Components

There are 112 cards in UNO. They are as follows:

• Colour cards (red, blue, green, and yellow) – 19 of each colour
• Skip cards (red, blue, green, and yellow) – 2 of each colour
• Reverse cards (red, blue, green, and yellow) – 2 of each colour
• Draw 2 cards (red, blue, green, and yellow) – 2 of each colour
• Wild cards x 4
• Wild Draw 4 cards x 4
• Blank cards x 4

UNO also comes with paper instructions informing players on how to play UNO.

Game objective

In each round of the game, the first player to play all of the cards in their hand scores points for the cards left in their opponents’ hands. The first player to reach 500 points wins the game.

Game setup

Each player should draw a card from the deck. First, the dealer is decided by who has the highest point value card. Next, shuffle the deck and deal seven cards to each player.

The remaining cards will form the draw pile and should be placed face down. Next, draw the top card and place it face up in order to create the discard pile. Should this card be a Wild Draw 4 card, place it back into the deck, and draw another card.

Gameplay

The player to the dealer’s left plays first, and play continues in this direction until a reverse card is played. Players start their turn by matching a card on the discard pile with a card in their hand, either by number, colour, or word. If they cannot match a card, they draw from the draw pile and play the newly drawn card if possible. If they cannot, the play moves on to the next person. You can play a Wild card at any time.
If players forget to say “UNO” before playing their second-to-last card, they must draw four cards. The hand ends when a player plays their last card. Points are then tallied, and a new round begins.

Special Cards

Special cards are a key feature of UNO. Here are the different types:

Skip card

When you play this card, the next player will miss their turn or be “skipped”. You can only play this card on a matching colour or another Skip card.

Reverse card

When you play this card, the direction of play will be reversed. Therefore, you can only play this card on a matching colour or another Reverse card.

Draw 2 card

When you play this card, the next player will have to pick up two cards from the draw pile. You can only play this card on a matching colour or another Draw 2 card.

Wild card: This card can be played at any time to change the colour that is currently being played to any colour of your choosing. If a Wild card is turned over at the start of a game, the player to the dealer’s left decides what the colour of play will be and plays the first card.

Wild Draw 4 card

When you play this card, the player next in order will have to pick up four cards from the draw pile. In addition to this, you can change the colour that is being played (like a regular Wild card). However, you can only play this card if you do not have any matching cards in your hand. If you suspect that another player has played this card illegally, you can challenge them. The challenged player must reveal their cards to the challenger. If the challenged player is guilty, they must draw four cards. If the challenged player is innocent, the challenger must pick up six cards from the draw pile. The only player able to make this challenge is the one required to pick up four cards.

Blank card

Blank cards have no immediate use. However, you can use them as replacement cards for any cards in the deck that might become lost or damaged. Alternatively, you could use blank cards to create your own rules within the game, such as a “Draw 10 card”.

Scoring

The first player to get rid of all their cards gets points based on the cards that remain in the hands of the other players. The value of each card is as follows:

Number cards (0-9)	Face value of the card
Skip cards	20 points
Reverse cards	20 points
Draw 2 cards	20 points
Wild cards	50 points
Wild Draw 4 cards	50 points

The first player to reach 500 points wins.