What We All Got Wrong while Playing Uno

When speaking of card games with their own decks, Uno is probably the first that comes to mind. Similar to many games with the conventional deck, Uno has colors (analogs of trades) and numbers, but also wild cards with functions that in usual decks are assigned to certain regular cards. This makes the game more fun, but here’s a slippery spot.

Catch Draw-4

Draw 4 Wild Card is a powerful thing to apply; it makes the one playing next to you draw four cards from the deck. Of course, you are often tempted to use it, preventing the opponent from claiming UNO before you do. And many of us do it as we can.

But here is the trick. Unlike other wild cards, Draw 4 can only be played when you have no other moves. Other players have the privilege of checking your cards if they suppose you are cheating. If you are, you’ll take the card back and draw four cards. But if you aren’t, the one who wanted to check has to draw six cards. That’s the nuance many players completely ignored for decades.

Uno App is at Your Service

Since 2017, Uno has been officially going mobile. Mattel163, the official publisher, is a project by Mattel and NetEase developer. Digital versions of the card or table games are usually short of house rules (except for, maybe, the official Monopoly). But, as it turns out, that’s what saves you from mistakes. In the official Uno app, available both for Android and iOS, the Draw 4 Wild Card isn’t as easy to cheat with.