How To Play UNO

The card game UNO was developed in 1971. It takes the game of crazy eights to the next level.  UNO is easy to play and once you start, you'll be hooked!

Today, there are many different versions of UNO but the basic rules of the card game remain the same. The special UNO deck has 112 cards. There are 19 each of red, green, blue and yellow along with Wild cards.

Each player is dealt 7 cards and the rest of the cards become the draw pile. The top card becomes the first card of the discard pile. If this is a Wild card, then it is placed back in the deck and another card is drawn. The first player places a card on the discard pile that matches either the color or number of the previously discarded card. If that player does not have a match, or a Wild card, then they draw from the draw pile until a match is made.

There are special cards also in the deck. The first is Draw 2. When a player plays this card, the next player must draw two cards and loses a turn. The Reverse card changes the direction of play. When the Skip card is played, the next player has to skip a turn. A Wild card allows the player to change the color of play. The Wild Draw 4 card changes the color and the next person must draw four cards.

When a player has one card left, he must call out "UNO!" so all the other players know he has only one card remaining. If a player is caught not declaring UNO, that player must draw four more cards. The hand is won by the first person to get rid of all of his cards.  That person gets the points left in all other players' hands.  Number cards are worth their face values. Skip, Reverse and Draw 2 are worth 20 points each. The Wild cards are each worth 50 points. The first player to make it to 500 points wins the game.

There are many variations of UNO, along with house rules. If it's your house, you can make up your own rules as long as they are spelled out before the game starts. Whichever way you play, you are guaranteed to have fun!