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| Picture Source: http://mat.imageg.net/cms_widgets/42/36/423690_assets/Family_UNO.png |
Since my group of friends and I were a little slow at organizing ourselves we recieved the game Uno, not that I minded one bit since I have never played before (Yes, I'm serious. I had never played Uno before yesterday, growing up in an Italian family, playing Italian card games like Scopa and Briscola will do that to you), and it was such a fun experience especially since I was playing with such great group of friends, who made sure to teach me the rules before we started playing.
For anyone who like me (well until yesterday) has never played Uno before here is a quick overview of the rules and history of Uno.
Uno in an American Card developed in 1971 by Merle Robbins which is played with a set specially printed cards. The goal of the game is to be the first one to get rid of all your cards, and is very similar to the game Crazy Eights because of it's general principles.
Uno is designed as multiplayer game for 2-10 players that slightly resembles the game play of Crazy Eights. The game has a series of rules and penalties that are relatively easy to learn and remember, however there are some variations. Even though this game is not complicating to play and learn, and it's similar game play to that of Crazy Eights, it took my group of 8 people well over half an hour to play the game and we still had two people playing when we had to end. In order to determine who of the two won, both players rolled one of Peter's dice (he gotten rid of his cards early on in the game, and as for why he had dice, i'm not really sure).
The basic outline of the rules of Uno is, you must get rid of all the cards in your hand by matching either the number or colour of the card to the exposed card. Each player has a set of seven cards handed to them at the start of the game by the dealer, which can be choosen by drawing lots or by some other method (Our group chosose the dealer based on who could shuffle the cards the fastest). The deck consists of 108 cards divided in four colours; red, blue, green and yellow. Each card is either ranked as a number card, or an effect card. Each effect card has a unique purpose which really improves gameplay and can make it quite challenging to clear your cards if your opponent knows how to use them for their advantage. An example of some Uno cards can be seen below, top row from left to right (red, yellow and green number card, blue effect card, pick up 2) and bottem row from left to right (yellow effect card, reverse, green effect card, turn skip, and the two wild effect cards). A complete explanation of the rules and penalties are available here.
| Picture Source: http://a_pollett.tripod.com/cards4b.htm |
Major Observations about the Game
Things I really enjoyed about Uno
- It's Multiplayer. As much as I enjoy single player games like Uncharted and Pokemon, let's face multiplayer games are where it's at for me. I love the fact that this game is designed to have up to 10 players, especially since most multiplayer games I know only allow for 4. Now if you have 5 friends you can easily play this game with someone feeling left out or having to alternate turns with another player.
- Easy to learn. The rules of Uno are really easy to learn and remember since they are not overly complicated. There are some variations for different versions of the game, but essentially all the variations of the rules are simple and easy to understand for first time players.
- There is a theme pack for everyone. While my friends and I played the regular, standard Uno, there are a wide variety of theme packs that can please almost any consumer, from young kids with the Bob the Builder and Barbie Editions to teens and adults with the Doctor Who and Star Trek editions. There are even editions that will satisfy Anime, Superhero/ Comic book, Sports and Gaming fan's interests.
Example of Doctor Who Theme Pack: - You can mess with other players. I know it sounds mean at first but once you start playing it's just so much fun to play an effect card and force the player next to you to miss a turn or pick up cards, especially if they are about to win. To me the effect cards are an excellent aspect of the game because it sort of helps those of us who suffer from bad luck and always get the worse cards. Not only that it adds a unique element to the game play as well the element of surprise because you never know who is going to shake up the game by throwing a reverse card.
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| Picture Source: http://merchandise.thedoctorwhosite.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/games-uno.jpg |
Things I didn't enjoyed about this game, because you can't please everyone
- It's hard to end. Now while my group of 8 players had so much fun clearing our cards and forcing others to pick up more, I noticed something when we got to the last two players who still hadn't gotten rid of all their cards. When only two people are playing Uno it's quite difficult to get rid of all your cards without having to draw from the deck, as our dear friend Keerthana found out yesterday. Both of the remaining players kept having to pick up cards because they had no cards they could play, and this went on for quite awhile before we finally decided to have them roll dice to see who wins between them (we decided whoever got the highest number wins).
- There is a points system. Now in the official rule of Uno to win you need to be the first one to score 500 points, which in my opinion is just silly. These points are based on the cards left in your opponent's hand, which means you are going to need a pen and paper to keep track of score. Personally I dont like this aspect of the game and i'm glad my friends and I didn't play with this rule (either they forgot about it, never where taught this rule or they just didn't want to use is, I will never know). I feel that it can take away the fun of this game especially if you are playing in a large group, because if someone gets rid of all their cards you have to stop the game to figure out their points, which I know I would get really tired of very quickly while playing.
One thing I would have designed differently about the game
Obviously I would have something I would have changed since I had things that I disliked. Personally the one thing I would have designed differently was the one thing that my group didn't play with...The Point System
Right now they way for a player to win Uno is to be the first player to score 500 points, which are scored by getting rid of all the cards in your hand before your opponent(s). Ponits are awarded based on the cards left in your oppenents hands, and each card has a different value which can make the game more complicated when adding up the points.
As it right now it would take forever for players to finish the game if they play by the points system. Now dont get me wrong I'm not completely against having a point system in a card or board game, since some of my favourite Italian card games, such as Scopa and Briscola, use a point system. However the way the point system in those games and the one in Uno are implemented very differently, which is the reason why this system works in those games.
If I could I would either change the point system to be simplier and more user friendly to Uno players or just simply remove it all together, since my group had tons of fun playing this game without the points rule. To make the points rule more simple, I would change it to whoever glears the cards in their hands the fastest would recieve a certain amount of points based on the number of players, so for example if there were 5 players the one who got rid of their cards first would recieve 5 points. I feel this is a much simplier way of playing Uno with a points system rather than the current system especially since all the effect cards have different values and can get a little confusing to remember them all.
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| Picture Source: http://www.louisgray.com/graphics/uno_400_d.jpg |
This is simply my experience and opinions regarding this game and is one way of looking at the game. I'm not going to say that it is the only way of looking at it, since everyone experiences things differently. If anyone reading this has a different opinion or has found something they liked or disliked about this game which I didn't mention (either because I simply didn't notice it or I didn't really form an opinion about it) please share it. I would love to hear about others experience with this game, and even if you had the same experience as me let me know so we can rant about it together.
IF YOU ARE INTERESTED:
Here are some links to some of the sources I used to research this game, they can provide more information if you are interested in learning more.
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