Uno (card game)

UNO

The game of UNO.
Players	3 +
Setup time	< 1 min
Playing time	> 5 minutes
Chance	Medium
Age range	5 +
Skills	Saving important cards; knowing when to put down those cards.

A deck of English Uno cards from 1995. Notice that letters are used instead of symbols.

Special action cards from an old-style non-English deck. L-R: Skip, Reverse, Wild, Draw Two, and Wild Draw Four.

UNO (Spanish, Italian "one" and Dutch "pesten") is a card game played with a specially printed deck (see Mau Mau for an almost identical game played with normal playing cards). The game was originally developed in 1971 by Merle Robbins. It is now a Mattel product. The game's general principles put it into the Crazy Eights family of card games. Despite being developed in America, UNO is officially pronounced exactly the same way as the Italian word for "one", uno.

Official rules

The custom deck consists of cards of 4 suits (colors): red, green, blue, and yellow. The ranks in each suit are 0-9. There are 3 "honor" cards in each suit, labelled "skip", "draw two", and "reverse". There are special black cards, "wild" and "wild draw four". There are two copies of each regular and honor card, except for the 0s, which only have one per suit. There are four "wild" and "wild draw four" cards each, producing a total of 108 cards.

To start the game, seven cards are dealt to each player, and the top card of the stock is exposed to start the discard pile. If the exposed card has a special ability, it is treated as if the dealer played that card, and the special effect occurs (i.e., skip, draw two, reverse, or wild). If the exposed card is a wild draw four, however, it is returned to the deck and the next card is exposed.

At each turn, a player may play a card from their hand that matches the suit or rank of the top exposed card, or play a wild or wild draw four. If a player has no legal card to play, that player draws the top card of the stock, and may either play it or place it in their hand. A player may choose to draw the top card of the stock even if they have a legal play (known as reneging), but after having drawn the top card of the stock only that card may be played that turn (a player may intentionally do this when desperate to keep another player from going out). After playing a single card or drawing, the next player clockwise takes a turn, unless a reverse is in effect. If the stock is emptied, the discard pile is shuffled and turned over to replenish the stock.

The hand ends when a player plays all their cards. When a player plays down to only one card, that player is required to say "uno".

After a player plays all of their cards, the other players count the number of points pertaining to the number of cards in their hands. When the number for one of the players reaches or exceeds a certain value(500 is customary), the player with the least points wins.

Special cards

Image (New, English)	Image (Old, English)	Card	Description
File:Uno Draw 2 card.jpg	File:D2 Card old.jpg	Draw two	The next player must draw two cards and lose their turn. There is no defense; the draw is mandatory.
File:Uno Skip card.jpg	File:Skip Card old.jpg	Skip	The next player must skip their turn.
File:Uno Reverse card.jpg	File:Reverse Card old.jpg	Reverse	The order of play is reversed from clockwise to counterclockwise, or from counterclockwise to clockwise. If there are only two players, reverse acts as a skip.
File:Uno Wild card.jpg	File:Wild Card old.jpg	Wild	The person playing it names a color, and the next legal play must be that color, unless another wild is played.
File:Uno Wild Draw 4 card.jpg	File:WildD4 Card old.jpg	Wild draw four	Acts like a wild, but the next player must draw four cards and skip their turn. This card may only be played if the player holding it doesn't have any card matching the current color or number.

Note: The newer style English Uno action cards bear symbols which denote their action, except for the Wild cards which still bear the word "Wild." Before the design change, such cards in English versions of the game bear letters. Other versions also use symbols and images in both old and new designs, especially those with Wild cards that do not bear the word "Wild." The Xbox 360 version of the game uses the new English style of the cards in gameplay.

Penalties

If any player fails to say "uno", then another player may force him or her to draw two penalty cards. If nobody notices the failure to say uno before the next player takes another turn, there is no penalty. There is no penalty for falsely accusing someone of not saying "uno".

If a player gives card-play suggestions, he or she must draw two cards.

If a player plays an illegal card, he or she must draw two cards.

