Phase 10

Résumé express

A ten-step race. Each player must complete ten set combinations — the phases — in order. Every round, whoever empties their hand ends the turn: anyone who laid down their phase moves on to the next, the others replay it. Any cards left in hand cost penalty points. The first to clear phase 10 wins; ties are broken by the lowest total of penalties.

Mise en place

• 108-card deck: four colours numbered 1 to 12 (two of each), 8 Wilds and 4 Skips.
• 10 cards each, face down. The rest is the draw pile; flip the top card to start the discard pile.
• Everyone starts on phase 1. Play goes clockwise.

Tour de jeu

On your turn, in order:

1. Draw a card — from the draw pile or the visible discard.
2. Lay down your phase if you hold it in full (once per round), then optionally add cards to phases already down (yours or others’).
3. Discard one card to end your turn.

Special cards:

• Wild: stands in for any card in a combination. Once laid down, it keeps the value you gave it.
• Skip: never laid down. Discarding it makes the targeted player lose their turn. It cannot be picked up from the discard.

Understanding the combinations

Only three families — don’t mix them up:

• Set — several cards of the same number, whatever their colour. Named by size: a pair (2 cards), a set of 3, a set of 4, a set of 5 (five cards of the same number). Example of a set of 3: 7 red + 7 blue + 7 yellow.
• Run — cards whose numbers are consecutive (1, 2, 3…), any colours. A “run of 4” = four consecutive numbers, e.g. 5-6-7-8. Numbers go from 1 to 12 and do not wrap around (nothing after 12).
• Colour — several cards of the same colour; the numbers don’t matter (they may repeat). Used only for phase 8.

The Wild stands in for any missing card in one of these combinations.

The ten phases to complete

Each player works through them in this order; the app shows everyone their current phase.

Fin de partie

• End of round: as soon as a player plays their last card, the round stops. Everyone reveals their hand and scores penalties.
• Progression: whoever laid down their phase this round advances one phase; the others retry the same one next round. In the app, tick “Phase cleared” for each player who made it.
• Penalties for cards left in hand:

• Winning: the first to complete phase 10 wins. If several clear phase 10 in the same round, the lowest total of penalties breaks the tie.

FAQ

I laid down my phase but still have cards — do I still score? Yes: only cards you play (or add to existing phases) escape penalties. Everything left in hand counts.

Can I clear two phases in one round? No — one phase laid down per round. You advance one step at a time.

Can a Wild be “taken back” once played? No. Once on the table it is locked to the chosen value.

What if I miss my phase all game long? You stay on the same phase and pile up penalties: it’s possible to finish last without ever getting past phase 2.

Variantes

• Single-colour phases (house challenge): each phase must be made with cards of a single colour, which sharply raises the difficulty. The phases and penalty scale are unchanged — same entry in the app.
• Free order: some house rules let you pick the order of phases. The app assumes the official 1 → 10 order; for a free-order game, read “Phase cleared” as “one more phase completed” and rely on the count of cleared phases.