Uno (card game)

Uno (stylized as UNO, from the Spanish and Italian for "one") is a proprietary American shedding-type card game. It was created in 1971 by Merle Robbins in Reading, Ohio, a suburb of Cincinnati. The game belongs to the crazy eights family, which itself traces back to the traditional German game of mau-mau. The company that originally marketed Uno, International Inc., was acquired by Mattel on January 23, 1992. Merle Robbins developed the game after his family and friends began playing it more frequently. To fund production, he and his family mortgaged their home to raise $8,000, which paid for 5,000 copies. Robbins initially sold the game from his barbershop, and local businesses later joined in. He eventually sold the rights to a group of friends led by Robert Tezak, a funeral parlor owner in Joliet, Illinois, for $50,000 plus a royalty of 10 cents per game. Tezak founded International Games, Inc., to market Uno, operating out of offices behind his funeral parlor. The games were manufactured by Lewis Saltzman of Saltzman Printers in Maywood, Illinois. In 1992, International Games became part of Mattel. In 2018, Uno was inducted into the National Toy Hall of Fame alongside pinball and the Magic 8 Ball, with The Strong National Museum of Play citing its fast pace, broad age appeal, and lasting cultural impact as a family entertainment staple. For its 50th anniversary in 2021, Mattel launched the inaugural Uno Championship Series, an invitational tournament that ended with 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 $50,000. The goal is to be the first player to get rid of all your cards. Before 2022 rule changes, the official objective was to be the first to reach 500 points across multiple rounds, with players scoring points for cards remaining in opponents' hands after going out. That format remains an optional way to play. The deck contains 108 cards: 25 in each of four color suits (red, yellow, green, blue), with each suit having one zero, two each of numbers 1 through 9, and two each of the action cards "Skip," "Draw Two," and "Reverse." There are also four "Wild" cards and four "Wild Draw Four" cards. Sets made since 2018 include 112 cards, adding one "Wild Shuffle Hands" and three customizable Wild cards. To start a hand, a dealer is chosen by having each player randomly draw a card from the deck; the player with the highest number deals, and all cards are reshuffled. Seven cards are dealt to each player, and the top card of the remaining deck is flipped over to start the discard pile. The player to the dealer's left plays first, unless the first discard is an action or Wild card. On a turn, a player must either play a card matching the discard in color, number, or symbol; play a Wild or Wild Draw Four card (if allowed); or draw the top card from the deck and optionally play it. Cards are played face-up on the discard pile, and play proceeds clockwise. Action and Wild cards have specific effects: a player who draws a card may play it immediately or keep it, but cannot play any other card from their hand that turn. A Wild card can be played on any turn, even if the player has matching cards. A Wild Draw Four card may only be played if the player has no cards matching the current color, though they may have cards of a different color matching the number or symbol, or a Wild card. The next player may challenge a Wild Draw Four play (see penalties). The player who plays a Wild or Wild Draw Four must declare a new matching color before ending their turn. If the draw deck runs out, the top discard is set aside and the rest of the pile is shuffled to form a new deck. Trading cards with other players is illegal. A player who plays their second-to-last card must call "Uno" as a warning. The first player to get rid of their last card wins the hand and scores points for cards held by others: number cards count face value, action cards count 20, and Wild and Wild Draw Four cards count 50. If a Draw Two or Wild Draw Four is played to go out, the next player must draw the appropriate number of cards before scoring. The first player to reach 500 points wins the game. If a player fails to call "Uno" while playing their penultimate card and is caught before the next player takes their turn (by playing a card, drawing, or touching the discard pile), they must draw two cards as a penalty. If not caught in time, or if they remember to call "Uno" before being caught, no penalty applies. When a Wild Draw Four is played, the next player may challenge its use. The player who played it must privately show their hand to the challenger to prove they had no cards of the prior matching color.