If a player plays a wild draw four card when he has a playable card in his hand, he can be challenged by another player. If he or she played the card correctly, the challenging player must draw six cards. If the player playing the card cheated, he or she has to draw four penalty cards.

Common variants

File:-unochan.jpg

There are many implementations of Uno. As an example, #unochan on irc.rizon.net is a Internet Relay Chat version of Uno with support for multiple human players.

Duo is a free computer implementation of UNO.

• Jump-in Rule (also called 'Cut'). If the player is holding a card that matches the previously played card, both in suit and rank, he may play it even if it is not his turn, and it is treated as if it were his regular turn. Play continues from that player and the intervening players were effectively skipped. This rule speeds up the game, especially when there are many players, and forces players to pay attention when it isn't their turn. Note that it is always a race between the person whose legal turn it is and any player who may have a jump-in card. After a draw two or wild draw four, the player may wait until the person has drawn their penalty cards before playing the jump-in card.
• If the player is playing the jump-in rule, he may play a wild draw four even if he holds cards of the color called, but only after another player plays a wild draw four (ie: the player is jumping in).
• Infinite draw. If the player chooses to draw (or are forced to draw) a card from the stock, he continues to draw until he has a playable card. If necessary, the discard pile is reshuffled and recreated as the stock pile.
• Multiple cards. If the player has two or more cards of the same number (eg. '2') or function (eg. Draw Two) then he may play them all at once as long as the bottom played card matches the colour and rank of the top exposed card.
• Cumulative draw cards. If a Draw Two card is played and the player has another Draw Two in his hand, he may play it making it draw four to the next player. If they have a Draw Two in their hand, they may play it making it draw 6 and so on until someone cannot play a Draw Two and must draw. Likewise, a wild draw four may be cumulative on another wild draw four. Draw Twos and wild draw fours are not cumulative with each other.
• Deflection. Reverse and skip cards can be used to deflect draw penalties, but only if they can be legally played. For instance, if someone plays a wild draw 4 and announces the color as green, if the next player has a green reverse, the person who played the draw 4 has to draw the penalty cards (unless he/she has a green skip or reverse).
• The Magic Zero. When the hand starts, the player with the most cards in the last hand(the dealer in the first hand) decides what will happen when any 0 is played. This will be in effect for the whole hand and cannot be changed until the next.
• Killer Uno. This variant is, as the name implies, faster and more aggressive than official play. There are four additional rules (see below). Its earliest confirmed attribution is to Keith Chin-A-Loy and Mark Bomgardner in December 1987. It may also be referred to as "Dirty Uno."
  1. Infinite draw (see above).
  2. Jump-in (see above).
  3. Cumulative draw cards (see above).
  4. Zero. On any play of a zero card, all players to pass their hands in the direction of play. Play continues as usual. Note that playing a zero as a last card is a losing strategy since inheriting the neighbors hand is inevitable.
  5. Red Zero. One variation of Killer Uno plays the red zero as a draw 10 card. All other zeros pass hands in the direction of play as above.
  6. Silent Twos. In another variation of Killer Uno, any color two is "silent." Not a single sound (barring coughs and sneezes) can be uttered until the play returns the player who played the two. The first person to make a sound draws two cards; after that, the silence is broken.
  7. Nines. When a 9 of any color is played, all players must slap the middle pile (a lot like Egyptian Rat Pack/Race). The last player with their hand in the middle draws two cards.
• Speed Uno. This variant is the fastest, non-deterministic version. It includes some of the Killer Uno rules with some additions. This development is attributed to the South African Uno League sometime between January 2003 and July 2004.
  1. Jump-in (see above).
  2. Cumulative draw cards (see above). So the maximum draw 4's would force the next player to pick up 16 cards.
  3. 7's. Any player playing a 7 stops the game and this player must exchange hands with any player chosen.
  4. Blocking 7's. (see above). If the player is chosen by the current 7's role to exchange hands, the player may block in the case of a 7 in the player's hand. As a consequence the player which blocked may then force the player who chooses them to swap with any other player that the blocking 7's player choose.
  5. Zero. (see above - same as Killer Uno).
  6. Cutting the cards. The player that deals the hand at the start of the game cuts the cards. In the case of cutting the exact right amount of cards (i.e. number of players x 7 cards per hand) then -50 points.
  7. Betting. Players other than the player that has to deal the hand at the start of the game may bet, after the cut has taken place, if they believe that the cut is the correct amount of cards. If correct the player that placed a bet may also win -50 points if correct or in case of an incorrect but will accumulate 50 points.
  8. Hat trick Rule: The hat trick rule comes into play anytime that the same card is played or ‘snapped’ three times. The person who has played the final card in the hat trick, has to retain their cards, but swap seating with anyone else at the table. Should the sequence of similar cards exceed three, the player of the last card can force any two other players to swap seats while still retaining their cards.
• Deadly Uno. This optional rule states that a player who is unable to play a card loses the game instead of drawing cards. This rule drastically speeds up the progression of games.
• Drunken Uno. A drinking game played with a deck of Uno cards.
• Allowing the Draw Four card to be played even if the player has cards of the current color.

