Uno (card game)

Uno
Logo since 2016
DesignerMerle Robbins
Publisher
  • International Games (until 1992)
  • Mattel (since 1992)
TypeShedding-type
Players2–10 players: 1 
SkillsHand management
Age range7+: 1 
Cards112: 1 
Playing timeVaries
ChanceHigh
Old Uno cards

Uno (/ˈuːnoʊ/ ⓘ; from Spanish and Italian for 'one'), stylized in all caps as UNO, is a proprietary American shedding-type card game originally developed in 1971 by Merle Robbins in Reading, Ohio, a suburb of Cincinnati, that housed International Inc., a gaming company acquired by Mattel on January 23, 1992.

The game is played with a dedicated deck derived from the crazy eights family of card games which, in turn, is based on the traditional German game of mau-mau.

History

The game was originally developed in 1971 by Merle Robbins in Reading, Ohio, a suburb of Cincinnati. When his family and friends began to play more and more, he and his family mortgaged their home to raise $8,000 to have 5,000 copies of the game made. He sold it from his barbershop at first, and local businesses began to sell it as well. Robbins later sold the rights to Uno to a group of friends headed by Robert Tezak, a funeral parlor owner in Joliet, Illinois, for $50,000 plus royalties of 10 cents per game. Tezak formed International Games, Inc., to market Uno, with offices behind his funeral parlor. The games were produced by Lewis Saltzman of Saltzman Printers in Maywood, Illinois.

In 1992, International Games became part of the Mattel family of companies.

In 2018, Uno was inducted into the National Toy Hall of Fame alongside pinball and the Magic 8 Ball. The Strong National Museum of Play also recognized the game for its fast pacing, wide age appeal, and enduring cultural impact as a staple of family entertainment.

In 2021, to celebrate the game's 50th anniversary, Mattel hosted the inaugural Uno Championship Series. The invitational tournament culminated in a grand finale at the HyperX Esports Arena in Las Vegas on November 11, 2021, where the first official Uno World Champion was crowned and awarded a $50,000 grand prize.

Official rules

Uno cards

The aim of the game is to be the first player to play all of one's own cards. Prior to the 2022 rule changes, the official objective was to be the first player to score 500 points. This was achieved across multiple rounds; players scored points by being the first to play all their cards and received points for the cards still held by the other players. This format remains an optional way to play.

Uno includes 108 cards: 25 in each of four color suits (red, yellow, green, blue), each suit consisting of one zero, two each of 1 through 9, and two each of the action cards "Skip", "Draw Two", and "Reverse". The deck also contains four "Wild" cards and four "Wild Draw Four". Sets manufactured since 2015 include 112 cards, adding one "Wild Swap Hands" (2015–17) or "Wild Shuffle Hands" (since 2017) Wild Card and three customizable Wild cards.

Uno cards deck

For each hand, a dealer is determined by having each player randomly draw one card from the deck. The player with the highest number card deals, and all cards are reshuffled into the deck to begin the dealing.

To start a hand, seven cards are dealt to each player, and the top card of the remaining deck is flipped over and set aside to begin the discard pile. The player to the dealer's left plays first unless the first card on the discard pile is an action or Wild card (see below). On a player's turn, they must do one of the following:

Cards are played by laying them face-up on top of the discard pile. Play initially proceeds clockwise around the table.

Action or Wild cards have the following effects:

Card Effect when played from hand Effect as first discard
Skip Next player in sequence misses a turn Player to dealer's left misses a turn
Reverse Order of play switches directions (clockwise to counterclockwise, or vice versa) Dealer plays first; play proceeds counterclockwise
Draw Two (+2) Next player in sequence draws two cards and misses a turn Player to dealer's left draws two cards and misses a turn
Wild Player declares the next color to be matched (may be used on any turn even if the player has any card of matching color) Player to dealer's left declares the first color to be matched and takes the first turn
Wild Draw Four Player declares the next color to be matched; next player in sequence draws four cards and misses a turn. May be legally played if the player has no cards of the current color (see Penalties) Card is returned to the deck, then a new card is laid down into the discard pile (deck may be reshuffled first if needed)

A player who plays their penultimate card must indicate it to the other players by calling out "Uno".

The first player to get rid of their last card ("going out") wins the hand and scores points for the cards held by each other player. Number cards count their face value, all action cards count 20, and Wild and Wild Draw Four cards count 50. If a Draw Two or Wild Draw Four card is played to go out, the next player in the sequence must draw the appropriate number of cards before the score is tallied.

The first player to score 500 points wins the game.

