Phase 10 Card Game
Phase 10 is the Rummy-type card game with a twist! Be the first player to complete 10 varied phases with two sets of three, one run of seven, or seven cards with the same color Each phase is specific for each hand, meaning each player must complete one phase before advancing to the next round! Phase 10 tours from the comfort of a Pacific paradise to the chilling extremes of the North Pole. Compete with others online and be part of the international community. PICK YOUR PLAY STYLE Keep.
Phase 10 Rules
Do you love to play card games? Know how to play Phase 10 with your friends for the best fun time. We have elaborated all the Phase 10 rules, phases, instructions, and scoring rules of phase ten card game. Phase 10 is a popular card game created in 1982 on a variant of rummy which can be played with a special deck or two usual deck of cards. Two to six players can play this card game which has ten phases. If you love to play card games on your PC, then you can download phase 10 online for free to have fun during your leisure hours. It is perhaps one of the highest played game yet one of the most complicated one. In order to make it simpler, we have explained all phase 10 rules along with a detailed guide on how to play phase 10 card game.
Phase 10 Phases
You would surely like to refer our other posts explaining cribbage rules and how to play spades. We are providing the rules and methods of playing all the pop card games like bridge, spades, hearts game, crib, phase 10 and crazy eights. To play Phase ten, you require special deck of cards with total number of 108 card. The deck will include 24 cards of red, orange, green yellow marked from 1 to 12 (in 2 sets), 4 skip cards and 8 wild cards.
Phase 10 Rules
How To Play Phase 10?
The phase ten card game involves combination of cards according to their numbers, colors. One player is selected as a dealer. With each hand the dealer gets alternated towards left side players. The dealer shuffles the deck of the cards and deals ten cards in concealed face down way. One card is dealt at one time to each player. Players can hold their ten cards in hand now to start the play. The remaining deck of the card is placed in the center. Dealer overturns the top card of this remaining deck which is called draw pile and places it beside the draw pile. The player to the left of the dealer starts play by taking either the upturned (discarded pile) card or the top card of the draw pile. The player now chooses a card to discard (discard card is one that should be helping player to make the phase). All the players play in similar fashion of drawing and discarding cards aiming to make the 1st phase.
One by one all the phases are played in order of 1 to 10 as pre-phase 10 rules by the players during which they try to keep the cards which help them to complete the current phase and discard the cards to discard pile which will not help them to make the phase. In short, the target is to complete all the 10 phases first. Phase 10 is as popular as rummy card game. It is played by people of all age.
However, do go through the Phase 10 rules, instructions and points recording given in our further sections in this post to play the complete card game.
Phase 10 Game Phases
The phase 10 card game has 10 different phases and hence we are first acquainting you with all the 10 phases of the game with phase 10 rules. Phases are combination of cards consists of runs and sets. Find below the phase ten phases:
Sr. no. | Combination of Cards |
1 | 2 sets of 3 |
2 | 1 set of 3 + 1 run of 4 |
3 | 1 set of 4 + 1 run of 4 |
4 | 1 run of 7 |
5 | 1 run of 8 |
6 | 1 run of 9 |
7 | 2 sets of 4 |
8 | 7 cards of 1 color |
9 | 1 set of 5 + 1 set of 2 |
10 | 1 set of 5 + 1 set of 3 |
The phases are to be completed or played in order. Each player at phase 10 card game can make only a single phase per hand. Keep reading to know the phase 10 rules, scoring and point instructions.
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Phase Ten Rules – Scoring & Points
Phase 10 rules allow scoring during the card game as under. The scores are to be recorded on a paper:
The winner of the hand does not score. Other players score points for the cards remaining in hand:
- 5 points – for each card with numbers or value from 1 – 9
- 10 points – for each card with numbers or value from 10-12
- 15 points – for each Skip card
- 25 points – for each wild card
The scores can be made only for the cards remaining in hands of players. Once the scores for the completed phase are recorded, the player sitting at the left of the dealer will become new dealer. All the cards are shuffled and new hand will be played for new phase. Phase 10 rules and instructions are as given below,
The fewer the number of cards left in hand, the better the scores will be.
Phase 10 Instructions
Here are some terms, definitions and phase 10 rules and instructions you need to follow along with the phase 10 rules.
Terms & Definitions
- A set means two or more cards with the same value or number on its face.
- A run consists of four or more cards in order of its value or numbers.
- Wild Cards – Wild card is the non-numeral card used in place of a number card just to complete the phase. It can also be used as any colour card to complete the 8th
- Skip card – It enables another player to lose the next turn. To play a skip card, you just have to discard the card and keep it in the discard pile. The next player will be skipped. Skipped cards cannot be picked up again once discarded and they are not used a s part of the phase.
- Flushes – flushes are group of cards of all same colours and can be used as wild cards.
- Hitting is getting rid of the leftover cards in players’ hands after making a phase.
- As per phase 10 rules, player can make a hit only after making his own phase.
- Players can hit a card by laying down a card on the phase made but the hit card should be fitting in with the cards in the phase. For instance a player may make a hit by adding single or more than one card of 4 number to the existing set of 4s in the phase. Card of 2 can be added to the run of 3, 4, 5 and 6. Cards of 7 and 8 can also be added to the run of 3, 4, 5 and 6.
- Going Out simply means finishing a hand and getting rid of all the cards. A player should try to go out as soon as he finishes the hand by using hitting and discarding. The player who goes out first is the winner of the hand. All players who complete their phase can move on to play next phase. The players who can’t complete the phase get struck on the particular phase only.
