Phase 10 Rules

Phase 10 is a rummy-style card game in which every player works through the same ten combinations, called Phases, in order. You have to lay down your current Phase before you can move on to the next one, and the first player to complete Phase 10 wins. Kenneth Johnson created it in 1982, basing it on contract rummy, and Mattel bought the rights in 2010. In 2024 it was inducted into the National Toy Hall of Fame. This guide covers the Phase 10 rules in full: the ten Phases, the deal, Wild and Skip cards, hitting, going out, scoring, the official variations and how to play with ordinary cards.

Phase 10 Rules at a Glance

The 10 Phases

• Set: cards with the same number, in any mix of colours. Both sets can even be the same number, such as three 10s and three more 10s.
• Run: numbers in a row, such as 3-4-5-6, in any mix of colours. Runs stop at 1 and 12; they do not wrap around.
• One colour: cards of a single colour in any numbers.

You must make the Phases in order, only one per round, and you must hold the whole Phase in your hand before you lay it down.

How to Play Phase 10

1. Deal. Pick a dealer, who places the two reference cards where everyone can see them and deals 10 cards face down to each player. The rest of the pack goes face down as the draw pile, and its top card is turned over to start the discard pile.
2. Draw. The player to the dealer’s left goes first and play moves clockwise. On your turn, take the top card of the draw pile or the top card of the discard pile.
3. Lay down your Phase. If your cards now make your Phase, put it face up on the table. In the first round everyone is trying for Phase 1.
4. Hit. Once your Phase is down, you can play extra cards on any Phase already on the table (see below).
5. Discard. End your turn by putting one card face up on the discard pile.
6. Next round. When someone goes out, the round ends. Everyone who laid down their Phase moves on to the next one. Anyone who did not tries the same Phase again, so players can be on different Phases.

Wild Cards and Skip Cards

Wild cards can stand in for any number or any colour. With a 3, 4 and 6, a Wild can be the 5 that makes a run of four; with six green cards, a Wild can be the seventh for Phase 8. You can use as many Wilds as you like in a Phase as long as it includes at least one numbered card, and a Wild stays where it was played for the rest of the round. If the first card of the discard pile is a Wild, the first player may pick it up.

Skip cards make another player lose their next turn. Discard the Skip and choose who misses a go. Playing a Skip counts as your discard and ends your turn. A Skip can never be used in a Phase or picked up from the discard pile, and you cannot skip the same player two turns in a row. If the dealer turns up a Skip to start the discard pile, the first player loses their first turn.

Hitting and Going Out

After your Phase is down, you can hit: add cards from your hand to any Phase on the table, yours or another player’s, as long as they fit. You can add a 4 to a set of 4s, a 2 or a 7 to a run of 3-4-5-6, a green card to seven greens, or a Wild to any of them. You may hit only on your own turn, but you can play as many cards as you like.

You go out by getting rid of every card in your hand, by hitting, by discarding your last card, or both. The first player out wins the round and ends it for everyone.

Phase 10 Scoring

The player who went out scores 0. Everyone else adds up the cards still in their hand; cards on the table do not count. Keep a running total for each player on paper, and pass the deal to the left after each round.

The first player to complete Phase 10 wins. If two or more players finish Phase 10 in the same round, the one with the fewest total points wins. If that is tied too, the tied players replay Phase 10 and the first one out wins.

Phase 10 Odds

How often the 10 cards you are dealt already make each Phase:

• Phase 2 is easier to be dealt than Phase 1 (30% against 18%), and the run of seven in Phase 4 (16%) turns up far more often than Phase 3 (5%).
• The sets of four and five are the hard ones. Phases 7 and 10 come ready-made in about one deal in 300.
• Wild cards: 55% of hands are dealt at least one.

The figures come from 800,000 random deals of the 108 playing cards.

Phase 10 Variations

Phase 10 With Regular Cards

Two standard packs of cards with their two Jokers each make a full Phase 10 pack. Aces are 1, cards 2 to 10 count their number, Jacks are 11 and Queens 12; the eight Kings are the Wild cards and the four Jokers are the Skips. The suits stand in for the four colours, so Phase 8 becomes seven cards of one suit. That gives the same 96 numbered cards, 8 Wilds and 4 Skips, and the scoring is unchanged.

Phase 10 Strategy

• Watch the discard pile. What other players pick up and throw away shows what they need.
• Keep the middle numbers for runs. A 1 or a 12 fits only at the end of a run, while a 6 fits into many more.
• Use Wilds when they finish a Phase. A Wild still in your hand when someone goes out costs 25 points.
• Get rid of 10s, 11s and 12s. They cost twice as much as low cards if you are caught with them.
• Aim your Skips. Skip the player closest to going out, or the one furthest ahead on Phases.

More Rummy Games

Phase 10 is one of the rummy family covered in the rummy rules guide, which also explains Contract Rummy, the game it grew from. If you like scoring as you meld, try Rummy 500; for two players, Gin Rummy. For another family game where you race to empty your hand, see Crazy Eights.

Another Mattel family favourite: Skip-Bo, where you build from 1 to 12 to empty your stock pile.

Another rummy game that changes every round: Five Crowns, where the wild card moves up one rank each round.

The game it grew from: Shanghai and Contract Rummy, seven rounds with a new contract of books and runs each time.

Phase 10: frequently asked questions