What is UNO?
UNO is a slightly advanced card game where players race to eliminate all of the cards that they hold in their hands. A game tends to be played between two to eight players and rounds can generally range between five to twenty minutes.
Beginning a game
To begin play each player picks a card at random from the deck. Effect cards and wild cards are zeros and the person who pulls the highest numerical value will deal out seven cards to the rest of the players. After the cards have been dealt a card is flipped to begin and if it is a generic card the player to the left of the dealer will begin play. At the beginning of the game if the card is not a generic card it will have an effect on the order of the game in some cases. These cases are outlined below.
Pick Up Four - it is put back into the deck and another card is flipped to begin the stack
Wild Card - The player who was to begin originally picks the colour and plays on the wild card.
Pick Up Two - The player who was to begin originally will pick up two cards and end their turn
Reverse Order - Will change the order so the dealer will begin the game, followed by the person to their right
Skip A Turn - The player who was to begin originally is skipped and the player to the left of him begins play.
Rules
If the player has a playable card in their hand they will place it on top of the stack. The game will then continue around the circle and the next player will place a card onto the stack. If a player does not have a playable card they will draw one from the deck. If that card is playable the player is forced to place it onto the stack, if not they add it to their hand and complete their turn.
If a player only holds one card in their hand they must shout "UNO" in order to indicate that they are almost out of cards. If another player calls UNO before them then they must draw two cards from the deck.
UNO is a slightly advanced card game where players race to eliminate all of the cards that they hold in their hands. A game tends to be played between two to eight players and rounds can generally range between five to twenty minutes.
Beginning a game
To begin play each player picks a card at random from the deck. Effect cards and wild cards are zeros and the person who pulls the highest numerical value will deal out seven cards to the rest of the players. After the cards have been dealt a card is flipped to begin and if it is a generic card the player to the left of the dealer will begin play. At the beginning of the game if the card is not a generic card it will have an effect on the order of the game in some cases. These cases are outlined below.
Pick Up Four - it is put back into the deck and another card is flipped to begin the stack
Wild Card - The player who was to begin originally picks the colour and plays on the wild card.
Pick Up Two - The player who was to begin originally will pick up two cards and end their turn
Reverse Order - Will change the order so the dealer will begin the game, followed by the person to their right
Skip A Turn - The player who was to begin originally is skipped and the player to the left of him begins play.
Rules
If the player has a playable card in their hand they will place it on top of the stack. The game will then continue around the circle and the next player will place a card onto the stack. If a player does not have a playable card they will draw one from the deck. If that card is playable the player is forced to place it onto the stack, if not they add it to their hand and complete their turn.
If a player only holds one card in their hand they must shout "UNO" in order to indicate that they are almost out of cards. If another player calls UNO before them then they must draw two cards from the deck.
Cards!
A representation of the different card that are in an UNO deck can be below. These cards range from zero to nine and also include different effect cards.
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In the game of UNO there are only two types of "wild cards". These are outlined in black and contain all four colours that are represented on the other cards in the deck. An explanation of these cards can be seen below.
- WILD CARD
- [Quantity 4] *(amount of cards in deck) Allows a player to change the state of the stack to a different colour. Generally used to swap the state of the stack to colour of the majority of cards that you hold in your hand. - PICK UP FOUR
- [Quantity 4] Allows a player to change the state of the stack just as the wild card does. It also forces the next player in rotation to draw four cards. If a card had already been placed on the stack that forces you to draw from the deck then you will add that to the total that the next player is forced to pick up. However this card can only be played if it is the only playable card in a players hand. If it isn't the player of the pick up four card will be forced to draw the respective amount of cards from the deck plus two more cards.
There are also three different types of effect cards that will change the flow of the game of UNO. These cards are designed to hinder the progress of opponents in the game. They must either be played on top of a similar coloured card or a card of the same value. An explanation of the effects of these cards can be seen below.
- PICK UP TWO
- [Quantity 8] When placed on top of the stack will force the next player in rotation to draw two more cards. Like the pick up four card if a card had already been placed on the stack that forces you to draw
from the deck then you will add that to the total that your opponent is
forced to pick up.
- REVERSE ORDER
- SKIP A TURN
Finally in a deck of UNO cards there are seventy six generic cards ranging from zero to nine and consisting of four different colours being red, blue, green, and yellow. These cards can be played in two different ways either on top of a card of the same value or of the same colour. For example you can place a red seven or a blue nine onto a red nine however you could not place a red seven on top of a blue nine.
Winning / Scoring
A round of UNO is completed when one player eliminates all of the cards from their hand. The total of remaining cards in the hands of the other players is calculated and a score is given as follows
Generic Cards - Face Value 0pt, 1pt, 2pt, etc...
Effect Cards - 20 Points
Wild Cards - 50 Points
The first player to attain a score of three hundred points is the winner
Is UNO a good game?
The game play of UNO itself is probably the most attractive feature it has. The game contains the elements of deception and strategy which also make it highly entertaining. The only feature I disliked about the game was the scoring system. In other adaptations from the original game of UNO it is my belief that the scoring system can be more interesting. For example instead of tallying cards the winner of the match gets to sit and watch the rest play for second, third, fourth and so on. This makes the game more interesting as there is a clear defined winner and loser to the game. Another good example of a scoring system for UNO is a game we will call "UNO tower". It begins with the normal seven cards however when a player finishes with their cards they draw six more, when they are rid of those six cards they draw one more and so on. This is also an interesting way of scoring the game as it extends the time of play of the game as well as again defining a clear cut winner and loser.
Is UNO really a good game though? Why not play it and decide for yourself? Thank you for reading and happy gaming!
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