Card games across six Uno editions: the original one from seven years, Junior from three years, giant cards for floor se...
The advantage cards hold that no other box in the shop can match is that they need no table, no floor and no setting up, so a player's lap, a car seat and the back of a bag on a trip are enough. That is why parents come back to this section every journey and every Eid, and come back to it as well on the nights when there is no time to spread a large board and gather it up again half an hour later.
Cards get played in the car and need no table
Add up what a card box needs before play: a minute to shuffle and deal, a palm's worth of space for each player, and a round that finishes in ten or fifteen minutes. Then set that against what a board asks for in laying out, arranging and clearing away at the end, and you will understand why these boxes come out of the bag far more often than anything else. They also allow a new player to join halfway through the session without restarting from the beginning.
Uno and six editions carrying the same name
Uno is the spine of this section, and we carry six editions of it under the same name, differing in what players call the action cards. The core is identical in every edition: seven cards are dealt to each player, the player matches colour or number, and whoever is down to a single card says the word before anyone else beats them to it. That fixed core means your child learns the rule once and then plays all six.
What separates Uno Spin from the original
The difference lies in the extra cards and in what the edition adds to the table. One edition we carry brings a spinning disc, so a player's fate turns with it and no decision of theirs is involved, while another builds on characters from a series your son knows, which makes the game the talk of the school. A third turns the rule upside down and makes lying itself a legal move. So choose by your children's temperament: the one who likes pure luck, or the one who likes to fool his brother and laugh.
From seven years or from three: Uno Junior
The age label on the original Uno reads seven years, and it is a correct label, because the game asks a child to read the number, know the colour and track an opponent's turn all at once. We carry a junior edition that brings this down to three years with larger pictures, fewer cards and a simpler rule, and it is the right answer if there is a three-year-old at home you want seated beside an older brother without tears every round.
Look at the age label on each box before paying, because some of what shows here is tagged three years while the maker recommends seven, and your reference is what you see in your own child rather than what the lid prints.
Giant cards and who they suit
You will find a box of double-sized cards in this section, designed for the session where players sit apart from each other, or on the floor rather than at a table. The larger card also suits a grandparent whose eyesight has weakened, and anyone with small hands who cannot hold ten ordinary cards without dropping half of them. Count on it wanting more space in front of each player, though, so it is not a back-seat game.
A card box that needs a base game
Watch out for one kind that recurs in this section and that many buyers get wrong: the extra card pack. It sells you cards to add to a game you already own, and it costs nineteen riyal, which is a tempting price, but without the base it is paper that cannot be played. Read the box description to its end and look for the word expansion or add-on, and if you find it, make sure the parent game is already in your cupboard.
Two games that work for two people only
Most of this section is built for three players and up, yet some of it is played by two with nothing lost from the enjoyment. That matters to anyone with an only child, to a couple on a quiet evening, and to whoever travels with one son. If that is your case, look for the player count on the lid and buy what starts at two, and do not buy what starts at four and leave the box shut.
How to keep cards for a full year
Cards are ruined in three ways: water, bending, and one lost card that leaves the box incomplete. So keep the box in a sealed bag inside the luggage, stop anyone playing with a glass of juice beside them, and count the cards after every session on a trip before you get up from your seat. For what cannot be ruined at all, the wooden pieces in Jackaroo boards and chess boards last for years.
What to buy first if this is your first box
Start with the original Uno if your youngest is seven or above, start with the junior if they are below that, and do not start with an edition carrying a disc or an inverted rule. A special edition entertains whoever already knows the game and bewilders whoever has never played it. Once the game has settled into your home, look through brain games for boys, our group games range, family play and the assorted board games section to widen the session.
