Uno (; from Spanish and Italian for 'one'), stylized in all caps as UNO, is a proprietary American shedding-type card game originally developed in 1971 by Merle Robbins in Reading, Ohio, a suburb of Cincinnati, that housed International Inc., a gaming company acquired by Mattel on January 23, 1992.
The game is played with a dedicated deck derived from the crazy eights family of card games which, in turn, is based on the traditional German game of mau-mau.
History
The game was originally developed in 1971 by Merle Robbins in Reading, Ohio, a suburb of Cincinnati. When his family and friends began to play more and more, he and his family mortgaged their home to raise $8,000 to have 5,000 copies of the game made. He sold it from his barbershop at first, and local businesses began to sell it as well. Robbins later sold the rights to Uno to a group of friends headed by Robert Tezak, a funeral parlor owner in Joliet, Illinois, for $50,000 plus royalties of 10 cents per game. Tezak formed International Games, Inc., to market Uno, with offices behind his funeral parlor. The games were produced by Lewis Saltzman of Saltzman Printers in Maywood, Illinois.
In 1992, International Games became part of the Mattel family of companies.
In 2018, Uno was inducted into the National Toy Hall of Fame alongside pinball and the Magic 8 Ball. The Strong National Museum of Play also recognized the game for its fast pacing, wide age appeal, and enduring cultural impact as a staple of family entertainment.
In 2021, to celebrate the game's 50th anniversary, Mattel hosted the inaugural Uno Championship Series. The invitational tournament culminated in a grand finale at the HyperX Esports Arena in Las Vegas on November 11, 2021, where the first official Uno World Champion was crowned and awarded a $50,000 grand prize.
Official rules
The aim of the game is to be the first player to play all of one's own cards. Prior to the 2022 rule changes, the official objective was to be the first player to score 500 points. This was achieved across multiple rounds; players scored points by being the first to play all their cards and received points for the cards still held by the other players. This format remains an optional way to play.
Uno includes 108 cards: 25 in each of four color suits (red, yellow, green, blue), each suit consisting of one zero, two each of 1 through 9, and two each of the action cards "Skip", "Draw Two", and "Reverse". The deck also contains four "Wild" cards and four "Wild Draw Four". Sets manufactured since 2015 include 112 cards, adding one "Wild Swap Hands" (2015–17) or "Wild Shuffle Hands" (since 2017) Wild Card and three customizable Wild cards.
For each hand, a dealer is determined by having each player randomly draw one card from the deck. The player with the highest number card deals, and all cards are reshuffled into the deck to begin the dealing.
To start a hand, seven cards are dealt to each player, and the top card of the remaining deck is flipped over and set aside to begin the discard pile. The player to the dealer's left plays first unless the first card on the discard pile is an action or Wild card (see below). On a player's turn, they must do one of the following: play one card matching the discard in color, number, or symbol play a Wild card or a Wild Draw Four card if allowed to (see restrictions below) draw the top card from the deck and optionally play it if possible
Cards are played by laying them face-up on top of the discard pile. Play initially proceeds clockwise around the table.
Action or Wild cards have the following effects:
Card Effect when played from hand Effect as first discard Skip Next player in sequence misses a turn Player to dealer's left misses a turn Reverse Order of play switches directions (clockwise to counterclockwise, or vice versa) Dealer plays first; play proceeds counterclockwise Draw Two (+2) Next player in sequence draws two cards and misses a turn Player to dealer's left draws two cards and misses a turn Wild Player declares the next color to be matched (may be used on any turn even if the player has any card of matching color) Player to dealer's left declares the first color to be matched and takes the first turn Wild Draw Four Player declares the next color to be matched; next player in sequence draws four cards and misses a turn. May be legally played if the player has no cards of the current color (see Penalties) Card is returned to the deck, then a new card is laid down into the discard pile (deck may be reshuffled first if needed)
A player who draws a card from the deck must choose whether to play that card immediately or keep it. No cards already in their hand may be played on that turn. A Wild card may be played on any turn, even if the player holding it has cards that will match the current color, number, and/or symbol. A Wild Draw Four card may be played only if the player holding it has no cards matching the current color. The player may have cards of a different color matching the current number/symbol or a Wild card and still play the Wild Draw Four card. A player who plays a Wild Draw Four may be challenged by the next player in sequence (see Penalties) to prove that their hand meets this condition. An illegally played Wild Draw Four card incurs no penalty for its user unless challenged. A player using a Wild or Wild Draw Four card must declare the new matching color before ending their turn, and may declare the current color if desired. If the draw deck runs out during play, the discard pile is shuffled to create a new deck. Play then proceeds normally. It is illegal to trade cards of any sort with any other player at any time.
A player who plays their penultimate card must indicate it to the other players by calling out "Uno".Exact wording of the official rules: "When you play your next-to-last card, you must yell 'UNO' (meaning 'one') to indicate that you have only one card left".
