How to play Phase 10

What you need

• A standard Phase 10 deck: 110 cards in total. That is 96 numbered cards (two sets of 1 to 12 in each of blue, green, red, and yellow), 8 Wild cards, 4 Skip cards, and 2 Phase Reference cards.
• Paper and pencil for a running score. You will also want a column for each player’s current phase, because players drift onto different phases quickly.
• A table with room in front of each player to lay a phase face up.

Set up the game

1. Choose a dealer. The dealer puts both Phase Reference cards where everyone can read them.
2. Deal ten cards face down to each player. Keep your hand hidden.
3. Make the piles. The rest of the deck goes face down in the centre as the draw pile. Turn its top card face up beside it to start the discard pile.
4. Check the starter card. If it is a Wild, the first player may pick it up. If it is a Skip, the first player’s first turn is skipped automatically.
5. Start the score sheet. Write every player’s name with “Phase 1” beside it. The player to the dealer’s left goes first, and play runs clockwise.

Playing Phase 10

Every turn has the same four steps, in this order.

1. Draw one card from the top of the draw pile or the top of the discard pile. A Skip on the discard pile can never be picked up.
2. Lay down your phase, if you can. You must hold the whole phase before you put it down; half a phase can’t go on the table. A set is two or more cards of the same number in any colors. A run is four or more cards in consecutive order in any colors. All one color means matching color in any order. You may make only one phase per round.
3. Hit, if your phase is already down. Once your own phase is on the table, you may play extra cards onto any laid phase where they fit: another 4 onto a set of 4s, a 2 or a 7 onto a 3-4-5-6 run, a green card onto someone’s seven greens. You may hit as many cards as you can, on your own phase or other players’, but only on your turn.
4. Discard one card to end your turn. Discarding a Skip makes a player of your choice lose their next turn. You cannot skip the same player two turns in a row; they must get a normal turn first.

Wilds and Skips

A Wild stands for any number or any color. You can use as many Wilds as you like in a phase, as long as it contains at least one numbered card. Once a Wild is placed in a phase it stays there for the rest of the round. Skips cannot be used in a phase at all.

Ending the round

To go out, get rid of your last card by hitting, discarding, or both. Going out ends the round for everyone immediately. Everyone who has their phase on the table moves up to the next phase for the next round, not just the player who went out. Anyone who didn’t complete their phase tries the same one again. Players total the penalty cards left in their hands, the deal passes left, and a new round begins.

A sample round

Three players, all on Phase 1 (two sets of 3). Ava sits left of the dealer.

1. Ava holds 3, 3, 7, 7, 7, 9, 11, 12, Wild, Skip. She draws a 9. Three 7s make one set and 3-3-Wild makes the other, so she lays both down. She discards the Skip and chooses Ben. Hand: 9, 9, 11, 12.
2. Ben loses his turn.
3. Cal holds 5, 5, 5, 8, 8, 2, 4, 10, 10, 12. The top discard is a Skip, which can never be picked up, so he draws from the deck: an 8. He lays down 5-5-5 and 8-8-8 and discards the 12. Hand: 2, 4, 10, 10.
4. Ava draws a 7 and hits it onto her own 7s. She discards the 11. Hand: 9, 9, 12.
5. Ben takes the 11 from the discard pile, still can’t make two sets, and discards a 1.
6. Cal draws a 5, hits it on his 5s, and discards the 2. Hand: 4, 10, 10.
7. Ava draws a 3, hits it on her 3s, and discards the 12. Hand: 9, 9.
8. Cal, after Ben passes another dud, draws a Wild. He hits it on his 8s to get 25 points out of his hand and discards the 4. Hand: 10, 10.
9. Ava draws an 8 and hits it onto Cal’s 8s, which is legal once her own phase is down. She discards a 9. Hand: one 9.
10. Ava, next turn, draws a 7, hits it on her 7s, and discards her last card, the 9. She is out and the round ends.

Ava and Cal both had their phases on the table, so both move to Phase 2. Ben never laid down and stays on Phase 1.

Scoring with a worked example

The player who goes out scores zero. Everyone else scores penalty points for cards left in hand: 5 for each card numbered 1 to 9, 10 for each 10 to 12, 15 for each Skip, 25 for each Wild. Low score is good.

