Are you bored of playing classic playing cards? Then play UNO! Learn How to play UNO and know the rules of playing UNO. Master the classic card game with our simple steps and become the UNO champion among friends!
What is UNO Card Game?
In 1971, an American barber named Merle Robbins introduced the card game UNO. It is a family game that kids and adults can also play. After it hit the global market many have been playing for years. But complete rules only a few people know. It differs from classic playing cards regarding card types, card colours, and rules of playing UNO. Know the rules of playing UNO, How to play UNO, and how many kinds of cards for UNO.
The UNO Gameplay:
It is a simple fun game like normal playing cards where you deal cards to players, but whoever discards all the cards first is declared the winner. There are many rules of playing UNO given by UNO officials which should be followed.
How Many Can Play UNO:
A general pack of UNO comes with 112 cards with 3 empty cards which can be customisable. So if you have one pack only 2- 10 members can play. However, UNO can be played by any number of people until you have sufficient cards for each person to deal with 7 cards. Remember age of players should be more than 7.
UNO Terminology:
- Dealer – The one who distributes the cards.
- Start player – The game starts with that player.
- Cardholder – The player who holds any card or present player who puts his/ her card down.
- Next player – Player next to the Cardholder.
- Playable cards – The cards that match the top card in the middle. Either a number or colour can match. Reverse, skip cards also can match.
Setup of UNO Card Game:
Stack all the deck of cards, shuffle the cards and deal each player 7 cards. Stack the remaining cards in the middle, face down to draw cards from the pile.
The Rule for Start Player:
The official rule says that the left player of the dealer who deals 7 cards for each player is the start player. Or ask every player to draw a card from the deck and whoever gets the highest number will start the game.
The Rule for Starting Card:
Flip the first card from the top pile from the middle, that will be the starting colour and number. If the top card is a wild card then the starting player can use it to choose the starting colour or if players object place that wild card at the bottom and flip the next top card from the pile.
However, in 2022 this rule was amended and said if the starting card is wild it is ignored and the next card is flipped until we get a numbered card.
How To Play UNO The Card Game:
- After every player gets 7 cards each, the player left to the dealer starts the game and the game continues in the clockwise direction.
- The start player should put down the card matching the start card in colour, number or symbol (skip and reverse).
- You can put down ‘wild’, ‘draw +2’ and ‘draw +4’ cards by following the rules.
- If you don’t have a playable card or Wild card as well, you can draw a card from the deck. If the card drawn is playable you can put down that card immediately or else you can keep it with you until it becomes playable again. You can not put down a card that is already in your hand when you draw a card. Just the card drawn can be played.
- You can draw a card from the deck even if you have a playable card and not wishing to play that card.
- Each card that is put down should face upwards and be placed on the previous card.
- If you have insufficient cards in the deck to draw, you can put the top card aside and the remaining played cards can be shuffled and kept in the deck again. The game continues.
- The first player who puts down all the cards is declared the winner.
- You can not exchange or trade your cards with any player in between the gameplay.
Calling UNO:
The player who plays their penultimate card should say ‘UNO’. That player has only one card at that time. It is a warning to other players.
Penalty of not calling ‘UNO’:
If any player misses out to call ‘UNO’ before the next player puts down a card/ or draws a card, any player can catch him. The penalty is drawing 2 or 4 cards and starting the game again. If no one catches for not calling ‘UNO’ then there will be no penalty.
What are the Rules of UNO Cards:
Unlike classic playing cards, UNO cards are specially designed with colours Red, Blue, Yellow, and Green. A pack of UNO cards has numbers from 0-9 in all 4 colours. Also, the pack contains some special cards and certain rules for each card you must know before beginning.
How Many Cards are in the UNO Pack:
- A total of 112 cards will be there in a pack of UNO. Out of which 25 of each colour Red, Blue, Yellow and Green.
