How Uno Works

The rules of UNO are simple and easy to explain. In fact, it's a great game for children and adults to play together (recommended age for kids is 7 years and up, but you could certainly try it with younger kids). Each game takes only five to 10 minutes to play, so it's perfect for those with short attention spans or only a few minutes to spare — although some families have been known to play the game for hours!

UNO is played using a deck of 108 cards in four-color suits, numbered from 0 through 9: 19 blue, 19 green, 19 red and 19 yellow. The deck also includes eight "Skip" cards, eight "Draw Two" cards, eight "Reverse" cards, four "Wild" cards and four "Wild Draw Four" cards. A more recent version of UNO will include "Wild Swap Hands" and "Wild" customizable cards, two of each. Just remove them if you prefer classic UNO. Here's a brief rundown of the game's rules:

Object: The object of UNO is playing all the cards in your hand. When only one card is remaining, the cardholder must shout "Uno!" alerting others that he or she is down to the last card in his or her hand.

Choosing a dealer: A simple draw of cards determines the game's dealer; the person who chooses the card with the highest numerical value deals. If a player selects a non-numerical card, he or she returns it to the deck and chooses another.

How to play: Each player is dealt seven cards at the game's start, with the remaining ones placed facedown to form a "draw" pile. The top card of the draw pile is turned over to begin a "discard" pile.

The first player has to match the card in the discard pile either by number, color or word. For example, if the card played is a red 7, the next player must throw down a red card or a 7 of any color. The player can also play a Wild or a Wild Draw Four card, the latter only if he or she doesn't have a playable card in that color. If the player doesn't have a playable card, he or she must pick a card from the draw pile and play it, if possible.

If the card plucked from the draw pile isn't playable, the next player must take his or her turn. When a player has one card left, he or she must yell "Uno!" If the player forgets, he or she has to pick two cards from the draw pile. So much for imminent victory.

Once a player has no cards left, the hand is over. Points are scored, and the dealer doles out new hands to everyone.

Scoring UNO is simple. When a player plays all his or her cards, the others count their points based on their remaining cards. Numbered cards are face value, colored special cards are worth 20 points and Wild cards are worth 50 points. The first player to play all of his or her cards receives points for the cards left in the opponents' hands. The first person to reach 500 points is declared the winner.

Some say UNO is simply a game of chance, others insist it's a game of skill. What's the real story?

Opinions differ, but you can use strategy to your advantage. The website UNOtips.org offers lots of tongue-in-cheek advice for winning at UNO and little-known facts about the game.

Some tidbits:

If you insist on improving your UNO skill, or have something to prove to your nephew or Great-uncle Phil, try these simple strategies:

You'll find UNO enthusiasts with dozens of strategies to offer, but most lovers of the game agree with this one: Smile, relax, enjoy the company of people you like and play the game!

Once you've mastered the intricacies of the original UNO game, look at Mattel's UNO Attack, aka UNO Extreme. This version features an electronic card shooter that shoots out a random number of cards whenever a player has to draw. At the press of a button, it shoots out up to 10-12 cards at the players. The electric card shooter adds an element of surprise to a game that's already fast-paced and challenging.

UNO Attack rules resemble the original game's, but with a few different command cards. Instead of a Wild Draw Four card, there's a card called "Wild Hit Fire." When it's played, the next player has to hit the launch button. Since there's no draw pile, a player must hit the launch button whenever he or she must draw. As a result, you never know when a stream of cards will come flying your way.

As in the original version, players must say "Uno!" as soon as they play their next-to-last card. If the player forgets to do so and another player notices, the poor forgetful soul must press the button — and possibly add up to 10 cards to his or her hand.

Uno Attack uses 112 cards, including the colored number cards, the aforementioned Reverse, Skip, Wild and Draw Two cards, plus the addition of the "Wild Hit Fire" card.

The electronic card shooter gives this popular game a great twist. As the game's tagline says, it's a random, rapid-fire card shoot-out!

In 2018, UNO got a buddy named DOS, the goal of which is the same: shed your cards as fast as possible, gleefully yelling "DOS" when you have two cards left. The game's designed for two to four players. It uses two piles, with each player starting off with seven cards, same as UNO, and matching to the center two piles by number. For example, you can play a blue 4 on a yellow 4 (a single match). You could also play a 3 card and a 1 card of any color on that 4, because 3 and 1 add up to 4, right? That's a double match.

Once you make a match on one or both piles, the player moves that stack of cards to the discard pile. You can also earn a bonus for matching by color and number, the bonus being you get to ditch another card at the end of your turn. If you do a double match by color and number (e.g., using a yellow 3 and yellow 1 to match a yellow 4), you get to ditch a card and make your fellow players draw one. Scoring's pretty much like it is for UNO. Confused? Don't be. You'll get the hang of it soon. Mattel also made a short video explaining the rules that helps a bunch, too.

Happy gaming! And for more information on card games, see the links that follow.