Special Packs

Certain special packs of Uno are available in shops. These sometimes include more special cards.

• Barbie Uno - which features the "friendship" card, where the player can swap his/her hand with another player.
• Harry Potter Uno - which features a Draw Three (instead of Draw Two) card; also features a "howler" wild card where, if played, the player who uses the card may select another player to say all of their cards aloud; also features an "invisibility" wild card where, if played, the player can block any card placed down (such as, a card that forces them to draw cards)
• The Simpsons Uno - which features a Wild Draw 3 card
• Star Trek Uno - based on the original Star Trek series with special cards:
  • Double Tribble card - the player who plays this card chooses the colour of play, and the next player doubles the amount of cards in their hand and forfeits their turn. (appears once in pack)
  • Beam Me Up, Scotty card - this can played to stop any command card (a "draw 2" card, for example) and allows for the colour of play to be chosen.(appears once in pack)
  • Mind Meld card - this commands the next player to show the person who played this card to show their hand.(appears once in pack)
  • Live Long & Prosper card - can be played at any time to discard the players hand and pick up an entirely new one, then allows him/her to choose colour of play. (appears once in pack)
• SpongeBob SquarePants Uno - which features the Secret Recipe card, a wild card which lets you look at the opponent's hand.
• Uno 35th Anniversary - A special deck made to celebrate the 35th Anniversary of the first edition of Uno released in the United States in 1971. in this deck, there are specialty "35" cards, when, if the card is in play, only 3s or 5s of any color must be played after the card is delt.
• Project Gotham Racing Uno: A specialty deck only available on the XBox 360 version of UNO. In this game, the cards are drawn like cars seen in the Project Gotham Racing series of video games. In this game, the rules include a card called the "Gotham Live" card, which is the same name used as the replay feature in Project Gotham Racing 3. This card allows a player to look at the hand of any of the other players.

Other Uno Related games

• Uno Spin
• Uno Attack (Uno Extreme in the UK)
• Uno Tiles
• Uno Stacko
• Uno Dice
• Uno Blitzo

Similar games

• Hot Death Uno
• Mau Mau (game)
• Mao
• Crazy Eights
• Finlander's Uno
• Macau
• SKIP-BO
• MAD Magazine Card Game
• Taki

Uno is a member of the stops family of card games. The stops family of card games consists of games where the objective is to get rid of all your cards while preventing the other players from getting rid of their cards.

External links

• Mattel's Official UNO website
• UNO variants at pagat.com
• UNO Newsaty Wonkanavator
• UNO at BoardGameGeek
• Duo, an open source UNO implementation in Python
• UNO over TCP/IP, an open source UNO framework in Java designed for playing over a network
• UnoChan, an Internet Relay Chat version of UNO.
• Uno 360, Xbox 360 downloadable version of UNO.
• #unochan on irc.rizon.net and #☭ on irc.esper.net for playing UNO over IRC.