Learn How To Play Phase 10

Phase 10 is a lot of fun and has the added interest of needing the winner to have the highest score rather than the lowest! If you’re interested in the game, this is everything you need to know to get the most out of it.

The Deck

The deck is unique to the game, so no standard 52-card deck can be used for play.

Numeric cards, 1 – 12, in four colours: red, blue, green, and yellow. There are 2 of each number for each colour. Eight wild cards representing any number or any colour

Four skip cards that allow the holder to force a skipped turn on any other player.

Colours don’t have any effect on the score of any given card.

You must play the “Phase 10” game in 10 phases:

• 2 sets of 3
• 1 set of 3 + 1 run of 4
• Then, 1 set of 4 + 1 run of 4
• 1 run of 7
• Then, 1 run of 8
• 1 run of 9
• 2 sets of 4
• 7 cards of one colour
• 1 set of 5 + 1 set of 2
• 1 set of 5 + 1 set of 3

Sets are a collection of the same numbers. A run is a sequential group of numbers.

Cards with a numeric value 1 – 9 are worth 5 points each. Cards with a numeric value of 10 – 12 are worth 10 points each. Skip and Wild Cards are worth 25 points each.

How To Play Phase 10

Each player gets 10 cards and begins on phase one. The remaining cards go face down in a stack in the middle of the playing space. The top card is flipped face up next to that stack.

To begin your turn, you must draw 1 card from the pile or take the face-up card.

To end your turn, you must discard 1 card.

If you run out of draw cards, flip the face-up card over and start a new pile.

Once you have the required cards for your phase, you can “lay down” your phase face up.

Players can have more than is required in their phase to lay down. You’ll want to play all cards possible, as once you complete the phase, your goal becomes to get rid of your hand.

Players don’t HAVE to lay a phase down if they have it, but they still have to discard a card at the end of their turn.

Score your hands at the end of each round.

Players who didn’t lay down a phase must repeat that phase in the next round, while players who did lay down their phase, even with cards remaining in their hand, must move on to the next phase.

Phase 10 Scoring

The scores from all played rounds (it may be more than 10 for games with more than 2 people) are then added up to confirm who ends up the winner.

Remember, the person with the lowest score wins the game! There are a number of strategies that players can employ that are too detailed to go into in this piece, but they’re easy to find on YouTube and easy enough to understand once you’ve gone over them.