Penalties

  • If a player does not call "Uno" while laying down their penultimate card and is caught before the next player in sequence takes their turn (i.e., plays a card from their hand, draws from the deck, or touches the discard pile), they must draw two cards as a penalty. If the player is not caught in time or remembers to call "Uno" before being caught, no penalty applies to that player.
  • If a player plays a Wild Draw Four card, the next player in turn order may choose to challenge its use. The player who used the Wild Draw Four must privately show their hand to the challenging player in order to demonstrate that they had no cards of prior matching color. If the challenge is successful, the challenged player must draw four cards instead and play continues with the challenger. Otherwise, the challenger must draw six cards – the four cards they were already required to draw plus two more cards – and miss their turn. In either case, the Wild Draw Four stays with its chosen color.

Two-player game

In a two-player game, the Reverse card acts like a Skip card; when played, the other player misses a turn. This rule is not mentioned in the instruction sheets of modern copies of the game.

House rules

The following house rules are suggested in some official Uno instruction sets to alter the game:

When playing with the "stacking" house rule, a player can stack a +2 with a +2, as seen here.
  • Progressive or Stacking Uno: If a draw card is played, and the next player in turn order has a card with the same symbol, that player can play that card and "stack" the penalty, which adds to the current penalty and passes it to the next player (although a +4 cannot be stacked on a +2, or vice versa). This house rule is so commonly used that there was widespread Twitter surprise in 2019 when Mattel stated that stacking was not part of the standard rules of Uno. They explicitly clarified that players cannot stack Draw Two (+2) or Wild Draw Four (+4) cards, confirming that stacking is strictly a house rule.
  • Seven-O: Every time a "7" is played, whoever played it must swap hands with another player of their choice before ending their turn. Every time a "0" is played, all players pass their hands to the next player in the current direction of play, after which play continues normally.
  • Jump-In: If a player has exactly the same card (both number and color) as the top card of the discard pile, they may play it immediately, even if it is not their turn. Play then continues as if that player had just taken their turn.

2015 rule changes

The two new types of Wild cards have the following functions:

  • Wild Swap Hands: The player using this card chooses another player with whom they swap cards in their respective hands.
  • Wild Customizable: There are three copies of this; these cards are blank and can have a house rule assigned to them.

Each of these cards can be played on any turn and is worth 40 points when a player goes out.

2017 rule changes

Wild Swap Hands was replaced in 2017 by Wild Shuffle Hands; the player using this new card collects all cards held by all players, then shuffles and re-deals them, starting from the player to their left. This card can also be played on any turn and is also worth 40 points when a player goes out.

2022 rule changes

The goal to reach a certain number of points has been demoted and replaced with the one commonly used by most players, which is to be the first player to go out. If played for points, each Wild card is worth 50 points regardless of type. There is no longer an official method to determine the dealer. In addition, if the first card flipped at the start of a game is an Action or Wild card, it is ignored and another card is flipped until a number card comes up.

Card and deck styles

A deck of English Uno cards from 1994. This particular deck uses the older card design, where letters appear on the action cards instead of symbols.

Modern 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 had letters only. Earlier English versions can be recognized by the absence of the white rim that surrounds the edge of most Uno cards.

Other versions of the game use symbols and images in both old and new designs, especially ones with Wild cards that do not bear the word "Wild". There are also language-free versions of the newer styles that do not bear the word "Wild" but have the same styling.

On September 16, 2017, Mattel released Uno ColorAdd, which was designed specifically for colorblind people.

On October 1, 2019, Mattel released a Braille version of their game with Mark Riccobono, president of the National Federation of the Blind. Riccobono said in a press release, "The fact that a blind person is now able to play a classic game of UNO straight out of the box with both blind and sighted friends or family members is a truly meaningful moment for our community."

The year 2024 saw the introduction of small shapes into the decks for better color blindness accessibility, part of a larger effort by Mattel to make 80% of its game catalog more playable to people in that disability sector. The shapes used are diamonds for yellow, circles for red, squares for blue, and triangles for green.