Example from the round above. Ava went out: 0. Cal holds 10, 10: 10 + 10 = 20. Ben is still holding ten cards: 1, 2, 4, 6, 6, 9, 11, 12, 12, Skip. Six low cards at 5 each make 30, three high cards at 10 each make 30, and the Skip adds 15, for 75.

Points only decide the game when two or more players finish Phase 10 in the same round. Then the lowest total wins. If that is also tied, the tied players replay Phase 10 and the first to go out wins.

Beginner strategy

• Plan around the hard part of your phase. For Phase 2 the run of 4 is usually tougher than the set of 3. Keep cards that build the run and let spare pairs go.
• Watch the discard pile before you draw. A visible card that completes your phase is worth far more than a mystery card. Watch what the player before you is collecting too, and avoid feeding them.
• Hold Wilds for the phase, not for hitting. A Wild in your hand is 25 points if someone goes out, but a Wild that finishes your phase is the difference between advancing and repeating. Once your phase is down, hit Wilds onto any phase to get them out of your hand.
• Dump high cards when you’re stuck. If your phase is hopeless this round, discard 10s, 11s, and 12s first. They cost double.
• Look across every phase before discarding. Once your phase is down, a card useless to you may extend an opponent’s run or set, and hitting it there clears your hand.
• Save Skips for the leader. A Skip on the player one card from going out can buy the whole table a turn.
• Count the runs in Phases 4 to 6. A run of 9 uses nine of the twelve numbers. Hold everything consecutive and use Wilds to fill the gaps.

Common mistakes and rule disputes

• Advancing only the player who went out. Mattel’s rules are clear: everyone who completed their phase moves up.
• Putting down half a phase. You need the entire phase in your hand before laying any of it.
• Hitting before your phase is down. You can only hit after your own phase is on the table.
• Laying down two phases in one round. Only one phase per player per round, even if you happen to hold the next one too.
• Picking up a Skip. Never allowed. A Wild on the opening discard, however, may be taken by the first player.
• Taking a Wild back out of a phase. Once placed, it stays put for the rest of the round.
• Skipping the same person twice in a row. A skipped player must get one normal turn before they can be skipped again.
• A phase made only of Wilds. Not allowed. Every phase needs at least one numbered card.

Variants and house rules

The first two are official variations printed in the W4729 instructions; the rest are house rules.

• Ten-round game (official variation). Play exactly ten rounds. Everyone moves to the next phase each round whether they made it or not. Lowest total after ten rounds wins.
• Shorter game (official variation). Agree before starting that the game ends at, say, Phase 5 or Phase 7. All other rules stay the same.
• Pick your own phase (house rule). Some groups let players attempt any phase they haven’t completed yet, in any order. It speeds things up but changes the game a lot.
• Team play (house rule). Partners sit opposite and may hit onto each other’s phases freely. Mattel’s standard sheet has no partnership rules.

Teach it in five minutes

1. Show the reference card. “There are ten phases. You need to make them in order. Everybody starts on Phase 1.”
2. Define sets and runs with real cards: three 7s is a set of 3; 4-5-6-7 in mixed colors is a run of 4.
3. The turn. “Draw one. If you have your whole phase, lay it down. Once it’s down, you can add cards to any phase on the table. Discard one to finish.”
4. Special cards. “Wilds are anything. Skips make someone miss a turn and can’t be picked up.”
5. The key rule. “When anyone goes out, the round ends. If your phase is down, you move up. If not, you try it again.”
6. Play one open round with hands face up for the first few turns.

Age and group-size advice

Mattel lists the game for 2 to 6 players, ages 7 and up. Seven-year-olds handle sets easily; runs and phase tracking may need a grown-up nearby for the first game. Three or four players is the most fun: enough discards to fight over, and rounds that move quickly. With six players a full game can easily take two hours, so consider the shorter official variation. Two players works fine and is more tactical, since every discard goes straight to your one opponent.

Check yourself

Questions people ask

Sources and edition notes

Mattel W4729 standard Phase 10, not Masters, Flip or Express.

Sources and stated format checked October 2026. This records a document check, not a claim of hands-on testing. The instruction sheet reviewed carries the print code W4729-0970.

• Mattel Phase 10 W4729 instructions (PDF)

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