How to Play Phase 10

1.0M
by randonkerr 12
171

INTRO: HOW TO PLAY PHASE 10

Phase 10 is a card game for 2-6 players.

The goal of the game is to complete all ten
phases, one round at a time. At the end of
a round players will add up their score
based on the number and type of cards left
in their hand. The goal is to have the lowest
score at the end of the game. Watch out, if
you don't complete your phase in a round,
you must repeat the phase in the next
round!

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STEP 1: THE CARDS

The Phase 10 deck of cards is made up of

numeric cards, 1 - 12, in four colors: Red,
Blue, Green, Yellow. There are 2 of each
number for each color. There are also eight
wild cards (which can represent any
number or any color) and four skip
cards(which when played will skip the turn
of a designated player, chosen by the
person playing the skip.

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STEP 2: THE PHASES

As you might expect, the game consists of

10 phases the players must complete in
order.

The phases are:

2 sets of 3
1 set of 3 + 1 run of 4
1 set of 4 + 1 run of 4
1 run of 7
1 run of 8
1 run of 9
2 sets of 4
7 cards of one color
1 set of 5 + 1 set of 2
1 set of 5 + 1 set of 3

A set is a group of the same numbers(three

of a kind, four of a kind, five of a kind, etc.)

A run is a sequential group of numbers (2 3

4 5, 7 8 9 10 11 12, etc.)

Wilds can be played as any number in a set

or run also any color.

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STEP 3: SETTING UP THE GAME

Once you have the desired number of

players, deal each player 10 cards. At the
start of the game each player will start on
phase one. At this point players can choose
to order the cards in their hand in any
fashion that helps them keep track of cards
they have and are looking for. It is
unnecessary to reorder your cards, but it
can be helpful for new players to do so.

The remaining cards are put face down in a

stack, in the middle of the playing space.
The top card is then flipped face up next to
the pile. It should look like the picture
shown.

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STEP 4: TAKING YOUR TURN

During your turn you MUST draw one card

to begin the turn. You can draw one of the
face down cards from the pile, or draw the
face up card shown.

At the end of your turn you MUST discard a

card, face up next to the draw pile.

The turn will continue going around to the

next player (generally to the left or
clockwise to the person that started) they
will draw a card and discard a card.

Note: If you ever run out of face down

cards, simply flip over the face up cards to
a new face down draw pile. (shuffling this
new draw pile is optional, flip the top card to
start a new face up draw pile)

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STEP 5: PLAYING DOWN THE PHASE

Once a player has drawn a card to start

their turn, if they have the required cards of
their phase, they may choose to "lay down"
their phase.

The player will lay, face up, the required

cards of the phase. In the picture shown the
player has laid down the required cards of
phase 3 (1 set of 4 and 1 run of 4).

There are two important things to note

about laying down a phase. You can have
more than is required in your phase to lay
down, and if that is the case you will want
to play all cards you can, as once you
complete the phase your goal becomes to
discard your hand.

To illustrate the above point, if the player in

the picture had another 10 or a wild, they
could play it to make a set of 5, even
though the minimum amount required to
complete the phase is only 4.

Also, if a player has the required phase in

their hand THEY ARE NOT REQUIRED to
lay the phase down. The player still
required to discard a card at the end of their
turn.

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STEP 6: GOING "OUT" AND ENDING

THE ROUND

Once you have completed and laid down

your phase you must attempt to play out
the remaining cards in your hand.

Remember: You must ALWAYS draw one

card at the beginning of your turn and
discard one card at the end of your turn.

In the pictured example above, both players

have played their phases(picture 1 and 2).
Player One is left with a 4 and 7, and also
was lucky enough to draw a wild
card(picture 3).

To go "out" Player One will play their 7 at

the beginning of Player Two's run (Picture
4) and play the wild in any area they wish,
in this case on their own set of 2's (picture
5) and then they will discard the remaining
4 in their hand to end the round!

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STEP 7: SCORING A ROUND

Once one player has played down their

phase and discarded the last card in their
hand, the round is over.

The remaining players will assign a score to

their remaining cards in their hand, add the
score up and write it down.

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.
Note: Color of cards has no impact on
scoring.

Remember you goal is to have the

LOWEST score at the end of the game.

In picture two we see that a player had a 6

10 and Skip card in their hand. They score
40 points for the round. Five points for the 6
card, 10 points for the 10 card, and 25
points for the Skip card.

Once the scores are added up, the players

move to the next round.

REMEMBER, if you did not lay down your

phase you must repeat that phase in the
next round, if you laid down your phase,
even if you had cards remaining in your
hand, you move on to the next phase.

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STEP 8: FINISHING THE GAME

Once a player has completed the 10th and

final phase, and a player has gone out to
end the round, one final round of scoring is
noted.