Special Uno games

  • Uno Duo (2026)
  • Uno Championship Series (2026)
  • Uno Show 'Em No Mercy Attack (Uno Show 'Em No Mercy Extreme in Europe) (2026)
  • Uno Disney and Pixar Toy Story 5 (2026)
  • Uno Pop (2026)
  • Liar's Uno (2025)
  • Uno Golf (Uno Zero in Europe) (2025)
  • Mini Uno Bullseye (2024)
  • Uno Elite (2024)
  • Uno Teams! (2024)
  • Uno Flip Attack (Uno Flip Extreme in Europe) (2024)
  • Uno Show 'Em No Mercy (2023)
  • Uno Flex! (2023)
  • Uno Go! (2022)
  • Uno Quatro (2023)
  • Uno Wild Twists (2022)
  • Uno All Wild (2022)
  • Uno Deluxe (2022)
  • Uno Remix (2022)
  • Uno Party! (2022)
  • UNO Ultimate™ Marvel (2022)
  • Uno Play With Pride (2021)
  • Uno 50th Anniversary (2021)
  • Uno Lightyear (2021)
  • Uno Triple Play (2021)
  • Uno Flip Express (2020)
  • Uno Showdown Supercharged (2020)
  • Giant BTS Uno (2020)
  • Electronic Uno (2020)
  • Uno Flip! (2019)
  • Uno Harry Potter (2019)
  • Uno Attack Jurassic World (2018)
  • Uno Minecraft (2018)
  • Uno Express (2018)
  • Get Wild for Uno (2016)
  • Giant Uno (2016)
  • Uno Wild Jackpot (2016)
  • Uno Emoji (2016)
  • Uno Tiki Twist (2014)
  • Uno Dare (2014)
  • Uno Royal Revenge (2014)
  • Uno Moo (2008, 2014)
  • Uno Power Grab (2012)
  • Uno Blast (2012)
  • Uno Cars 2 (2011)
  • Uno Choo-Choo (2011)
  • Uno Horses (2011)
  • Uno Dice (1987, 1996, 2011)
  • Uno Reflex (2010)
  • Uno Roboto (2010)
  • Uno Spin To Go (2010)
  • Uno Tippo (2009)
  • Uno Flip (2009) (Target Store Exclusive)
  • Uno Flash (2007)
  • Uno Attack Refill Deck (2005)
  • Uno Spin (2005)
  • Uno Spin Hannah Montana (2005)
  • Uno H2O (2004)
  • Uno Blitzo (2000)
  • Uno Attack (Uno Extreme in the UK and Canada) (1999)
  • Uno Bingo (1997)
  • Uno Madness (1995)
  • Uno Hearts (1994)
  • King Size Uno (1994)
  • Uno Stacko (1994)
  • Uno Rummy Up (1993)
  • Uno Junior (1992)
  • Uno Wild Tiles (1982)
  • Uno Dominoes (1986)
  • Uno Color Screen
  • Uno H2O To Go
  • Uno Spin One Piece (Japan)
  • Travel Uno Stacko

Uno H2O

Uno H2O differs from the standard game in that the cards are transparent and waterproof. Play is identical to the standard pre-2015 Uno game, with the addition of two types of "Wild Downpour" cards. When one of these is played, all other players must draw either one or two cards as indicated on the card. The player using it may then declare the next color to be matched. Several of the other sets have been released in this format.

Uno Fandom series

In 2023, Mattel's imprint Mattel Creations released a special collector's series of Uno games based on fandom of fictional properties and sports teams. The initial group of sets in this series included those based on all 32 NFL teams and several fictional properties, including Star Trek, Harry Potter, Masters of the Universe, Avatar: the Last Airbender and Monster High. Most are exclusive to the Mattel online store and can only be purchased directly from the store.

Video games

Variations

Many variations from standard gameplay exist, such as Elimination Uno, Speed Uno and Pirate Uno.

On February 13, 2018, Mattel released a spin-off of Uno entitled Dos; the game is differentiated primarily by having a "center row" of discard piles, where pairs of cards that add up to the sum of a card on the top of one of the piles may be discarded.

The game can be played with two decks of standard playing cards if the jokers are marked up as the zeroes of the four suits and the royalty treated as the special cards.

After mixed reviews for the original game, Mattel released another version of Dos titled Dos Second Edition, which plays more like Uno but still includes some rules from the original Dos. The new Dos has Skip, Reverse and Draw Two cards (which were not included in the original Dos) but retains the Wild Dos Card and the two discard piles. A new card was introduced known as the Wild Play Two Card, forcing the next player to play a minimum of two cards, if they can not they play nothing and draw two cards. Like Uno, players start with seven cards and the main way to win is by discarding all cards first.

Spin-offs

Slot machines

In 2002, International Gaming Technology introduced a "pod concept" for grouping the prize winnings of similarly themed and newly released MegaJackpot games into one collective pool. Among these was the new Famous Games pod, unveiling two new Mattel-licensed machines, UNO Slots and Magic 8 Ball slots. In the following two years, additional properties were tied into the pod, along with the Video Slot versions of both UNO and Magic 8 Ball.