The first player to get rid of their last card ("going out") wins the hand and scores points for the cards held by each other player. Number cards count their face value, all action cards count 20, and Wild and Wild Draw Four cards count 50. If a Draw Two or Wild Draw Four card is played to go out, the next player in the sequence must draw the appropriate number of cards before the score is tallied.
The first player to score 500 points wins the game.
Penalties If a player does not call "Uno" while laying down their penultimate card and is caught before the next player in sequence takes their turn (i.e., plays a card from their hand, draws from the deck, or touches the discard pile), they must draw two cards as a penalty. If the player is not caught in time or remembers to call "Uno" before being caught, no penalty applies to that player. If a player plays a Wild Draw Four card, the next player in turn order may choose to challenge its use. The player who used the Wild Draw Four must privately show their hand to the challenging player in order to demonstrate that they had no cards of prior matching color. If the challenge is successful, the challenged player must draw four cards instead and play continues with the challenger. Otherwise, the challenger must draw six cards – the four cards they were already required to draw plus two more cards – and miss their turn. In either case, the Wild Draw Four stays with its chosen color.
Two-player game In a two-player game, the Reverse card acts like a Skip card; when played, the other player misses a turn. This rule is not mentioned in the instruction sheets of modern copies of the game.
House rules The following house rules are suggested in some official Uno instruction sets to alter the game: Progressive or Stacking Uno: If a draw card is played, and the next player in turn order has a card with the same symbol, that player can play that card and "stack" the penalty, which adds to the current penalty and passes it to the next player (although a +4 cannot be stacked on a +2, or vice versa). This house rule is so commonly used that there was widespread Twitter surprise in 2019 when Mattel stated that stacking was not part of the standard rules of Uno. They explicitly clarified that players cannot stack Draw Two (+2) or Wild Draw Four (+4) cards, confirming that stacking is strictly a house rule. Seven-O: Every time a "7" is played, whoever played it must swap hands with another player of their choice before ending their turn. Every time a "0" is played, all players pass their hands to the next player in the current direction of play, after which play continues normally. Jump-In: If a player has exactly the same card (both number and color) as the top card of the discard pile, they may play it immediately, even if it is not their turn. Play then continues as if that player had just taken their turn.
2015 rule changes The two new types of Wild cards have the following functions:
Wild Swap Hands: The player using this card chooses another player with whom they swap cards in their respective hands. Wild Customizable: There are three copies of this; these cards are blank and can have a house rule assigned to them.
Each of these cards can be played on any turn and is worth 40 points when a player goes out.
2017 rule changes Wild Swap Hands was replaced in 2017 by Wild Shuffle Hands; the player using this new card collects all cards held by all players, then shuffles and re-deals them, starting from the player to their left. This card can also be played on any turn and is also worth 40 points when a player goes out.
2022 rule changes The goal to reach a certain number of points has been demoted and replaced with the one commonly used by most players, which is to be the first player to go out. If played for points, each Wild card is worth 50 points regardless of type. There is no longer an official method to determine the dealer. In addition, if the first card flipped at the start of a game is an Action or Wild card, it is ignored and another card is flipped until a number card comes up.
Card and deck styles
Modern Uno action cards bear symbols which denote their action, except for the Wild cards which still bear the word "Wild". Before the design change, such cards in English versions of the game had letters only. Earlier English versions can be recognized by the absence of the white rim that surrounds the edge of most Uno cards.
Other versions of the game use symbols and images in both old and new designs, especially ones with Wild cards that do not bear the word "Wild". There are also language-free versions of the newer styles that do not bear the word "Wild" but have the same styling.
The 2010 "Uno Mod" edition uses symbols instead of letters or numbers.
On September 16, 2017, Mattel released Uno ColorAdd, which was designed specifically for colorblind people.
On October 1, 2019, Mattel released a Braille version of their game with Mark Riccobono, president of the National Federation of the Blind. Riccobono said in a press release, "The fact that a blind person is now able to play a classic game of UNO straight out of the box with both blind and sighted friends or family members is a truly meaningful moment for our community."
The year 2024 saw the introduction of small shapes into the decks for better color blindness accessibility, part of a larger effort by Mattel to make 80% of its game catalog more playable to people in that disability sector. The shapes used are diamonds for yellow, circles for red, squares for blue, and triangles for green.
Special Uno games
Uno Disney and Pixar Toy Story 5 (2026) Uno Pop (2026) Liar's Uno (2025) Uno Golf (Uno Zero in Europe) (2025) Mini Uno Bullseye (2024) Uno Elite (2024) Uno Teams! (2024) Uno Flip Attack (2024) Uno Show 'Em No Mercy (2023) Uno Flex! (2023) Uno Go! (2022) Uno Quatro (2023) Uno Wild Twists (2022) Uno All Wild (2022) Uno Deluxe (2022) Uno Remix (2022) Uno Party! (2022)