Uno

Game rules

The objective of the game is to get rid of all your cards as quickly as possible. The player who is the first to get rid of all their cards is the winner of the round.

At the beginning of the game, the dealer deals 7 cards to each player, places the remaining pile of cards in the center of the table and turns the first card face up. This card will serve as the starting point.

In turn, each player, starting with the player to the right of the dealer, must place a card on the table that is either the same color, number or symbol as the card currently on top of the pile of cards already placed. Some cards have the privilege of being played at any time, and some cards have special effects, see below.

A player who can't play any of their cards must draw one from the deck (by pressing space). If the drawn card is playable, they can put it down immediately, otherwise their turn is over and it's the next player's turn.

A player who has only one card left in their hand must announce "uno!" to alert the other players (by pressing U). If that player forgot to do this and someone points it out to them (also by pressing U), they must draw 4 penalty cards.

Special cards

As said above, some cards have a special meaning. Some of them can be played at any time, while others trigger a specific action when played:

Skip

When a player puts down this card, the next player skips their turn and the player next to them plays. When only two players are playing, the one who played the card can immediately play again.

Reverse

When a player puts down this card, the direction of play is reversed. If the game was previously played clockwise, it will now be played counter-clockwise until another reverse card is played. When only two players are playing, the one who played the card can immediately play again.

draw two

When a draw two card is played, the next player must draw two cards from the deck before playing.

Wild

This card can be put down at any time and allows the player who plays it to choose which color the next player should play.

Wild draw four

This card can be played at any time and requires the next player to draw 4 cards before being able to play. The player who played it can also choose the next color.
Depending on the variant, the player who has to draw 4 cards may be skipped.

Scoring

When a player has successfully got rid of all their cards, each player who still has cards in their hand gets points.
Therefore, the winner is the player who has the fewest points after a certain number of rounds or after a certain limit is reached by the loser (often 500, 1000 or 1500 points).
Here is the value of each card in points :

Game variations

Responses

In this variant, the player who has to draw cards after a draw two or wild draw four can, instead of drawing, play another draw two or wild draw four card. The next player must then draw the sum of all the draw cards played, unless that player also has another +2 or +4 card. A draw two can't be placed on top of a wild draw four and vice versa.
If a player puts down a draw two card after drawing their cards, the next player only has to draw 2 cards.

Straights

In this variant, whoever has several cards of the same color with consecutive numbers, e.g. yellow 2, 3 and 4, has the right to put them down in the same turn, in ascending or descending order. However, you have to be quick enough, because you lose this right as soon as the next player has played, and the next player has the right to do so as soon as the first card in the sequence has been played.

Interceptions

In this variant, if a player has exactly the same card as the one currently on top of the pile, that player can play it immediately even if it isn't their turn. The player who made the interception can play again, and then play continues to the next player. A number of players may therefore have missed their turn.
If you aren't fast enough or if you make a mistake, you get 3 penalty points... So be careful!

All cards can be intercepted, except wild and draw four cards.

Super interceptions

In this variant, all cards can be intercepted as long as they have the same number or symbol, regardless of the color, according to the interception rule above.

Bluff

In this variant, it is suggested that a wild draw four can only be played if there is no other choice. Putting down a wild draw four when you had the option of playing something else is still allowed, but is considered bluffing (bluffing in the sense of making it look like you had nothing else to play when in fact this is not the case).

The player who has to draw cards following a wild draw four can, instead of drawing, declare that the player who played this card is bluffing. If this is the case, i.e. if the player could have played something else than wild draw four, then the bluffer gets the 4 cards plus two more penalty cards. If, on the other hand, the player suspected of bluffing had no other choice, then the wrongly accusing player must draw two more cards.

This rule is not at all incompatible with the responses rule. In this case, it may be strategically better to wisely draw cards rather than retaliate and risk being caught for bluffing and thus having to draw even more cards in the end.

Skipping turn after drawing cards

This variant proposes the obligation to pass your turn after drawing cards (after a draw two or a wild draw four).

