I just love to sit at the table, or even on the floor depending on what game we are playing, and playing games – board games, card games and tabletop games. Game nights are always lots of fun. I love to play a variety of games, some involve a big time commitment, some require brain power and at times I just love to play something quick and simple. Generally, a card game such as the classic UNO.
For a game that is easy to understand, quick and simple to play then you can’t go wrong with UNO. It is perfect for game nights or even if you just have 20 minutes to kill.
UNO is a classic family game that has been around for over 50 years old (since 1971) and is still going strong. It is a card-shedding game of matching colours and numbers to get rid of all your cards and score points.
UNO is a card game for 2-10 players, age 7+. It is perfect for kids, adults and families as it simple to learn and play. And extremely addictive! Players take it turns to match a card in their hand with the card in play on the table. It is not just a case of matching a number like Snap but matching a colour to another colour or number or matching a number to a number. Then there are the special action cards which introduce game-changing actions to alter the play which can help you defeat your opponents. It is fast fun for family and friends!
In the pack:
- 112 UNO Cards – 25 of each colour (red, green, blue, and yellow), plus wild cards
- Instructions with Scoring Rules
Playing the game is easy and can be learned in minutes. It is a game for 2-10 players, so is great for couples, family or even for party games and will suit all age groups from 7 upwards. Each player must draw a card from the deck and the player with the highest number on their card is the dealer for that round. The player to their left will be the starting player. All cards are then placed back into the deck and the deck is re-shuffled. The dealer then deals each player 7 cards. Remaining cards are placed face down on the table to become the DRAW pile. The top card from the DRAW pile is turned over to start a new pile, the DISCARD pile. When everybody is ready, plat can begin.
The starting player must try to match a card in their hand to the card that is in play, face up, on the discard pile. For example, if the card on the DISCARD pile is a GREEN with a 5 on it (GREEN 5) the player can either lay down any GREEN card or any colour 5 from their hand. If they can’t match with either the colour or number, they must take a card from the DRAW pile and add it to their hand. Providing they can now make a match they can do so. If not, play continues to the next player. Play continues clockwise around the table until a player plays their next to last card, leaving them with one card in the hand, where they then MUST shout UNO (if you don’t shout before the next player takes their turn then you must pick up two new cards).
As I said, simple to understand and easy to play. Now for the but. But the game does feature some twists to spice up the gameplay. The deck also contains some special action cards which add in an extra element to the game. These special cards help to change the direction and possible outcome of the game if played at the right time. They can perform functions to help you beat your opponents. The special action cards include Skips, Reverses, Draw Twos, colour-changing Wild cards, Draw Four Wild cards and even customised cards that you can write your own rules on and add in your own customisation. When one of these cards is put into play, the direction of play can be reversed, players lose or skip a turn, players might have to pick up more cards and increase the number of cards in their hand and you can even swap your whole hand of cards with another player. These special cards infuse a bit more fun into the game and can take you from a losing to winning position.
To win the round, a player must get rid of all their cards. To win the game, a player must score 500 points. Whilst that might seem like a high number of points to score, it is very easily achieved as the point scoring can be quite high. The game is played in rounds, with the winner of each round being the player that gets rid of all their cards. The winner of each round gets points which are determined by adding up the scores of all the other players remaining cards. Any number cards are face value, but if the other players are holding wild cards, these are worth between 20 and 50 points each (a list of scoring values are in the instructions). By adding up all the other players cards it is very quick and easy to hit that 500 mark.
Overall, I found UNO to be a fantastically enjoyable game. It is fast to play, very simple for anybody to learn and play and it can be played anywhere by all ages together. But most importantly, it is lots of fun, especially with the wild cards changing the game and adding in a bit of strategic play.
UNO is an excellent game for kids, adults and families to play and enjoy together. It is perfect game for those family game nights or just for keeping the kids entertained on rainy days and during school holidays. As it is just a deck of cards, it is also an excellent travel game as it easily fits in your bag. You can even purchase a UNO carry bag if you want something more durable on your travels.
I loved how easy it is was just to pick up and play, the gameplay is excellent exciting fun. And I love that there are blank cards to write your own wild card rules on (just write on in pencil and it can easily be erased and reused for different rules).
Uno is an easy game to play and enjoy. It is very addictive and one game just won’t be enough. Lots of fun for everybody from 7 to 107.
Rating: 5/5
RRP: £9.99
Available to buy from Amazon here.