The UNO slot machine featured a basic vertical 3 wheel system, along with 3 additional horizontal wheels that would activate when 3 UNO bonus symbols in any position were landed with the maximum bet wagered. Meanwhile, the UNO Video Slot Machine featured a 5 reel, 15 line Video system with additional UNO Attack and UNO Triple bonus games awarded based on the symbols landed. Both versions saw limited releases to various Native American gaming centers.

Uno: The Game Show

In March 2013, it was announced that Mattel and the Gurin Company were teaming up to create a game show based on the card game, produced as a half-hour daily strip with a $100,000 cash jackpot along with a primetime version in which contestants competed for $1 million. However, the idea was scrapped later on.

Film adaptation

On February 4, 2021, an action heist comedy film based on the game was announced to be in development for Mattel Films with Lil Yachty of record label Quality Control Music developing and being eyed for the lead role alongside the label's managers Kevin "Coach K" Lee and Pierre "P" Thomas, and Brian Sher for Quality Films producing, Marcy Kelly writing, and Robbie Brenner and Kevin McKeon leading the project as executive producer and supervising producer, respectively.

Similar games

Uno is a member of the shedding family of card games. The shedding family of card games consists of games where the objective is to get rid of all of one's cards while preventing the other players from getting rid of their cards.

Complexity

Uno has been studied from the perspective of combinatorial game theory. When played by two uncooperative players, Uno has been shown to be solvable in polynomial time. For two players playing cooperatively, the game becomes NP-complete.

A solitaire variant of the game where a player inspects their hand and decides if there is an order in which every card can be played has been shown to be solvable in polynomial time for a constant number of colours and numbers (as in the standard Uno deck). For the general case with many colors and many numbers, the problem is NP-complete.

The problem of finding a way to play all cards in a hand is equivalent to searching for a Hamiltonian path on a graph with vertices representing each card, and edges connecting cards that share a colour or number.

Reception

The Games magazine included Uno in their "Top 100 Games of 1980", noting that the game "borrows so much from the familiar card game of Crazy Eights" but that "it's a much better game and just as simple to learn". They would later include the game in their "Top 100 Games of 1982", noting that its "popularity is based on its simplicity, not on its strategic aspects" and that "the game has a rummylike scoring system".