0/7 rule

In this variant, 0 and 7 cards are given special effects:

Buzzer

In this variation, we introduce 8 more cards in the deck, the buzzer cards. They can be played at any time and anything can be played on top of them.
When a player plays a buzzer card, all players must press B as quickly as possible, including the one who just played the card. The slowest player will have to draw two penalty cards.

Advanced responses

In this variant, in addition to draw two and draw four responses, a skip, reverse, or wild card can be played to pass the drawing obligation to another player. When cards need to be drawn, a skip simply passes the draw to the next player without skipping them.
If a draw two or wild draw four is played as the last card, or if cards still need to be drawn when playing your final card, the round doesn't end immediately. Instead, you must wait until all required cards have been drawn. Therefore, if your last card is a draw two, the next player can still pass the duty to draw cards back to you by playing a reverse. You will need to draw the cards, and the round will continue instead of ending.

Draw until finding a playable card

With this option, when you decide to draw voluntarily or when you can't play, you must keep drawing until you find a playable card. There's no limit on the number of cards you may draw.
This doesn't change anything when you have to draw because of special cards.

Eliminate players who draw too many cards

With this variant, the player who draws too many cards is eliminated. All cards return to the draw pile and that player must wait for the next round to play again.
The eliminated player immediately takes a fixed amount of penalty points and/or all points of the cards they had, depending on the configured options. By default, the limit is fixed to 25 cards, 250 fixed penalty points, without additionally counting card points.

This variant offers new strategies, because there are two ways to win:

This variant has been designed to be played with the Uno no mercy supplementary card pack, but it isn't mandatory.

Uno no mercy

This variant adds a new pack of special cards, for a more varied and dynamic gameplay:

Skip everyone

As its name suggests, everyone's turn is skipped and you can play again.


Discard all

This card allows you to discard all cards from your hand that have the same color as the discard all card. For example, you can discard all red cards from your hand by playing a red discard all. Discarded cards are put on the discard pile, just below the discard all card.


Wild draw six and wild draw ten

In the same way as the traditional wild draw four, these cards allow you to choose the color to play next, and make the next player draw 6 or 10 cards.


Wild reverse draw four

Allows you to choose the color to play next, reverse the order of play, and make the next player draw 4 cards. Keep in mind that, with two players, this card makes you draw four cards yourself.


Color roulette

You choose the next color to play, and the next player must draw cards until they find a card of the desired color, regardless of if they already have cards of that color in their hand. Wild cards are never considered to be of the desired color.

Additionally, wild draw four becomes ordinary draw four (they are no longer wild), and there's a second 0 card in each color.

If responses are enabled, you can play a draw X card above a weaker draw Y card, but not the opposite. For example, you can play a draw four above a draw two, but not a draw two above a draw four. Similarly, you can play a wild draw ten above a wild draw six, but not the opposite.
You can't mix normal and wild cards in the same chain, this doesn't change. For example, you can't play a wild draw six above a draw four.

If advanced responses are enabled, the new special cards discard all and skip everyone allow to completely cancel the current draw chain.

You are strongly recommended to enable the option to eliminate players with too many cards in combination with the no mercy card pack. The high amount of special cards can otherwise very quickly cause the game to get stuck or lead to a shortage of available cards in the draw pile. Additionally, official rules included in the pack as it is sold include responses and 0/7 rule, but none of the two options are mandatory.

Uno flip

In this variant, cards have two sides: a light side, quite gentle, and a dark side, more nasty. On the light side, classic colors are found: yellow, red, blue, green. On the dark side, there are four new colors: orange, pink, purple and teal.

When a flip card is played, all cards are switched, in players' hands as well as the draw and the discard pile. If the game was going with the light side, it continues on the dark side from now on, and conversely if the game was on the dark side, everything returns back to the light side.

Special cards change a little compared to the normal game:

Color roulette allows to choose the next color to play, and makes the next player draw cards until they find the desired color. Wild cards are never considered to be of any desired color.

Summary of keyboard shortcuts