UNO: The Card Game, the Rules and the Editions

What UNO is

UNO is a shedding card game. Shedding means you're trying to get rid of your cards. Everyone starts with 7. You play one card a turn onto a shared pile, matching the top card by color, number or symbol. The first player with an empty hand wins the round.

That's the whole skeleton. The action cards are what make it a game. A Skip takes away the next player's turn. A Reverse turns the table around. A Draw Two hands someone a problem. And a Wild lets you change the color when you're stuck.

Here's the table version of the box facts, from Mattel's UNO Deluxe instruction sheet (M2062):

• Players: 2 to 10
• Age: 7+
• Cards: 108
• Deal: 7 cards each
• Goal: empty your hand first; first to 500 points wins the game
• Co-op or competitive: competitive, everyone for themselves

Most UNO editions in our data list the same 7+ and 2 to 10.

The Strong National Museum of Play tells the origin story well. A barber named Merle Robbins invented UNO in 1971. His family played crazy eights, and the rules kept shifting from game to game, so he printed each card's action right on the card. The argument about what a card does was settled at the printer. I'd call that the best house rule ever written.

How UNO plays

The rules below are in my own words, from Mattel's UNO Deluxe instruction sheet (M2062). Where Mattel's newer 2021 sheet for a themed edition (HJR23) adds something, I say so.

The cards in the box

The Deluxe sheet lists 108 cards:

• 19 number cards in each color, red, blue, green and yellow (0 to 9)
• 8 Draw Two cards, 2 per color
• 8 Reverse cards, 2 per color
• 8 Skip cards, 2 per color
• 4 Wild cards
• 4 Wild Draw Four cards

Math teachers check these things, so I did. Nineteen per color is one 0 plus two each of 1 through 9. Four colors gives 76. Add 24 colored action cards and 8 Wilds, and you land on 108. It adds up. Not every box does.

The 2021 themed sheet (HJR23) lists 112 cards, including a special rule card that changes from edition to edition. So when a listing says "UNO cards," count on 108 to 112 and read the contents line.

Setup

1. Everyone draws a card. Highest number deals, and cards with symbols count as zero.
2. The dealer shuffles and deals 7 cards to each player.
3. The rest of the deck goes face down in the middle. That's the draw pile.
4. Turn over the top card to start the discard pile.
5. The player to the dealer's left goes first.

If the first card turned over is an action card, the sheet has a rule for each one. A Wild Draw Four goes back into the deck, and you flip another.

A turn, start to finish

1. Look at the top card of the discard pile.
2. Play one card from your hand that matches it by color, number or symbol. Or play a Wild.
3. If you can't match, draw one card. If that card matches, you can play it right away.
4. Play passes to the next player.

Here's a detail people miss: you're allowed to draw instead of playing, even when you hold a playable card. The Deluxe sheet says so, and adds that after the draw you can play only the card you just drew. Holding back a card on purpose is not a mistake. It's a plan with a straight face.

What the action cards do

• Skip: the next player loses their turn
• Reverse: the direction of play flips
• Draw Two: the next player draws 2 cards and loses their turn
• Wild: you pick the color that continues play, and you may play it even if you have another card that fits
• Wild Draw Four: you pick the color, and the next player draws 4 and loses their turn

The Wild Draw Four has a catch. You may play it only when you have no card in your hand that matches the current color. Number or action matches are allowed. Color matches are not.

If the next player thinks you broke that rule, they can challenge. You show them your hand. If you were guilty, you draw the 4 instead. If you were innocent, the challenger draws 6. It's the only card in the deck that comes with its own lie detector.

Lucho's take: "If you can't stack a Draw Two on a Draw Two, it's not UNO." The Deluxe sheet disagrees. A Draw Two can be played on another Draw Two as a match, but nothing in the sheet passes the penalty along. Stacking is a house rule. Write it down if your table uses it.

Saying UNO

When you play your next-to-last card, you call "UNO." If you forget and somebody catches you before the next player starts their turn, you draw 2. The quietest player at the table is usually the one holding one card.

Scoring and winning

When a player empties their hand, the round ends. That player scores points for the cards left in everyone else's hands:

Card	Points
Number cards 0 to 9	Face value
Draw Two, Reverse, Skip	20 each
Wild, Wild Draw Four	50 each

The first player to 500 points wins. The sheet also prints another way to score: everyone keeps a running total of the points stuck in their own hand each round, and when somebody hits 500, the lowest total wins. Either way, your leftover cards are somebody else's score.

The 2021 themed sheet treats scoring as optional and says the first player out of cards simply wins. That's the quick version, and it's fine for a school night.

UNO editions on Amazon US right now

Our data for this page lists 28 UNO editions, versions and bundles on Amazon US as of October 2026. The table above shows the players and age each listing states. Where a listing leaves a field out, the table shows a dash, and I won't guess. Here's what tells the groups apart.

The standard deck, in a few boxes

These are closest to the rules above.