Reviews

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 "Uno Instructions, 2018" (PDF). Mattel Service. August 30, 2018. Retrieved November 14, 2022.
  2. ↑ "Mattel to buy International Games". UPI. January 23, 1992. Retrieved November 29, 2018.
  3. ↑ "Uno History". UNO Rules.
  4. ↑ "30 Anniversary Rule Book" (PDF). Mattel Service. January 31, 2005. Retrieved February 9, 2013.
  5. ↑ "2018 Archives". The Strong National Museum of Play. Retrieved July 3, 2026.
  6. ↑ "Uno". The Strong National Museum of Play. Retrieved July 3, 2026.
  7. ↑ "UNO is Hosting Its First-Ever World Championship and the Prize is $50,000 USD". Hypebeast. June 30, 2021. Retrieved July 3, 2026.
  8. ↑ "UNO® Gets Wild with Championship Series Vegas Invitational Tournament to Crown First-Ever UNO™ World Champion | Mattel, Inc". corporate.mattel.com. Retrieved July 3, 2026.
  9. 1 2 3 "UNO Basic Instructions (2022)" (PDF). Mattel Service. Retrieved February 21, 2024.
  10. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 "UNO Basic Instructions" (PDF). Mattel Service. December 17, 2008. Retrieved January 1, 2011.
  11. ↑ Exact wording of the official rules: "When you play your next-to-last card, you must yell 'UNO' (meaning 'one') to indicate that you have only one card left".
  12. ↑ "Uno Instruction Sheet" (PDF). Mattel Service. July 21, 2009. Retrieved January 2, 2011.
  13. 1 2 Hourigan, Adam. "The Uno rule you're all getting wrong". Daily Examiner. Retrieved September 25, 2019.
  14. ↑ "UNO (@realUNOgame) on X". X (formerly Twitter). Retrieved July 3, 2026.
  15. ↑ "Uno Instructions (2015)" (PDF). 2015. Retrieved May 29, 2026.
  16. ↑ Jacobson, Candice; Lussier, Muriel (September 6, 2017). "UNO® Introduces The First Card Game For The Colorblind". Mattel News. Archived from the original on September 9, 2017. Retrieved October 2, 2019.
  17. ↑ Capron, Maddie; Zdanowicz, Christina (October 1, 2019). "Mattel releases a braille version of UNO". CNN. Retrieved October 2, 2019.
  18. ↑ Tucker, Devin; Hein, Joanna; Cascone, Stephanie (October 1, 2019). "UNO® Introduces First Official Braille Deck". businesswire.com. Business Wire. Retrieved October 2, 2019.
  19. ↑ Thompson, Sonia (June 30, 2024). "Uno To Be Colorblind Accessible As Mattel Aims To Adapt 80% Of Its Games". Forbes. Retrieved April 11, 2026.
  20. ↑ "Colorblind Accessible Games FAQs". Mattel. Retrieved April 11, 2026.
  21. ↑ "UNO Ultimate™ Marvel". mattel.com.
  22. ↑ Makuch, Eddie (May 11, 2021). "New Uno Play With Pride Deck Released To Celebrate LGBTQ+ Community". GameSpot. Retrieved May 21, 2024.
  23. ↑ "UNO Emoji™". mattel.com.
  24. ↑ "UNO Fandom". Mattel Creations.
  25. ↑ "Nintendo Life – Uno WiiWare review". Nintendo Life. November 2009. Retrieved March 5, 2019.
  26. ↑ "Buy Uno". Microsoft Store.
  27. ↑ "Buy UNO ™ & Friends". Microsoft Store.
  28. ↑ "UNO Now Available On Nintendo Switch". Gamasutra. November 7, 2017. Archived from the original on July 22, 2019. Retrieved March 28, 2020.
  29. ↑ "Uno variations – card game rules". www.pagat.com.
  30. ↑ Friedman, Megan (February 13, 2018). "The Makers of UNO Are Releasing a Spinoff Game Called DOS". Good Housekeeping. Retrieved March 28, 2018.
  31. ↑ Beck, Kellen (February 13, 2018). "'DOS,' the sequel to 'UNO,' is a new take on an old favorite". Mashable. Retrieved December 4, 2018.
  32. ↑ Pisani, Joseph (February 13, 2018). "Mattel doubles down on Uno with a new card game called Dos". Jacksonville, Florida: The Florida Times-Union. Associated Press. Retrieved May 4, 2023.
  33. ↑ "DOS". corporate.mattel.com. Retrieved February 8, 2026.
  34. ↑ "DOS: Second Edition: Rules differences in this new edition". BoardGameGeek. Retrieved February 8, 2026.
  35. ↑ Mortensen, Eric (June 12, 2024). "DOS Second Edition (2022) Card Game: Rules for How to Play". Geeky Hobbies. Retrieved February 8, 2026.
  36. ↑ IGT (September 10, 2015). "Pat Sajak, Vanna White will help IGT launch newest version of Wheel of Fortune slot machine at Global Gaming Expo". IGT News Room. Retrieved January 3, 2024.
  37. 1 2 "Famous Games". Sodak Gaming Inc. Online. August 13, 2004. Archived from the original on August 13, 2004. Retrieved January 3, 2024.
  38. ↑ IGT. "UNO Slots" (PDF). IGT Products. Archived from the original (PDF) on March 5, 2004.
  39. ↑ IGT. "UNO Video Slots" (PDF). IGT Products. Archived from the original (PDF) on August 28, 2004. Retrieved January 3, 2024.
  40. ↑ "'UNO: The Game Show' In The Cards From Mattel And Gurin Co". Deadline. March 25, 2013. Retrieved March 25, 2013.
  41. ↑ Lyons, Margaret (March 26, 2013). "Who Doesn't Want an UNO TV Show?". Vulture. Retrieved March 26, 2013.
  42. ↑ "Lil Yachty Developing Action Heist Movie Based on Card Game Uno". Variety. February 4, 2021. Retrieved February 4, 2021.
  43. ↑ Demaine, Derek D.; Demaine, Martin L.; Harvey, Nicholas J. A.; Uehara, Ryuhei; Uno, Takeaki; Uno, Yushi (March 15, 2010). "The complexity of UNO". arXiv:1003.2851 [cs.DM].
  44. ↑ "Top 100 Games of 1980". Games. No. 20. November–December 1980. p. 58.
  45. ↑ Schmittberger, R. Wayne, ed. (November 1982). "The Top 100 Games 1982". Games. No. 33. p. 52.
  46. ↑ Lowder, James (January 4, 2024). Family games: The 100 best. Green Ronin. ISBN 978-1-934547-21-2.