A standard Uno pack holds a hundred and eight cards, and not numbers alone. Learn its make-up, the four action cards and...
You open a new box of Uno and your son asks a question you assume you can answer: how many cards are in the box? Then you count them and find the number larger than you expected, and find cards in the pack you have never played in your life. This explanation gives you the correct count, the composition of the pack and the full rule of play in ten minutes, so you can sit down with your children confident from the first round.
How many Uno cards there are and what they are
A standard Uno pack holds a hundred and eight cards, and they are not all numbers. Seventy-six of them are number cards from zero to nine in four colours, with one zero and two of every other number in each colour. Twenty-four are action cards, eight of each of the three kinds, and eight are wild cards: four that change the colour and four that change the colour and make an opponent draw four. Count the box when it arrives, and if two cards are short, tell the shop.
The turn and how matching works
Seven cards are dealt to each player and one card is turned face up in the middle to begin the pile. Then a player looks at their hand and matches the turned card on one of two things, colour or number, and if they hold no match at all, they draw a single card from the face-down pile. The round runs clockwise until one player's hand is empty, and whoever empties their hand has won the round, and a new one begins.
The four action cards
Learn these four, because they are the whole of what separates Uno from any other card game. The skip card drops the turn of the player after you, the reverse card turns the direction of play back towards whoever went before you, the draw card forces the next player to take two and loses them their turn, and the wild changes the colour to whatever you choose. The wild draw four is the strongest of them, since it joins a colour change and four cards against your opponent, so keep it for the last tight round.
Treat these cards as a timed weapon rather than paper to throw away quickly, because the player who empties their action cards in the first two turns ends the round with nothing left to defend themselves.
Saying Uno and forgetting it
When one card is left in your hand you say the word out loud, and that is a condition of the game rather than a custom players have invented. If you forget to say it and someone notices before the next player plays, you draw two cards as a penalty and the turn passes with you in a weaker position. That rule is the most entertaining part of the game for children, because it makes them watch each other's hands more closely than their own cards.
How the editions differ
The core of Uno is the same across every edition in the shop, and the difference between them lies in the extra action cards and in the artwork. One edition builds on characters from a series your son knows, which brings the game closer to him; another adds a spinning disc that decides a player's fate with no decision of theirs; and another makes lying a legal move, so you claim a match and someone else has to call you out. Start with the original and buy a special edition afterwards, and the full range sits in card game boxes.
Uno Flip and what changed
Uno Flip is an edition whose pack is printed on both sides: a light side with mild penalties and a dark side that is harsh. The pack holds a flip card that turns every card in the round from the light face to the dark one, so all the penalties change at once and the draw card starts taking five or skipping everybody. It is an enjoyable edition for anyone tired of the original, but its round runs longer and its rule is more complex, so do not start a seven-year-old on it.
Two games for two people only
Uno plays from two up to ten, and that is its great advantage over a board that demands a particular number. In a two-player session the game shifts slightly: the reverse card acts as a skip because the direction comes back to you, and the draw card hits your single opponent directly, making it stronger than it is in a session of six. So if you play with one child, this is the most suitable thing you can buy, and if you want what carries the whole gathering, look through the group games section and Jackaroo and its cards.
Shuffling cards and keeping them
Cards are ruined by three things: water, repeated bending and a lost card. So teach your children to shuffle on the table by pushing rather than by bending the pack between two palms, since bending opens the corners within a month. Keep the box in a sealed bag inside the cupboard, and count the cards after every session on a trip before you stand up, because the card that drops under a car seat does not come back. For pieces that cannot be ruined, the wood sits in the chess section.
A first session with a seven-year-old
Begin your first session with five cards each rather than seven, and take the wild draw four out of the pack for the first three rounds. That shortens the round and lets your child win once or twice, so he takes to the game before you make it harder for him. Then put the wild back and raise the hand to seven in the second session, and you will find he has learned the whole rule with no explanation. After that, look through thinking games in the boys interests and thinking games in the girls interests for what builds on this foundation.
