by Kris Kennedy

Created on: July 13, 2009   Last Updated: July 28, 2009

UNO Game

People play many card games such as bridge, Bunco and pinochle UNO has become one of the least known party card game, but is a card game functional for a multi-generational group. UNO is a game that has had many adaptions to keep the game attractive to the next generations.

Game Characteristics

A deck of UNO cards has numbered cards in primary colors of green, yellow, red and blue and cards to skip or draw more cards. There are also black wild cards are played no matter what the color and as change agents. The four colors facilitate four players per game but multi tables can play in a competition or more than four players per table. Beyond four players stretches the cards beyond the capability of the game so multi-tables allows for a crowd playing.

Players receive a hand and the remainder of the cards is the play deck, is shuffled, and the first card drawn and turned over. The players place cards on the stack according to the color or number or a black action cards. The players must remain in the same color or the same number. The wild cards are free to change to the advantage of current player. The aim is to have no cards left.

The multi-table game requires that additional rules of scoring the hand left or rules on changing table mates. Players can choose to have winners move to another table and the cards left in the hand can develop the night's winner being the one who wins the most games or a score and the lowest score wins the night.

The game allows playful challenges through placing skip or draw more cards. Many times therapist can explore aggression attitudes through how a person places a game. UNO does provide this option by determination whether a player relies heavily on cards that cause set back to players rather than playing numbered cards. In addition, the therapist can examine the reaction when a player receives one of these cards to whether personal self-esteem allows playful acceptance rather than offense.

Variations

The game has had many variations. Now an electronic game adds an invisible player. In this version, the electronic player can play a wild card and empty a deck on a player. This allows the game to allow the players to be gentle and playful with the machine being the negative player. This version is not as portable for camping trips or on airplanes but adds an unusual variation that might actually add to the enjoyment. You might have one table with this variation at a multi-table tournament.

UNO is a great game for play by multi-generational groups. It has proved to be flexible for fun and therapeutic uses.

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