• UNO (Amazon Exclusive): 7+, 2 to 10 players, listed as colorblind accessible
• UNO Gold Edition: 7+, 2 to 10, colorblind accessible
• UNO Mattel 80th Ruby Red: 7+, 2 to 10
• UNO with 2 Add On Packs and Storage Tin: 7+, 2 to 10, with a storage tin
• Uno 2 Pack: two decks; the listing gives no age or player count

Colorblind accessible means the listing says the deck is made so players with color vision deficiency can tell the cards apart. The listings don't say how. If that matters at your table, it's a line worth checking.

Bigger cards and bigger groups

• Giant UNO: 7+, 2 to 10, colorblind accessible. The name tells you the cards are bigger; the listing doesn't give a size.
• UNO Championship Series Expanded Tournament Set: 7+, 6 to 30 players. It's the only listing in our data that starts at 6.

Versions that change the rules

Several editions keep the name and change how a turn feels. The listings give the edition name, but not the rule changes, so I'll stick to what's listed.

• UNO Attack: 7+, 2 to 10, colorblind accessible
• UNO Spin: 7+, 2 to 10, colorblind accessible
• UNO Splash: 7+, 2 to 10
• UNO Dare: 7+, 2 to 10
• UNO Dare Adults Only: edition name says adults only; the listing gives no age number
• Liar's UNO in Storage Tin: 7+, 2 to 6 players, colorblind accessible, with a tin

Liar's UNO is the one with a smaller table: 6 players at most. Everything else here matches the classic 2 to 10.

UNO Flip, UNO Stacko, UNO All Wild and UNO Elite aren't in our data right now. If they come back on Amazon US, they'll show up in the table.

UNO Junior for younger kids

• UNO Junior: ages 3+, 2 to 4 players
• UNO Junior Move: listed as colorblind accessible; no age or player count stated

UNO Junior is the only edition in our data with a starting age under 7. It's also the only one capped at 4 players.

Check the age label on the listing. Toys with small parts are a choking hazard for children under 3. Cards aren't small parts, but tins and add-on packs can carry their own labels, so read the box.

Themed decks

Mattel lists UNO in several licensed themes. They're named here as the listings name them, with the facts each one states:

• UNO Super Mario and UNO Minecraft: 2 to 10 players, no age stated
• UNO Harry Potter with Storage Tin: 7+, 2 to 10, with a tin
• UNO Disney Princesses and UNO Disney and Pixar Toy Story 5: 7+, 2 to 10
• UNO WWE: 7+, 2 to 10, colorblind accessible
• UNO Netflix KPop Demon Hunters: 7+, 2 to 10, with a tin

If someone already owns plain UNO, the theme is the reason to buy a second deck. The listings don't say whether any themed deck adds a special rule card, so check the contents line.

Bundles with other Mattel card games

• Phase 10 with UNO: 7+, 2 to 7 for the bundle
• Skip Bo Bundled with Uno: no age or player count listed
• Uno Bundled with Dos: no age or player count listed
• Set of 3 Games: UNO, Skip-Bo & DOS: 7+, with a storage tin
• Set of 3 Card Games: UNO, Phase 10 & ONO 99: with a storage tin
• Uno and Blink Combo Pack of 2: the pair is listed as a matching and speed game

A bundle makes sense when the other game is one you'd buy anyway. Our Phase 10, Skip-Bo and DOS pages cover those games on their own.

Which UNO fits your table

My one opinion for this page: buy for the group you usually have, not the biggest number on the box. Most UNO decks say 2 to 10, and that's true, but a 10-player round means a long wait between your turns and a Reverse that takes a minute to come back around. The listings make this easy to match. UNO Junior caps at 4, Liar's UNO at 6, and the tournament set doesn't even start until 6. Count the chairs you fill on a normal Friday, then pick.

Quick matches, from the listings:

• A first family deck: UNO (Amazon Exclusive) or UNO Gold Edition, 7+, 2 to 10
• Kids 3 to 6: UNO Junior, 3+, 2 to 4; the classic deck says 7+
• A crowd at a reunion: the Championship Series set, 6 to 30
• A table of 6 or fewer that likes bluffing: Liar's UNO
• A deck that travels: any edition with a storage tin

Who should skip UNO

Skip it if your group hates luck. The deal and the draw pile decide a lot, and a strong hand can get Wild Draw Four-ed in one turn.

Skip it if you want a game that ends on a timer. A single round is quick, but playing to 500 can run long with a big table. Agree on a shorter target before you deal.

Skip the 7+ deck for a child under 7 who can't track a color change yet. Look at UNO Junior, or wait a year.

If you like UNO, look at these

Pages chosen by what they share with UNO: cards only, 2 or more players, short rounds.

• Card games: the wider shelf of shedding, matching and party decks
• Best family card games: our ranked list for mixed-age tables
• Phase 10: Mattel's rummy game, often bundled with UNO
• DOS: another Mattel card game, often bundled with UNO
• Skip-Bo: another Mattel card game with its own page

Every UNO listing in our data comes from Mattel. See the Mattel brand page for the rest of the lineup.

Deal seven, and say it before somebody else does.