Uno (pronounced /ˈuːno/ ) (Italian and Spanish for 'one') 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.
The game's slogans have included "The Colored Card Game", "You know" and "You get one, you get Uno".
Official rules
The deck consists of cards of 4 colors: red, green, blue, and yellow. The ranks in each color are 0-9. There are 3 "action" cards in each color, labeled "skip", "draw two", and "reverse". There are also special black action cards, "wild" and "wild draw four". There are two copies of each colored regular and action card, except for the zero card, which only have one per suit. There are four "wild" and "wild draw four" cards each, producing a total of 108 cards. In older versions, only the 6 is underlined to distinguish it from the 9, which is not marked; newer versions have both the 6 and the 9 underlined to further distinguish the two ranks.
Before playing, a dealer must be selected. This is accomplished by drawing cards. The person with the card of the highest face value is the dealer. Only number cards are used for this purpose. Any other cards are then put back into the deck.
After the dealer has been selected, 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. Play begins with the person to the left of the dealer, i.e. clockwise.
At each turn, a player may play a card from their hand that matches the color or outrank 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. If a player decides not to place a card and draws instead there is no penalty. After playing a single card or drawing, the next player clockwise takes a turn, or counter-clockwise when a reverse is in effect. If the stock is emptied, the discard pile is shuffled and turned over to replenish the stock.
When a player plays down to only one card, that player is required to say "uno" to warn other players. The hand is over when one player has discarded all of their cards.
After a player plays all their cards, the other players count the number of points pertaining to the values of the cards in their hands. Number cards are face value, colored special cards worth twenty, and wilds worth fifty. The first player to go out receives points for the cards left in his/her opponents' hands. The first person to reach a certain point value (officially 500) wins.
Action cards
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. Especially old English versions can be denoted by the absence of the white rim that surrounds the edge of most Uno cards. 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. There are also language-free versions of the newer styles Uno action cards that do not bear the word "Wild" but have the same styling.
Penalties
From the official Uno rules:
- A player who forgets to say "uno" after his/her second-to-last card touches the discard pile, but remembers (and shouts "uno") before any other player challenges them, is safe and is not subject to the penalty. When another player calls out "uno", the player with one card must draw 2 cards.
- Players who make card-play suggestions to the other players must draw 2 cards from the draw pile.
- If a player plays a wrong card and it is noticed by any of the other players, he or she must take the card back and take 2 extra cards from the draw pile. Play continues with the next person in turn.
- If a Wild Draw Four card is played illegally (that is, if the player holds a matching color to one on the discard pile) and the person who plays it is challenged, the hand must first be shown to the player who has made the challenge. If the Wild Draw Four card has been played illegally, the offending player must draw 4 cards. If the card has been correctly played, the challenger must draw 2 cards in addition to the 4. The challenge can only be made by the player who is required to pick up the 4 cards after the Wild Draw Four card is laid.
Strategy
A basic strategy involves playing the legal card with the highest point value. This is a simple way to minimize points held in the hand at the end of the round, but fails to account for the utility of holding wilds and draw fours near the end of the game.
It is important to note that playing a 0 is more likely to prevent the color from changing than playing any other card of a given color.
Little has been published on the optimal strategy for the Uno game. Simulations of Uno games may shed some light on the matter, but the game solution is likely to be very complex. This is because attempts to reduce point count in the player's hands can be "read" by other players if too transparent. This information can be exploited by other players, and it follows that a mixed strategy may be more appropriate.
Some work has been done into the psychology of Uno as it relates to individual and group behavior. Players may exhibit physical tells, in which a subtle, often repeated, visual cue inadvertently reveals their state of mind during a game. Alternatively, they may change their playing style; switching from an aggressive card-shedding strategy to a more subdued one, or vice versa.
Theme packs
There are some different themes of Uno. These theme games may come with slightly different directions and special cards.
- Angelina Ballerina Uno
- Barbie Uno - which features the "friendship" card, where the player can swap his/her hand with another player.
- Barbie Cali Girl Edition Uno
- Batman Uno - feature a Joker, when you discard this card you can choose 1 to 3 players to draw 1 to 3 cards
- Batman Begins Uno
- Betty Boop Uno
- Bob The Builder Uno
- Care Bears Uno two different packs. One a heart shaped tin, one a lunch box style. Features "Care-a-lot" card, when played allows all players to discard any card in their hand to the discard pile without causing any consequences to other players.
- Car-Go Uno Packaged in a round barrel designed to fit in a car's cup holder
- Cars Uno
- Coca Cola Uno
- Curious George Uno
- Disney Theme Park Uno - "Evil card: the player holding this card can steal the top card from the DISCARD pile at any point in the game, even if it's not his/her turn."
- Disney Electronic Uno
- Disney Princess Uno - Features the Dragon Card, when played, all players must discard a prince card (regardless of color or number) to kill the dragon before continuing play.
- Dog Uno - The deck features pictures of various dogs on each of the cards, and contains a Fetch Wild Card.
- Dogs Herding Breeds Uno
- Dogs Terrier Breeds Uno
- Doraemon Uno (Released in Japan)
- Doctor Who Uno
- Elvis Uno - "Vegas" Command Card.
- Family Guy Uno - in which players can try for world domination, à la Stewie Griffin, with the exclusive "Dominate" card and rule.
- Fantastic Four Uno
- Ferrari Uno
- Fraggle Rock Uno - Includes the Travel card (featuring Traveling Matt), which allows the player to 'travel' to another player's spot and view his/her entire hand.
- Golden Compass Uno
- Hannah Montana Uno
- Hanna-Barbera Uno - Yogi Bear adds to the fun with the exclusive "pic-a-nic" card – the player with this special card gets to steal the top card from the discard pile at any point in the game.
- Happy Feet Uno - "Mambo! card: the player who plays it must give each opponent one card from his/her hand, and then places a card on the discard pile to start the next round."
- 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)
- Hello Kitty Uno - There is no skipping turns on this Uno. There is not really winning and losing.
- High School Musical Uno
- High School Musical 2 Uno
- High School Musical 3: Senior Year Uno
- Hot Death Uno - features 27 additional or modified cards
- Hulk Uno
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