- Player who completes 10th phase, is the winner. If more than one player complete phase 10, the player with the lowest total scores is the winner of the game.
Get ready with the deck of your cards and enjoy phase 10 with your buddies competing the 10 fun-filled phases. Do you also play bridge, cribbage and spades? You will the rules of many other exciting card games here. Go through the rules of the card games and methods of how to play them to steal best fun moments with the brain-teasing games of numbers and luck. There are many other interesting games like chess game is also available to play. If you want to take your expertise to the next level you can try online casino card games and earn some money. Learn the rules of chess before you play this mind exercising game. Surely you are now all laced to play the phase ten with all the details of phase 10 rules, phase 10 phases and understanding on its terms. Stay with us for more interesting card games and rules.
This page is part of the Invented Games section of the Card Games web site. It is a collection of variations of the proprietary card game, Phase 10. Phase 10 is a commercial version of the traditional card game Contract Rummy, but while Contract Rummy is played with standard playing-cards, Phase 10 uses special cards and has a somewhat different sequence of contracts.
Phase 10 + 10
Contributed by Justin Huneke
Phase 10 +10 is played with a deck of Phase 10 cards and played the same way as the proprietary game Phase 10 except that the 10th phase only marks the half way point! After the 10th phase there are 10 more and here they are:
- 4 sets of 2
- 1 set of 4 + 1 run of 5
- 1 set of 5 + 1 run of 5
- 1 run of 4 + 4 cards of one color
- 1 run of 5 + 4 cards of one color
- 1 run of 10
- 1 set of 4 + 1 set of 5
- 9 cards of one color
- 1 set of 6 + 1 set of 2
- 1 set of 6 + 1 set of 3
Warning! This game takes a very, very, very long time. Only play if you have absolutely nothing to do in the next 4 to 5 hours.
Enjoy!
Super Wild Phase 10
A variation of the 'Masters Edition' of Phase 10, contributed by Jeff Presley
The Masters Edition of Phase 10 includes two additional rules:
- Players can choose which Phase to attempt on each deal, based on the cards they are dealt.
- Once in each deal, a player can 'save' a card by discarding it into a private 'save' pile instead of the central discard pile. These cards are stored from deal to deal. At the start of a turn, a player can retrieve any card from their 'save' pile into their hand instead of drawing from the stock or discard pile.
Jeff Presley's group has modified these rules by marking one of the existing wild cards as 'Super Wild' and one of the existing skip cards as 'Super Skip'.
- Playing a normal Skip card either skips the next player or reverses the direction of play - the player of the card chooses which.
- Playing the 'Super Skip' card skips everyone else and thus give the holder another turn immediately. This card counts 25 points if left in a player's hand at the end.
- The 'Super Wild' card counts 50 points and can be used as two wild cards.
The contracts are:
Free Phase 10 Card Game Download
- 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 - OR 3 sets of 3 - OR 5 sets of 2
- 7 cards of one color (skip can be used as a blue card when collecting blues)
- 1 set of 5 + 1 set of 2
- 1 set of 5 + 1 set of 3
A game usually lasts 60 - 90 minutes.
Mixed Up Masters
A variation of the 'Masters Edition' of Phase 10, contributed by Keith Morris
There are 2-4 players. Take all of the 'phase' cards, shuffle them together and deal them out, 10 to each player. You dont get to look through them or choose which one to use: you turn up your first phase card and that is the one you need to complete.
You cannot pick up from the discard pile after you have laid down your phase. Your skips do not count as a color. To win you have to finish all the phases in your pile.
This version takes around 30-60 min. depending on the number of players.
Phase 10 Dice Game
To make a harder 2-player game, shuffle all 40 'phase' cards and deal out 20 to each person.
The Crazy Twenties
Contributed by Gabriele Scott
The first 10 phases remain the same as in the standard game and there are ten additional phases as follows:
- 3 sets of 3
- 4 sets of 2 with no wilds
- 1 run of 5 + 1 set of 5
- 8 of one color with no wilds
- 1 run of 10
- 1 set of 7 + 1 set of 2
- 2 runs of 4 with no wilds
- 3 sets of 3 using 3 colors - wilds same color (you pick three colors and only these colors can be used in the sets, including any wild cards; you do not have to use all three colors in any set)
- 5 sets of 2 in same color - wild card color must match number color
- run of 9 in 2 alternating colors - wild card color must match color sequence.
Phases may be played in any order at the choice of each individual player. Players announce what phase they are playing when they lay down their cards. They are then committed to that phase for the rest of the deal. A note must be kept of which phases each player has completed. No player is allowed to repeat a phase, so the players' options are reduced as the game progresses. To win you have to complete all 20 phases.
Note: The above rules use Phase 10 cards with colored wild cards. In some newer decks all the wild cards are the same color. If playing with this type of deck, just disregard the restrictions on wild card colors.
Alternative phases
When playing with just 10 phases, it is not necessary to stick to the phases given in the official game instructions. There are many other possibilities, and many groups use their own list of phases. For example Armanda Carvelli recommends the following phases:
- set of 3 + run of 4
- set of 4 + run of 5
- run of 6
- run of 7
- run of 8
- run of 9
- 3 sets of 2
- 2 sets of 3
- 2 sets of 4
- set of 5 + set of 3