- For each colour – One ‘0’ card + Two (1-9) cards + Two Reverse cards + Two Draw +2 cards + 2 Skip cards. = 25 cards.
- Eight are special cards – Four Wild cards + Four Draw +4 cards.
- One wild shuffle hands card + Three wild customizable cards.
Number cards:
These are simple number cards in Red, Blue, Yellow and Green. Only one 0 card in the pack and 1-9 numbered cards are twice. There are no particular rules for number cards. How to play these cards will be discussed in the later sections.
Special cards:
A pack of UNO has 7 types of special cards. Draw +2 cards, Skip cards, Reverse cards, Wild cards, Draw +4 cards, Wild shuffle hands cards, and Wild customizable cards. Each special card has certain rules to follow. Know the rules of each special card below.
Draw +2 card:
A UNO pack has 8 ‘Draw +2’ cards 2 in each of 4 colours. This card is ruthless when any player puts this card down, the next player should draw 2 cards from the pile without his/ her turn of putting cards.
Skip cards:
A UNO pack has 8 ‘Skip’ cards 2 in each of 4 colours. This card makes you sad because if any player puts this card down, the next player loses his turn. The game continues from the next player after him.
Reverse cards:
A UNO pack has 8 ‘Reverse’ cards 2 in each of 4 colours.
This card makes the game interesting because if any player puts this card down, the gameplay reverses from one direction to another for example clockwise to anti-clockwise and vice versa.
Wild cards:
A UNO pack has 4 ‘Wild’ cards. This card is wild because if any player puts this card down, he can choose a colour from 4 colours i.e., Red, Blue, Yellow, and Green. The next player should accept that colour and the game continues from there. You can put down this card even if you have a playable card.
Draw +4 cards:
A UNO pack have 4 ‘Draw +4’ cards. This card is also called ‘Wild Draw +4’ because it is wild and ruthless. The ‘wild’ because if any player puts this card down, the cardholder can choose a colour from 4 colours i.e., Red, Blue, Yellow and Green like a ‘Wild’ card. The ‘ruthless’ because the next player should draw 4 cards from the pile without his/ her turn of putting cards.
However one can put down this card if he/she does not have a playable card that matches the colour. But if the player has a different colour with the same number or symbol/ Wild card can play this card. The next player after him should accept the colour and the game continues.
Penalty rule for ‘Draw +4’:
When a player puts down the ‘Draw +4’ card and chooses a colour, the next player can challenge the cardholder that he/ she has a playable card that matches the colour. The cardholder must show cards secretly to the challenger. If the challenger wins the challenge ie., if the cardholder has a playable card and still puts down the ‘Draw +4’ card, then the cardholder should draw 4 cards from the piles instead, for failing to follow the rule. If the cardholder has no playable card and the challenger loses the challenge then the challenger should draw 6 cards from the pile, 4 for draw 4 and 2 as penalty and misses his/her turn.
Wild shuffle hands cards:
This card was introduced in 2018. A UNO pack has only one Wild shuffle hands card. This is wild because if any player puts down this card take all the cards from every player, shuffle them, and re-deal to each player.
Wild customisable cards:
This card was introduced in 2018. A UNO pack has three Wild customisable cards. These are blank cards. We can assign certain rules that make the game more challenging.
How to win UNO Game:
There are two types of winning a UNO card game.
Type 1 – Winner streak:
The continues after each player puts down the card in each round. When a player puts down his last card and first out and declares the first winner. The game continues with the remaining players. The game continues until only one player is left with cards.
Type 2- Scoring system:
There are 2 types of scoring systems.
- The first player played his last card and went out, getting points by adding the points for each card left in the other player’s hand. The first player who reaches 500 points will be declared as the winner.
- After the first player went out, every player must add the points for each of their remaining cards. Wait until any player reaches 500 points, then the player with the lowest points will be declared the winner.
- Score points for each card are as follows.
- Number card – Face value as points.
- Draw +2, Reverse, and Skip cards – 20 points each.
