Section 1: Introduction
UNO is a shedding-type card game for two to ten players. The goal is to be the first to play every card from your hand by matching the card on top of the discard pile by colour, by number, or by symbol. Action cards let you skip, reverse and penalise the players around you, which is what turns a simple matching game into a social one.
The game was designed by Merle Robbins in 1971 and is published by Mattel. Unlike chess, bridge or Scrabble, UNO has no governing body and no sanctioned competitive ruleset — there is no federation issuing law changes or arbitrating tournaments. That is why it is catalogued here as a community entry rather than an official one, even though it is one of the most widely played card games in the world.
What this page is. This is an independent description of how UNO is played, written for reference. It is not a reproduction of Mattel's instruction sheet — the publisher's own rules are linked as the source above, and that sheet is the authority if the two ever disagree. Rules published by different regions and editions vary, and Mattel has periodically clarified points (most publicly, that a Draw Four or Draw Two does not stack onto the next player) that many households still play differently.
Section 2: The Deck
A standard UNO deck contains 108 cards in four colours — red, yellow, green and blue — plus wild cards that belong to no colour.
Number Cards (76)
- One 0 in each colour (4 cards)
- Two each of 1–9 in each colour (72 cards)
Action Cards (24)
- Skip: two per colour — the next player loses their turn
- Reverse: two per colour — play changes direction
- Draw Two: two per colour — the next player draws two cards and is skipped
Wild Cards (8)
- Wild: four cards — the player names the colour that continues play
- Wild Draw Four: four cards — names the colour, and the next player draws four and is skipped
Editions vary. Some retail decks add blank customisable cards, and themed editions substitute their own action cards; count the deck before assuming the distribution above.
Section 3: Setup & Deal
- Each player is dealt seven cards.
- The remaining cards form the draw pile, placed face down.
- The top card of the draw pile is turned over to start the discard pile.
- Play begins with the player to the dealer's left and proceeds clockwise until a Reverse changes direction.
If the First Card Is an Action Card
- Skip: the first player loses their turn.
- Reverse: direction flips, so the dealer plays first.
- Draw Two: the first player draws two and is skipped.
- Wild: the first player chooses the starting colour.
- Wild Draw Four: returned to the deck, which is reshuffled and a new card turned over.
Section 4: Gameplay
On your turn you must play one card that matches the top of the discard pile by colour, by number, or by symbol — or play a wild card, which may be played at any time.
If You Cannot Play
- Draw one card from the draw pile.
- If the drawn card can be played, you may play it immediately.
- If it cannot, play passes to the next player.
Calling "UNO"
When you play your second-to-last card — leaving one card in hand — you must call "UNO". If another player catches you before the next player takes their turn, you draw two cards as a penalty. You cannot be penalised once the next player has begun their turn.
The Wild Draw Four Restriction
A Wild Draw Four may only be played when you hold no card matching the colour currently in play. You may hold matching numbers or symbols and still play it — the restriction is on colour alone.
A player who suspects a Wild Draw Four was played illegally may challenge. The player who played it shows their hand privately to the challenger:
- If the challenge is correct, the player who bluffed draws four instead.
- If the challenge is wrong, the challenger draws six — the original four plus two.
Running Out of Cards to Draw
When the draw pile is exhausted, set aside the top discard, shuffle the rest of the discard pile, and use it as the new draw pile.
Section 5: Scoring & Winning
A hand ends the moment one player has no cards left. That player scores the value of every card still held by the other players.
Card Values
- Number cards (0–9): face value
- Skip, Reverse, Draw Two: 20 points each
- Wild and Wild Draw Four: 50 points each
Play continues hand by hand until a player reaches 500 points, who wins the game.
Many groups instead play a fixed number of hands, or simply treat each hand as its own game and skip scoring entirely — common enough that it is worth agreeing before the first deal.
Section 6: Variants & House Rules
UNO is unusually prone to house rules, and because there is no sanctioning body none of them are "wrong" — they simply are not the published rules. The most common:
- Stacking: answering a Draw Two with another Draw Two so the penalty accumulates. Mattel has stated publicly that stacking is not part of the published rules, yet it may be the most widely played variation in the game.
- Jump-in: any player holding an identical card (same colour and number) may play it out of turn, and play resumes from them.
- Seven-Zero: playing a 7 swaps hands with a chosen player; playing a 0 passes all hands around in the direction of play.
- Draw to match: a player who cannot play keeps drawing until they can, rather than drawing a single card.
- No bluffing: the Wild Draw Four colour restriction is dropped entirely and the card may be played at will.
Agree which variations are in play before dealing. Nearly every UNO argument is a disagreement about which house rules were assumed, not about the published ones.
