How to Play UNO Cards?

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The rules to play this super addictive card game are super easy. This game is basically for kids above the age of 7, but yeah, younger kids would enjoy it too. UNO is actually a fast-paced card game, so it’s better to understand the rules beforehand.

This game involves special cards that help ramp up the fun, but if you want to play this game right away after reading this article well then, we have a surprise for you in the end. Yay!

Before knowing how to play UNO cards, you must be curious to know why play UNO cards? Well, the sole motive of playing this game is to be able to scream “UNO!” when you hit the very last card—just kidding!

The motive of this card game is to be the first one among the group to play the last card in hand. In case you are playing multiple games, then the winner is the player with the lowest score.

SO, LET’S GET STARTED WITH HOW TO PLAY UNO CARDS?

Playing this game is all about each player taking turns, which consists of either matching the topmost card in the stack or playing any one of the special cards. Is that it? That simple? NO! There are a lot of informational pieces we still have to get into like –

• At the beginning of a player’s turn, he/she can match either the color or the number of the topmost card in their hand.
• If the card matches, the game goes on to the next player.
• In case the player does not have a matching card rather has a Wild Draw 4 Card or Wild Card in their hand, they can choose to play that card.
• The Wild Cards allow the players to choose any color.
• The player has to draw the topmost card from the draw pile in case they cannot play a card from their hand.
• If they do draw a card that cannot be played, they have to continue drawing cards from draw pile until they can play a card.
• Under no circumstances is the player forced to play a matching card from their hand. They can either draw a new card from the draw pile or choose to play a Wild Card.
• In case the player decides to draw a card from the pile, then they will have to keep on drawing cards until they get one, which is playable.
• Also, they cannot choose to play a card that was originally in their hand after choosing to draw cards from the draw pile.
• Once the player has matched the topmost or face-up card, the game can proceed to the next player.
• From the beginning of the game, the play keeps continuing from the left of the player in a clockwise direction.
• Though, the Reverse Card can change the direction of the next player from left-to-right or right-to-left.
• If there are only two players (total) in the game, then the Reverse Card tends to act like a Skip Card.

In case the last card is drawn from the draw pile, then all the cards that have been played except the one which is the topmost face-up card have to be shuffled and used as a new draw pile. This can continue as long as it takes till someone runs out of cards in their hand.

HOW TO SETUP THE GAME?

Now that we are done with how to play the UNO card game let’s see how to set up the game.

The dealer for the game is determined by shuffling the entire deck and each player drawing a card. The player who does draw a card with the highest number is the dealer.

If a player draws a special card with no numbers, like the Skip Card, then they have to return that card to the bottom of the deck and draw a new card from the top.

In case two or more players draw out the same high number cards, then they have to return the card to the deck and keep drawing new cards until either of the player(s) draw a higher card from the other(s).

How Many Card to Play UNO?

The answer is seven. Once the dealer has been chosen, each player is dealt seven cards. The remaining cards are then put face-down on the table in front of the players, which is known as the “Draw Pile.”

The dealer, after that, draws a card from the pile and places it face-up on the table beside the draw pile. In case this card turns out to be a Wild Draw 4 Card or Wild Card, then it has to be returned to the middle of the pile, and a new card has to be drawn.

Until and unless the drawn card is a Reverse Card, the player sitting to the left of the dealer gets to be the first person to play, even if a player is not willing to play, the Reverse Card still applies to force the player sitting to the right of the dealer to play.

It is a common house rule to alternate dealers when playing multiple games of UNO. This can be done by moving the dealer to the person on the left in a clockwise direction from the former game’s dealer.

If you are willing to play with younger kids, then allowing the youngest kid to become the dealer can be chosen as an alternative to drawing the highest card.

HOW TO PLAY UNO CARDS WITH SPECIAL CARDS?

The fun in playing UNO is all due to the special cards which are capable of changing the game in a heartbeat. These cards enable the players to add a certain amount of strategy to a game that would otherwise only be the luck of the draw.

There are some decks where these special cards are only marked using a symbol while there are some other decks where they also spell out the special card’s name.

Come on let’s learn how to play UNO cards with the special cards –

Reverse

This special card has the capability of reversing the order of the play, switching it from left-to-right or right-to-left. If utilized wisely, it can be used to stop a player from running out of cards.

This special card is denoted with a symbol containing two arrows pointing in opposite directions, one on top of the other. This card has a color that can only be played on face-up cards with that color.

Skip

This special card makes the next person lose his turn, and the game continues to the next player as if they have ended their turn. If you are playing a two-player game, then it enables you to immediately take another turn.

The symbol that denotes this card is usually a circle with a line passing through it. This special card has a color and can only be when the face-up card has that color.

Draw 2

This card acts as if it is the Skip Card forcing the following player to draw two cards & skip their turn. The symbol that denotes this card is a “+2” sign.

This one also has a color and can only be played when the face-up card has that color.

Wild

Now this one’s a bit different because this special card allows a player to play on any color or number, even another wild card for that matter. Also, they tend to call out a color for the Wild Card, which in turn forces the next player to use that same color for play.

This card can be played even if the player has another playable card. This special card is usually black and features all four colors on it. In case the first card turned up is a Wild Draw 4 or Wild Card, then the first player requires to choose the color.

Wild Draw 4

The Wild Draw 4 card forces the next player to draw out four cards and also skip their turn as if it was a Skip Card.

It cannot be played if the player possesses a card with the same color and/or number as the face-up card. The symbol that denotes this card is a “+4” sign.

HOW TO PLAY UNO WITH REGULAR CARDS?

Now here’s the surprise we were talking about. We know after reading all about UNO, you too wanna yell, “UNO!’ Just because this thought occurred to us that not everybody has a UNO card set at home, so we are going to tell you how to play UNO with playing cards.

There are quite a few things you need to understand but don’t worry, this won’t take much time plus it’s easy. The traditional UNO game requires a set of 108 cards to play with, which also happens to be the number of cards found in two decks of regular playing cards.

Card Values

Since you are going to play with regular cards, you will have to decide the value of these cards in accordance with UNO. So, here is the distribution of cards as per UNO –

• 72 Number cards with two sets of 1-9 numbers per color and one each for zero
• 8 Reverse cards
• 8 Draw 2
• 8 Skip
• 4 Wild
• 4 Draw
• 4 Wild

With two decks of your regular playing cards, you can use the face cards for the special cards and use these values –

• 72 Number cards using numbers 2-10
• Jacks for the 8 Skip/Reverse
• Queens for the 8 Draw 2
• Kings for the 8 Wild
• Aces for the 8 Draw 4
• 4 Jokers (unused)