- Wild cards (wild, draw +4, wild shuffle, wild customisable) – 50 points each.
However, in 2022 this scoring system was discontinued and the winner can be declared as mentioned in type 1.
Can two players can play UNO?
Yes, of course. The only change is the ‘Reverse’ card acts as a Skip card. The rule is not mentioned officially but it is understandable.
How to use Blank cards in UNO:
These are wild customisable cards. We can apply certain rules to these cards. We have three blank cards in a pack of UNO.
In general, these are given to replace if any card is lost or torn. But we can use these cards to create house rules to make the game more interesting.
House rules:
These are fun rules to create to make the game more interesting. These are some of the ideas to put as house rules.
- Stacking UNO:
If a player puts down a ‘Darw +2’ card, if the next player also has a ‘Draw +2’ of any colour, he/ she can put that down. Next to that, the player has to draw a total of 4 cards (2 + 2) if he/she does not have ‘Draw +2’. However, you can not add ‘Draw +2’ with ‘Draw +4’.
- Seven – O:
If any player puts down a ‘7’ card, whoever puts that card must exchange all their cards with any other players of their choice.
If any player puts down a ‘0’ card, then every player must pass all their cards to their next player in the current direction of gameplay, and the game continues.
- Jump in:
Let’s say that any player has a card that exactly matches with the top card in the middle both in colour and number. He can put down the card immediately even though it is not his/her turn. The play continues from the next player to that player who played and in the current direction of gameplay.
- Pick a number:
When a player plays with a wild customised card, he/ she can choose a number and the next player should accept the number and can play with that card if he/she has or can draw from the deck.
- Draw 6:
Customise the blank cards with additional draw cards and play the game.
- Reveal:
When a player plays with a wild customised card, he/she can pick anyone to reveal their cards in hand secretly.
- Wildcard discard:
When a player plays with a wild customised card, all the players must discard all their wild cards from their hands.
- Swap hands:
When a player plays with a wild customised card, pick a player to choose to swap their cards other than the one who played.
- Power draw:
All the other players should draw 2 cards other than the player who played a wild customised card.
- King card:
You can eliminate any player from the game if you play with a wild customised card. If there are only two players then you are the winner.
- Color freeze:
Put down a wild customisable card, choose a colour and until your next turn, all the players must play with that colour only. No one can put a card with the same number with different colours and a wild card.
Can we play UNO with normal playing cards?
- Yes of course.
- 4 colours – 4 suits as clubs (♣), diamonds (♦), hearts (♥) and spades (♠).
- Numbers (0-9) – 2-10 cards.
- Reverse – Jack
- Skip – Jack
- Draw 2 – Queen
- Wild Draw 4 – King
- Wild – Ace
What are the different versions of UNO cards?
There are hundreds of available UNO versions differing in styles of decks, rules, and number of cards. One may know the versions on the UNO Wikipedia page. The most popular version is ‘UNO Flip’.
FAQ on UNO Card Game:
- Can we put a +2 card on +4 and vice versa? / Can we stack +2 and +4 cards together?
No, you can not add a +2 card and a +4 card so that the next player should draw 6 cards. In 2019 UNO officials declared this in their X handle. But you can put this rule with blank customisable cards available.
- Can you add two wild draw +4 cards?
No, one must draw 4 cards if anyone puts down a draw +4. You can not sum it up by putting another draw +4 and making the next player draw 8 cards. But you can put this rule with blank customisable cards available.
- Can we throw multiple UNO cards at once?
No. One must put down only one card on his/her turn. You can not throw 2 or 3 cards at a time. But you can put this rule with blank customisable cards available.
Conclusion:
UNO is a fun game that can be played by all age groups, families, and friends. The basic rules and types of cards are given above. One must follow the basic rules. But we can customise the game with blank cards available and can make the game more interesting. It has become popular in recent times and is one of the best card games that can be played anywhere, at any time.