by Navin Rajendran

Created on: September 12, 2009   Last Updated: September 14, 2009

Uno! The very word evokes such wonderful memories for most people who have enjoyed quality time with their near and dear playing this numero uno card game.

Although the classic version of the game was introduced to the world back in 1971, the innovativeness of the human mind has resulted in different variations over the years. A few notable ones include the awesomely fun 'UNO Attack' with its unpredictable electronic card-dispenser, UNO collector-editions, UNO anniversary editions, UNO-in-a-tin, UNO-in-a-jar, theme-based UNO card-decks (Harry Potter UNO, Barbie UNO, Ferrari UNO, to name a few) and UNO video games for most leading gaming consoles. There is even a FaceBook application by Mattel now, for the internet-savvy!

When my friends and I decide to indulge in the pleasures of this simple but engrossing card game, we play with certain improvised rules... We've always had much more fun that way.

Jump in: This has been one of our favourite rules wherein a player can play out of turn and drop a card from his/her stack if its the exact same (number and color) as the topmost card on the discard pile! It is an improvisation that is now available in various video-game versions of UNO as well. We also allow players to jump in with the 'Draw 2' and 'Draw 4' cards. Imagine having a good set of cards; perhaps you have a 'Draw 2' and are eager to create trouble for the player next to you, or maybe its your last card. You're excited...and waiting for your turn impatiently. All of a sudden, another player drops a card out-of-turn onto the pile and changes the color shouting "Jump!"

Reverse and Skip as defence cards: When one of the players drops a 'Draw 2' or a 'Draw 4', the next player has an option to avoid picking up cards, by dropping a 'Skip' or 'Reverse' of the same colour as a defence card. On 'Skip', the next player has to pick up the cards. On 'Reverse', the direction of play changes and the turn reverts to the previous player who would then need to pick up the required cards or develop a new defence strategy!

Math combos: When the topmost card on the Discard pile is a numbered one, the next player in turn is allowed to dispose two cards from his/ her hand at the same time if they are numbered, of the same colour and the sum of the numbers on each card add up to that on the card in the Discard pile. For example, if the card on the Discard pile is a 'Blue 7', the next player can play a combo move and drop a 'Blue 4' and a 'Blue 3' card at the same time, while announcing the operation "four plus three". For awhile, we had other variations like multiple math combos, like ADD and SUBTRACT, but things quickly got out of hand as players started combos like '8 MINUS 4 PLUS 2 PLUS 1' for a 7 card on the Discard pile.... To keep things simple, we limited the card combos to two.

Scoring: Out of a need that stemmed from laziness actually, we changed the scoring model to a simple one that just had everyone to keep tabs on who in the group would be the 'last one standing' most number of times during the various rounds we played. In other words, the UNO champion (a form of good-natured mockery of course) was the player who found himself or herself most often in the not-so-comfortable situation of not being able to dispose all cards before the other players did.

Regardless of the rules or the medium of play, UNO continues to delight people all over the world. Thank you, Mr. Robbins! :-)

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