the next phase; anyone who did not tries the same phase again next hand.
Scoring and winning
The winner of a hand scores zero. Every other player scores penalty points for the cards left in their hand: 5 for each card numbered 1 to 9, 10 for each 10, 11 or 12, 15 for each Skip, 25 for each Wild. Cards already laid down do not count. The deal passes to the left.
The first player to complete Phase 10 at the end of a hand wins. If two or more players finish Phase 10 in the same hand, the lowest total score wins; if that is tied too, the tied players replay Phase 10 and the first to go out wins.
Common variants
Three variations come from the official sheet:
- Ten hands. Everyone plays Phase 1 in the first hand, Phase 2 in the second and so on, whether they completed the previous phase or not. After ten hands, the lowest total wins.
- Fewer phases. Agree before play to win with 5 or 7 phases, still in order.
- Even phases only. Play phases 2, 4, 6, 8 and 10.
Tips for first games
- For a run, keep middle numbers; for a set, keep pairs.
- A Wild left in hand costs 25 points. Use it to finish a phase.
- Hit aggressively once your phase is down; shedding cards quickly wins hands.
Frequently asked questions
Can a run be in different colours? Yes. Runs and sets ignore colour; only Phase 8 cares about colour.
Can you pick up a Skip from the discard pile? No. Skips are never picked up and never used in a phase.
What happens if two players complete Phase 10 in the same hand? The player with the lower total score wins; a tie is settled by replaying Phase 10.
