Uno is an extremely popular card game like Crazy 8s with some action and wild cards thrown in to increase the fun and strategy.
The game was originally created in 1971 by Merle Robbins a barber in Reading Ohio. Merle sold the rights to a funeral home owner for $50,000 and an ongoing royalty. Eventually Mattel ended up acquiring the game.
Play is simple and fast. You start with a hand of 7 cards. There is a draw pile and a discard pile. You discard a card that has the same color, symbol or number as the top card of the discard pile. If you can’t play or don’t want to play then you draw a card. When you get down to one card in your hand you must shout out “Uno” to let the other players know you are close to going out.
The object is to get rid of all of the cards in your hand first. You score points based on the cards the other players have left. The first player to get to a set number of points (typically 500) wins!
Uno has been produced in 100’s of themes from Hello Kitty to Pirates of the Caribbean to National Parks to WWE.
We played Uno 100’s of times in grade school and again when our kids were that age. Seems like the novelty of the game wears off and we leave it on the shelf for years as we move upwards to other card games and then bring it out to introduce it to the next generation.
The Good: Fast and simple to learn and play.
The Bad: Nothing bad but nothing incredibly awesome either.
The Dastardly: Good entry game for kids to get them started on gaming.