BYO Rules! (Uno)

Member Name: Linnyg

Product:	Uno
Date:	19/08/09 (33 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Simple concept, but enduring fun and interest

Disadvantages: None

I can recall many happy hours spent playing uno in the sixth form, with our own progressively complicated made up rules. But before I get onto that the basic idea....

Uno consists of a set of cards in four colours with numbers 0-9 in each colour as well as special action cards. The idea is to get rid of all of your cards first which you do by placing a card from your hand that matches either the colour or number of the top card of the discard pile. If you can't do this you must pick a card from the face down stack. When you are down to one card you must say 'Uno' and if you are able to place this card then you win the round. If you are playing for points then the other players score the remaining cards in their hand at face value, or more for special action cards. The winner would then be the one with the lowest score after a certain time or number of rounds.

The special action cards are where it gets interesting. They allow you to skip the next player, reverse the direction of play, get the next player to pick up cards, or change the colour in play. Use of these can make the game quite mean and cut throat, hence lead to lots of recriminations and laughter!

Before you play you might want to clarify the rules being used as I have found much difference of opinion amongst different people, such as whether you can keep on playing pick up two cards on top of one another, until someone has to pick up 6 or 8 cards.

When we played uno we sometimes play that whenever you won a round you could make up a rule that would apply from then on, such as 'when you reverse the direction you can't speak until the direction is reversed back or you pick up 2 cards', ' 3 can be placed on any number'. As the game went on and more and more rules appeared it got harder and funnier trying to remember them all, as well as seeing who could come up with the best rule.

Uno is a simple game that is easy to play once you have got the hang of what the special action cards do. It can be played with 2, but is better with 3+. It is simple enough for children to play and has enough enduring appeal for adults to play to. It can last as long as you want it to, from one round to hours.

Summary: Give it a go!