The Joy of UNO

It's the "#1 Card Game in the World" for a reason.

Perhaps the most nostalgic and historical family heirloom in my home is an old deck of Uno cards.

The cards are fading, the edges are stained, and if you inhale deeply enough, you might still get a slight hint of secondhand smoke from one of the numerous cigarettes that my grandfather smoked in the presence of these cards some 35 years ago.

They were purchased at some point in the 1980s by my maternal grandparents, and I vividly remember their vigorous use with my aunts, uncles, cousins, and parents at many Christmas, Thanksgiving, and Easter gatherings at their house.

This served as my introduction to the game—probably around age 5—sitting on a relative's lap and watching the chaotic, card-drawing-induced violence play out. I watched them weaponize Reverse cards and WILDs and Draw Twos. I watched them scream UNO and throw their final card down in triumphant delight. I learned the joy of the game myself and inherited this particular deck when my grandma moved in with my family years later, where it served me and my brothers for many rounds.

I somehow retained custody of this deck over the years and it now sits on one of the many game shelves in my house. With a copyright date of 1986, this historic deck was until very recently still in its original red and white box with the yellowing paper instructions still intact. Upon closer inspection, I noticed that the UNO offices were located in Joliet, Illinois (now an empty lot), which would have been mere miles from my grandparents’ house in Romeoville! The Chicago area origins of the game got me curious, so I went down a vast rabbit hole about the backstory of UNO’s creation and the crazy path it took toward card game domination. 

The original inventor created the game with some family members and sold it for $50,000 and 10 cents per pack sold. That turns out to be a pretty sweet deal when you invented the #1 Card Game in the World. One of the people he sold the rights to was the owner of a combination funeral parlor/flower shop in Joliet. At just 23 years old, he was an interesting character and took the game to new heights with some clever marketing tactics. He also wound up in prison a couple times. You have to read the whole story of UNO’s creation and then read more about the guy who bought it. This should all be a Hollywood blockbuster.

But back to why UNO is great.

About a year ago, we pulled the deck out to introduce my kids to the game and it has been a wonderful addition to the growing number of card and board games that we play with them.

The game is simple enough that a four-year-old can understand the general rules/gameplay and at least start out on an adult’s team. It’s undeniably fun to watch for younger kids and my four-year-old played for himself, quickly getting into the trash-talking spirit of the game:

Charlie, examining his hand: My favorite time of the season!

Me: What?

Charlie, playing a card: Draw four!

Being that it is an actual card game that adults enjoy, this allows my older kids to play along when we have other adults come over and want to play a game. It’s great to be able to include them and to not have to dumb anything down to allow them to participate.

Then this Christmas we took the next step in our UNO education…

Enter UNO ATTACK.

This year Santa gave our UNO-playing a major upgrade. Over the past few weeks, we have been engaged in endless rounds of UNO ATTACK.

This is not my grandfather’s UNO.

After dealing the cards in the traditional way, you load the deck into this red and black device with a yellow button. Whenever you would normally draw a card, you now press the yellow button and the UNO gods decide how many cards (if any) you should receive. Each press of the button plays a suspense-building tone until someone in the circle finally gets pelted by anywhere from 3 to 8 cards. There are also cards that allow you to decide which of your competitors has to press it.

It is legitimately startling when the cards fly out toward you, and I have played with some people who literally recoil in fear as they push the button. My two-year-old son enjoys “playing” UNO ATTACK with us, which means he sits next to me with his seven cards, alternating between saying “I love this game!” and “That’s fast, Daddy!” whenever the device spits out cards. It’s fun for the whole family!

Other innovations in this version of UNO include a card that allows you to put down all your cards of a single color in one turn and a WILD card that is blank and encourages you to make your own consequence. Our house rule is now that the next person needs to push the yellow button until there are cards flying at them.

I would highly recommend revisiting either of these games as a fun way to spend an evening or enliven a game night party. If you have younger kids (ages 3 and up), UNO is the perfect gateway drug to other more “grown-up” card games and board games.

My wife and I are the board game equivalent of Tiger Moms, so we have found a lot of board games that our kids enjoy playing that also aren’t completely mind-numbing for adults. Stay tuned for a future post on that!

What games do you enjoy playing with your kids? Leave a comment below!

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