Phase 10 Master Rulebook

Table of Contents

Table of Contents

• Components
• Setup
• General

Components

131 playing cards:

• 96 number cards (two each of the values 1–12 in red, yellow, green and violet)
• 35 special cards, of which:
  • 14 jokers (values 1–6 and 7–12 in various colour combinations)
  • 21 action cards (blue), including 3 blank cards*
• 6 overview cards
• 6 phase indicators**

You also need a scoring sheet (best made as a copy of page 38 of this rulebook) and a pen.

* The blank cards can be written on with actions of your own choice and then added to the game as further action cards.

** Before the first game, the phase indicators must be carefully cut out along the dashed line with a sharp knife.

Setup

Each player receives:

• 1 overview card, which they place face up in front of them. It lists the 10 phases the player must lay down during the game.
• 1 phase indicator, which they slide over their overview card so that the top visible line shows phase 1.

Surplus overview cards and phase indicators stay in the box.

Shuffle all the playing cards well. Deal 10 cards to each player, one at a time in turn. Each player takes their cards into hand, face down so the other players cannot see them.

Place the remaining playing cards in the middle of the table as a face-down draw pile. Turn the top card of the pile face up and place it beside the pile to start the discard pile.

If this card is a special card (joker or blue action card), slide it back under the draw pile and turn over a new card.

General

The game is played over several rounds. As soon as one player has played their last hand card, the round ends. Then it is recorded who has completed their phase and how many penalty points each player receives. The next round then begins.

The game ends with the round in which a player has completed their 10th phase.

In each round every player tries to lay down the phase they are currently on. If they succeed, they try the following phase in the next round, and so on. If a player does not manage to lay down their current phase, they must try it again in the next round, for as long as it takes until they succeed.

For example, one player may already be on phase 6 while another is still trying to lay down phase 2.

The 10 phases must be laid down by every player in exactly the order shown on the overview cards, that is, first phase 1, then phase 2, and so on.

The phases require four different kinds of card combinations:

1. Sets: These are card combinations in which all the numbers are the same. There are twins (two cards of the same number), triplets (three of the same number), quads (four of the same number) and quints (five of the same number). The colours of the cards do not matter. Note: If several sets are required, the same number may be used more than once for them. For example, it is permitted to lay down 3/3, 3/3, 7/7, 7/7 as phase 1 (four twins).

2. All of one colour: Phases 2 and 5 require six or seven cards of one colour, respectively. The numbers on the cards do not matter.

3. Runs: A run consists of four or more cards with numbers that directly follow one another. Note: there is no connection between 12 and 1. The colours of the cards do not matter. Example: Phase 4 requires an eight-card run, for example 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, or 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11 in any colours.

4. Colour runs: A colour run consists of three or more cards with numbers that directly follow one another, all in one colour. Example: Phase 8 requires, among other things, a four-card colour run. This could be, for example, the red 3, 4, 5, 6, or also the yellow 8, 9, 10, 11.