The scores from all played rounds (it may

be more than 10 for games with more than
2 people) are then added up.

The person with the lowest score wins!

Congratulations you now know the basics

of Phase 10! Gather some friends and play.
Try different strategies to achieve the
lowest score you can, but most of all have
fun!

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114 Comments
stephen_barnes 3 days ago
If off the deal, any player can make their
phase, can they lay it down right away?
We Played a round of 5 people where
the first player got their phase and also
able to Go out, Two others also were
able to complete their phases but hadn't
a chance to have their turn ?
Thanks in Advance

randonkerr 1 day ago

It doesn't happen very often, but yes, if a
player is able to play their phase AND
discard their last card, even on the first
turn, they can do so. The one time I saw
this happen, it was later in the game and
we determined we didn't give the deck
enough of a shuffle. I would recommend,
if this happens, to give the deck a
"wash" that is where you put all the
cards on the table and mix them around
wax on wax off style. Mix them up really
well and then add a few more shuffles
for good measure. Good fortune to the
lucky first player, back luck for everyone
else :D

malloryfelte 6 days ago

Hey,
My parents are playing phase 10, but
they are running into the problem when
they try to end # round once they have
the phase completed.
The question is do you have to follow
suit when discarding cards remaining
cards once all players have their phases
completed?

randonkerr 5 days ago

Once one player has discarded or
played all their cards the round
immediately ends. Other players do not
need to continue to play to discard their
cards. The round does continue, even if
all players have played down their
phase, until one person plays or
discards their last card.

SonyaO4 4 weeks ago

I’m lost. In a 2 player game, player one
has made two sets (say 3s and 2s)
player two has two sets (5s and 8s) how
are you meant to hit cards that can’t fall
into those sets, like a 12?

randonkerr 4 weeks ago

Unfortunately you can only get rid of
those higher cards by discarding them.
The game can be played with only two
people, but it is much more fun with
more.

kpoulos42 6 weeks ago

Is there a rule where a person can
discard 2 cards in one round? I'm
playing on an app and is looks like that
happens occasionally, but it moves to far
for me to be sure.

randonkerr 4 weeks ago

You shouldn’t be able to discard two
cards. Perhaps the game was playing a
card on a laid down set or run, then
discarded the second card?

LoonaLokka 7 weeks ago

I have played this game before and
loved it. And at the moment I don't have
phase 10 but until I get it I came up with
a way to play with regular cards. Same
concept but I use two decks of cards
and all the cards that are written on are
wild cards and the jokers are skips. It's
still fun to play for the moment till I get
the actual phase 10 game cards!

pbrown13 8 weeks ago

If you complete phase 1
(2 sets of 3) and you have another set of
different number or a run can you play
those to go out at once? The example
here is he had
2 sets of 3 then 234567 could he play
that?

randonkerr 8 weeks ago

Unfortunately no. You cannot play down
additional sets/runs outside the phase
you are on. You can only remove the
cards in your hand by playing them on
down cards or discarding them.

ginacaruthers1981 8 weeks ago

If u are trying to phase out do u have to
lay down the card if it goes or can u
discard

randonkerr 8 weeks ago

You can play it on any played down
cards. It has the same effect as
discarding.

mrg2214 2 months ago

Can someone be skipped more than 1X
in the same round?

randonkerr 2 months ago

Technically no, but effectively yes. You
can’t stack a skip on an already skipped
player, but a player can be skipped in
consecutive rounds. So, in a 4 player
game, turn order 1, 2, 3, 4. Player 1
skips player 3. Player 2 cannot stack a
skip on player 3. But after player 2 ends
their turn, and player 4 plays, player 4
can skip player 3 again for their next
turn. This 2nd skip is technically the next
round. It can be frustrating to be the
double skipped player, but it usually
means you are closest to winning, or the
other players have it out for you :).

tretrey007 2 months ago

I was told that you have to hit out if the
game meaning that if using the example
given with the 4,7,W that the 4 would
have to also be discarded on someone's
phase to end the round us this true

randonkerr 2 months ago

That is incorrect. You will always draw a
card and discard a card on your turn.
So, if you have three cards (after you
draw your card) and you can play two of
them on any laid down cards, you
discard the third card to end your turn,
and the round. You can play your third
card on someone's laid down cards, it
has the same effect as discarding, but it
is not required.

jm16jm 2 months ago

Can you pick up a discarded card out of
turn if you need the card?

randonkerr 2 months ago

No you cannot. You can only draw or
pick up a card from the discard pile on
your turn.

SandyH60 6 months ago

If you have already laid down the
appropriate phases in your hand and
then you draw a card that allows you to
duplicate a phase is that okay? So
instead of having 2 sets of 3 in the first
phase you have 3 sets of 3. (444, 666,
777)

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