Life's a Game 7: Uno

This year we're sharing with you our game of the month. These are all favourites from our collection, or ones we play with our friends.

July's game is Uno.


Uno is a fantastically simple game, but one that has provided us with lots of amusement over the years, particularly when we get together with the same university friends I mentioned here. To play Uno you use a special bright and colourful deck of cards that contains the numbers 0-9 and a set of special features on backgrounds of red, blue, green and yellow. There are also a few cards with a black background that can be played at any time.

The game play is straightforward - everyone is dealt a fixed number of cards and the aim is to be the first to put all your cards down. Each person takes it in turns to place a card on the pile in the centre, and that card must match either the value or the colour of the one before it. If at any point you can't play you pick up another card which puts you further behind. Some of the special cards also force the next player to pick up two or four cards which is definitely to be avoided and the swiftest way of doing so is to play another "+2" card to pass the curse on. These cards will accumulate so woe to the person who finds themselves at the end of a chain of them and has to pick up 6 or 8 cards! 

Other special cards include miss a go's, change direction of play and the ability to dictate what colour the pile becomes next. The intensity with with special cards appear tends to increase as the game goes on, and peaks once someone has declared "UNO" - meaning they have just one card left and should be stopped from playing it at all costs.

While this might not be the game when intricate strategy is what you're after, the rest of the time its good fun and suitable for all.