How to play UNO: basic rules

The one is a card game consisting of get rid of of all the cards with which the game begins, which are seven, plus those that are “drawn” during the game. Every time a player does not have a card of the color or the number thrown or a joker, he must take a card from the deck. A player is only freed from taking a card from the deck if he has something of the same color or a joker to throw. When the player has the last card left, he must say: One !, or he will be penalized by taking two more cards, if his rivals realize it, of course.

Whoever manages to add 500 points wins the game. The points are added to the account of each player when he wins a game, with the sum of all the points of the cards that the opposing players have been. This goal of 500 points is officially established, but each group of players can set the limit that is most convenient for them.

The original game has a total of 108 cards and 112 for the one launched in 2005 called Uno Spin and which, unlike the original, includes a roulette wheel. Today there is multiple different versions of Uno that may contain small changes and special cards.

Origin of the one

The one that today is a proprietary game Mattel, has its origin in 1971. It was developed by Merle Robbins, a barbero American who invented it with the help of his wife, Marie, and his son and daughter-in-law, Ray and Kathy Robbins. The two couples invested $ 8,000 to market the game in 1971. Robbins sold the rights to the game in 1972 for about $ 50,000 and 10 cents per game, the New York Times reported in its 1984 obituary. Robbins died at the age of 72.

The letters of the one

The one has a deck or deck of cards with different characteristics to the Spanish or English playing cards. In game one contains two types of cards: normal and special or jokers.

1. The normal cards of the one they are of four colors: Blue, Red, Green and Yellow. Each color has number cards from 0 to 9 (two of each, except for the zero that comes only once for each color).

2. The special letters They allow you to alter the normal flow of the game through certain actions. These cards are:

– Reverse Card, which changes the sense of the game

– Card Jump, which skips the next player’s turn

– Card Take 2, which forces the next player to draw 2 cards

– Color Wildcard, which allows you to change the color for the next move

– Wild Card Take 4, makes the next player have to draw four cards from the deck. But this card can only be played when it is the only option you have left. If you use it with an alternative there is a four card penalty.

Among the things to keep in mind regarding special cards is that its effects are cumulative. That is, if one rolls a Take 2 card, the next player can, in turn, roll another of the same type. Thus, he gets rid of the effect and passes it to the next player, but duplicated, so he will not draw 2, but 4 cards. Up to 20 cards can be drawn from the deck.

Letters Reverse, Card Jump, and Take 2 They are subject to the rule of matching by color, that is, they can only be played if they match the color of the card played before.

On the other hand, the opposite happens with the Wild Cards of Color and Wild Take 4, which are not identified by colors, they are black. In this way, they can be played regardless of the color of the previous card that is on the table.

Once the game is over, it is time to count the points that we have been left with. These are the points generated by the letters of one.

Common cards: The same number of points as the card number.

Special or action cards:

Reverse letter: 20 points

Carta Salta: 20 points

Take Card 2: 20 points

Wildcard Color: 50 points

Wild Card Take 4: 50 points

How to play uno

You have to know some rules to be able to play one.

1. When the game is opened, if the first card is a Take Two, the one who starts must take two cards from the deck and then just discard one of the same color.

2. Special Change of Direction cards can be thrown when they are the color being played. Or you can also throw a return card before another return card that has been thrown at us.

3. The special blocking cards or Lose the Turn, can only be thrown against a card of the same color, and indicates that the partner who follows us loses the turn and the next competitor plays.

4. The 4 special Color Change Take Four cards are the big stars of the game, the ones that often define the game. Precisely because they change the color towards the color that we need, but it forces the next player to draw four cards from the deck.

5. If when dealing the cards at the beginning of a game the first card turned over is a +4, that is the only case in which the card is put into the deck and shuffled again. The game is not started with a +4 turned, although with the other special cards: +2, Lose Turn, Change of Direction and Wild Color Change.

Special rules

Over the years and since the game of one is very popular in a large number of countries, the rules have been changing and there is a mix between original and invented. Mattel, the brand that owns the game, publishes the official ones, but in the face of possible conflicts it suggests that ‘the rules of each house’ prevail. These are a couple of special rules that Mattel collects and that can be a lot of fun:

1. ONE ‘SEVEN – ZERO’. Follow the same rules as to play the normal one, but add that:

– Every time a 0 is discarded, all players give their hand of cards to the next player in the direction of play.

– Every time a 7 is discarded, the player who discarded the 7 must exchange his hand of cards with another player of his choice.

2. ONE ‘IMMEDIATE DISCARD’. Follow the same rules of some, except:

– If someone has an identical card (both color and number) as the card in the pile to discard, that person can discard that card immediately, regardless of whose turn it is. For example: If there is a “blue 6” card in the Discard pile and your hand includes a “blue 6” card, you can discard it, even if it is not your turn. Play continues from the person who discarded the last card (the person who made the immediate discard).

– Two important aspects of the game: 1. If in your hand of cards you have two cards that match the one on the pile, you can discard them in the same turn, one after the other, (place one of the cards on the pile to discard, then grab the other card from your hand and discard the other card.) This gives another player a chance to discard a card and prevent you from discarding the other card.

– If you discard a Jump, Reverse, Draw Two or Wild Draw Four card, the second identical card that is discarded cancels the first.