I don’t bring a stack of board games to family Thanksgiving anymore. Although my very kind mother will occasionally humor me and play one of my games, I’ve never seen her have more fun at the table than when we played the traditional card game Hearts this last summer. My aunt, too, has been more than happy to teach me how to play (and how to lose) gin rummy. Years after getting into board games, both personally and professionally, I’ve become increasingly uncomfortable with the idea of the “gateway game.” Games like Ticket to Ride and Catan are lauded for their ability to draw players into the realm of more complex games. As we board game hobbyists insist on terms like “modern” to distinguish our games from those of the past, we must remember we don’t need to shove everyone through the gate. Card game Phase 10’s multigenerational appeal and tremendous commercial success perhaps lie in its accessible folk origins.
In 1982, Black inventor and Detroit native Ken Johnson leveraged his childhood of playing traditional rummy-style card games to create a game that could compete with Uno. Uno, after all, has its own roots in the playing card game Crazy Eights. Johnson had recently been laid off from his welding job at the Ford Motor Company at 19, and the publication of his first game, Dice Baseball, was met with disappointing sales. Four decades later, though, Phase 10 is played across the globe and rivals Uno, racking up sales that make it the second best-selling card game in the world.
The object of the game is to be the first player to complete the 10 phases. In each phase, the player must collect particular groups of cards, much like the melds in rummy. Phase One asks for two sets (a group of cards with the same number on them) of three, Phase Six requires one run (a sequential group of numbers such as one, two, three) of nine, and Phase Eight demands seven cards of one color. The game’s unique challenge lies in its strict sequence of phases; players cannot move on until their current phase is complete.
Johnson’s game mirrors his own experience in that it rewards players’ persistence to keep going even when they have fallen behind. Despite Dice Baseball’s lack of success, he convinced Kmart to order his new game. When Kmart worried Johnson did not have the capacity to fill the massive retailer’s orders, a determined Johnson gathered all the game’s components and a group of local teenagers, and assembled, packaged, and shipped thousands of copies of Phase 10 from his parents’ basement. The orders and reorders began to pour in. Within a year, Kmart sold it in all its 2,200 stores, and other retailers began stocking it. Phase 10 quickly became a staple of family game nights, and its relatively small size meant players often brought it with them to play with family and friends when they traveled.
Phase 10 continues to introduce its twist on card game fundamentals to new formats, reaching new audiences and connecting players across generations. It’s spawned several sequels and variations such as Phase 10 Masters and Phase 10 Twist, as well as a Phase 10 dice game that resembles the classic game Yahtzee. In 2019, Mattel introduced its Phase 10: World Tour mobile video game, which allows people to play together remotely anytime in virtual versions of family game night. Available in more than 100 countries, tens of millions of players around the world play. To celebrate the card game’s 40th anniversary in 2022, Mattel launched a special edition of the game during Black History Month that includes a letter from Johnson. Today, Mattel reportedly sells four million Phase 10 decks annually in 60 countries and in more than 20 languages. Whether played in its original form or in one of these variations, over the last four decades Phase 10 has become an iconic game title that continues to encourage multigenerational social and competitive play. In 2024, it’s ready to move onto its next phase: the National Toy Hall of Fame.
By: Mirek Stolee, Curator