Phase 10 is a card game for 2 to 6 players similar to Rummy.
Material
To play Phase 10, you need:
-108 cards: 24 cards of each color (red, yellow, green and blue), 4 “pass a turn” cards and 8 joker cards
-2 to 6 players
Goal of the game
The object of the game is to complete all 10 “phases”. Only one phase counts per round. The first player to complete all 10 phases wins the game.
What is a phase?
Each player must complete all 10 phases of the game. If a player does not complete a phase in one hand, he/she must repeat the phase in the next round.
◊ Phase number 1: have two brelans (three cards of the same value)
◊ Phase 2: Three of a kind + a four card sequence
◊ Phase number 3: a square (four cards of the same value) + a sequence of four cards
◊ Phase number 4: a suite of seven cards
◊ Phase number 5: a suite of eight cards
◊ Phase number 6: a suite of nine cards
◊ Phase number 7: two squares (one square = four cards of the same value)
◊ Phase number 8: seven cards of the same suit
◊ Phase number 10: poker + three of a kind
What is a run?
A run is a set of cards that form a staircase and are not necessarily of the same suit. Example of phase number 4: 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9 (not the same suit).
What is a flush or a run of seven cards of the same suit?
A flush is a sequence of cards of the same suit. Example of phase number 8: 2, 3, 5, 7, 8, 9, 10 of the yellow suit.
Jokers
The joker cards can complete one of the series of the 10 phases. They can replace any card to form a three of a kind, a four of a kind, a straight, a flush or a poker. So you can use any joker to complete a phase, as long as you have a normal card in the group.
The skip turn card
This card makes another player lose a turn when you play it. It cannot be used as part of a phase. When you draw a card and get it, play it so that the next player can skip his turn.
Note: When a skip turn card is turned over at the beginning of the game, the player following the dealer takes his turn. In case there are two players, the player who turns over the first card of the deck and gets a skip turn card plays again.
Installation
There is no official rule yet to designate the dealer. You can choose it among the players or draw a card and the one with the highest number becomes the dealer.
How the game is played
- The dealer deals 10 cards face down to each player and the rest will be placed in the center of the table and will form the deck (face down).
- The dealer turns over the top card of the deck and this will form the beginning of the discard pile.
- The player to the left of the dealer starts the game and must draw a card from the deck or the discard pile.
- This player must then choose a card from his deck and place it in the discard pile
- All players will take turns playing and must complete phase number 1 before discarding all their cards and completing the first round.
The direction of play is clockwise
Please note! Pass cards cannot be taken from the discard pile. You can only get these cards from the deck. The same applies to joker cards.
End of a round
When a player gets rid of all the cards in his hand first, the first round ends and the other players add up their points. After the players have counted their points, they can now put all their cards in the discard pile.
After that, the second round can begin. All players who have successfully completed phase number 1 in the first round can start phase number 2 in the second round.
Note: Players who did not pass phase number 1 in the first round must try phase number 1 again in the second round.
The game continues in this manner until one player successfully completes all phases up to phase number 10.
Note: When the deck is exhausted, you must shuffle all the cards from the discard pile and make a new deck. Do not forget to turn over the first card of the deck to form the discard pile.
End of a game
After a succession of rounds, the first player to complete phase number 10 wins the game.
In another variation, the player with the fewest points wins. When a player completes phase number 10 first, all other players count their points from the beginning of the game. The winner is the player with the lowest score.
The points of each card
It is important to remember that the player who completes a phase and gets rid of all his cards scores 0 points. If this player continues to complete all 10 phases during the 10 rounds, he/she will have 0 points at the end of the game.
For players who do not manage to get rid of their cards, here is how to count the rest of the cards they still have in their hand before putting them in the discard pile:
√ Cards numbered 1-9 are worth 5 points.
√ Cards numbered 10-12 are worth 10 points.
√ Pass cards are worth 15 points.
√ Wild cards are worth 25 points.
