{"id":16393,"date":"2022-09-07T12:41:45","date_gmt":"2022-09-07T16:41:45","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.museumofplay.org\/?post_type=toys&p=16393"},"modified":"2025-03-26T09:45:31","modified_gmt":"2025-03-26T13:45:31","slug":"phase-10","status":"publish","type":"toys","link":"https:\/\/www.museumofplay.org\/toys\/phase-10\/","title":{"rendered":"Phase 10"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Inducted 2024<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Black inventor and Detroit native Ken Johnson designed his first game, Dice-Baseball, when he was just 12. At 19, he decided to go into business for himself after being laid off from his welding job at the Ford Motor Company. Johnson partnered with retailer Kmart to sell an updated version of Dice-Baseball, but the game ultimately fell short of sales expectations. Undeterred, Johnson began work on what would become a far greater success: the card game Phase 10. Phase 10 challenges players to create sets of matching cards or runs of sequential cards. The players race to be the first to complete the game\u2019s titular 10 phases, each phase requiring unique combinations of cards. Phase 1 demands two sets of three matching cards, for instance, while Phase 5 requires a run of eight consecutive cards. Players can take advantage of special Wild cards that can form part of any group and can make cunning use of Skip cards to force other players to pass their turns. Players cannot advance to the next phase before completing the previous one.<\/p>\n\n\n

\n
\"Phase<\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n

Much like climbing the ladder of the game\u2019s 10 phases does, Johnson\u2019s path to success required perseverance. Drawing on years of experience playing card games like rummy and taking lessons from Dice-Baseball\u2019s lack of success, Johnson thoroughly tested prototypes of his new card game to make sure it was challenging, easy to learn, and viable for the market. He convinced Kmart to stock Phase 10 in 1982, but the massive retailer worried that he would not be able to fill their order. A determined Johnson gathered the game\u2019s components, along with a group of local teenagers, and assembled, packaged, and shipped thousands of copies of Phase 10 from his parents\u2019 basement. Within a year, the game was sold in all 2,200 Kmart stores and began to appear on the shelves of other retailers. Phase 10 quickly established itself as a staple of family game nights, and its small size made it easy to bring along to play with friends and family when traveling. Johnson personally managed the manufacturing and distribution of the game for five years before licensing it to Indiana-based publisher Fundex Games. Toy and games giant Mattel began licensing Phase 10 in 2010.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Mattel honored Phase 10\u2019s 40th anniversary in 2022 by releasing a special edition, including a letter from creator Ken Johnson, to coincide with Black History Month. During those 40 years and beyond, Phase 10 has grown to be one of the world\u2019s bestselling card games, second only to fellow National Toy Hall of Fame inductee Uno. Now offered in more than 20 languages and over 60 countries, the game sells upwards of four million copies per year. The game\u2019s phenomenal success has also inspired several spin-offs. Phase 10 Dice added the game\u2019s unique progression of phases to the tactical dice rolling of Yahtzee in 1993, and 2001\u2019s Phase 10 Masters introduced an additional strategic layer to the original card game by allowing players to finish the phases in an order of their choosing. Phase 10 continues to evolve to reach new audiences. Launched in 2019, the mobile video game version Phase 10: World Tour<\/em> is now available in over 100 countries and the Android version has been downloaded more than 10 million times.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Inducted 2024<\/strong>
\nBlack inventor and Detroit native Ken Johnson designed his first game, Dice-Baseball, when he was just 12. At 19, he decided to go into business for himself after being laid off from his welding job at the Ford Motor Company. Johnson partnered with retailer Kmart to sell an updated version of Dice-Baseball, but the game ultimately fell short of sales expectations. Undeterred, Johnson began work on what would become a far greater success: the card game Phase 10. Phase […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":81,"featured_media":25360,"template":"","year_inducted":[512],"class_list":["post-16393","toys","type-toys","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","year_inducted-512","entry"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nPhase 10 - The Strong National Museum of Play<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.museumofplay.org\/toys\/phase-10\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Phase 10 - The Strong National Museum of Play\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Inducted 2024 Black inventor and Detroit native Ken Johnson designed his first game, Dice-Baseball, when he was just 12. At 19, he decided to go into business for himself after being laid off from his welding job at the Ford Motor Company. 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