How to Play UNO

What you need

• A UNO deck (the app handles this automatically — 108 cards in light mode, 144 cards in dark mode)
• 2 to 10 players
• About 10–20 minutes

Goal of the game

Be the first player to play every card from your hand. The starting hand size is 7 cards per player.

The deck

UNO cards come in four colors: Red, Yellow, Green, and Blue. (Dark mode adds four more: Orange, Pink, Purple, and Teal.)

Number cards

Each color has cards numbered 0–9 (with two of each number except 0).

Action cards (in each color)

• Skip — Next player loses their turn
• Reverse — Turn order changes direction
• Draw Two (+2) — Next player draws 2 cards and loses their turn

Wild cards

• Wild — Lets you choose the next color
• Wild Draw Four (+4) — Next player draws 4 cards, loses their turn, and you choose the color

The deal

Each player gets 7 cards. The remaining cards form the draw pile, and the top card is flipped to start the discard pile.

If the first flipped card is a Wild Draw Four, it's reshuffled. If it's any other action card, its effect applies to the first player.

How a turn works

On your turn, do one of these:

1. Play a matching card — match the top of the discard pile by color, number, or symbol.
2. Play a Wild card — you can play it any time and choose the new color.
3. Draw a card — if you can't or don't want to play. If the drawn card can be played, you may play it immediately.

Matching examples

• If the top card is Red 7, you can play any Red card, any 7 (of any color), or a Wild.
• If the top card is Green Skip, you can play any Green card, any other Skip, or a Wild.
• If a player chose Blue with a Wild, you must play a Blue card, a Wild, or draw.

Action card effects

Skip

The next player loses their turn. Play passes to the player after them.

Reverse

Turn order reverses (clockwise becomes counter-clockwise, and vice versa). In a 2-player game, Reverse acts like a Skip.

Draw Two (+2)

The next player must draw 2 cards and loses their turn — unless they can stack (see below).

Wild Draw Four (+4)

The next player draws 4 cards and loses their turn. The player who played the Wild Draw Four chooses the new color.

Official rule: you may only play a Wild Draw Four if you have no card of the current color in your hand. The app does not enforce this strictly — players can stack as part of house rules.

Stacking Draw cards

If a Draw Two is played against you, you can stack another Draw Two of your own — the next player draws 4 instead of 2. The chain continues until someone can't (or chooses not to) stack, and that player draws the total.

Wild Draw Fours can be stacked on Wild Draw Fours similarly. Light Draw cards stack on light Draw cards; Wild Draw cards stack on Wild Draw cards (configurable in the app's house rules).

Calling UNO

When you have one card left, you must call UNO by tapping the UNO button. If another player catches you not calling, you must draw 2 penalty cards.

In the app, you have a short grace window to tap UNO after playing your second-to-last card before opponents can call you out.

Winning the round

The first player to play their last card wins the round. (Note: you can't end the game on a Wild Draw Four if the opponent challenges and you weren't legitimately wild — but the app handles edge cases automatically.)

Variants supported in the app

Light Mode (classic)

4 colors (Red, Yellow, Green, Blue), 108 cards. The classic UNO experience.

Dark Mode

8 colors (4 light + Orange, Pink, Purple, Teal), 144 cards. New action cards include:

• Skip Everyone (dark Skip) — all other players lose their next turn
• Draw Five (dark Draw One) — next player draws 5 cards
• Wild Color Roulette — random new color is chosen
• Buzzer — special chaos card

No Mercy Mode

Optional brutal variant: extra copies of every card in the deck, no leniency on stacking. Games are longer and more chaotic.

Player count

Online: 2–10 players. Offline: 1 v bot (Easy / Medium / Hard).

Tips for screen reader users

• Every card in your hand reads as "Color Number" or "Color Action" (e.g. "Blue 7", "Red Skip", "Wild Draw Four").
• The top of the discard pile is announced before every one of your turns.
• When you play a Wild, the color picker speaks each option aloud — tap to confirm.
• The UNO call button is a dedicated, easy-to-find button on your turn when you're down to two cards.
• Penalty draws are announced with the count ("Draw 4! You drew 4 cards.").