Last-card-out — race to empty your hand
UNO works because the rule is so simple: get rid of all your cards. The whole game is reading what's in your hand and what's on top of the pile.
From UNO (simplified).
What it shows a designer
A race where what you hold limits what you can do. It shows hand management, and how one flexible card (the wild) changes every decision around it.
Credits
- Made by
- A cut-down of the colour-or-number matching games, the family Uno belongs to
What you need
- 30 small paper cards — write each with a colour and number (4 colours × 7 cards numbered 1–7, plus 2 wilds)
- a deck pile in the middle
How to play
- Make 30 cards. 30 cards: 4 colours (red/blue/green/yellow), 7 numbered cards each (1–7), plus 2 wilds (any colour).
- Deal 5 to each. Deal 5 cards to each player. Stack the rest face-down in the middle. Flip the top card face-up — that's the start of the discard pile.
- Match colour or number. The youngest goes first, then clockwise. On your turn, play a card matching the top of the discard pile by colour OR number. A wild can be played on anything; say which colour it stands for. If you can't play, draw one card; if it matches, you may play it at once. When the draw pile runs out, shuffle the discard pile, all but its top card, to make a new one.
- Race to empty. The first player to empty their hand wins the round. Play three rounds; whoever wins most rounds wins.
- Notice. Notice how holding wilds for the right moment changes the game. The cards in your hand matter more than the cards you've drawn.
After playing, talk about
- Did you hoard wilds?
- Did you change colour to mess with opponents?
- When did you feel stuck?
Its blocks
Download it as a design (.md)In boardgameBuilder, Open game puts its blocks on the canvas. Changed, the same file can come back here from Propose a game.