Uno

To make Uno (the card game) a lot more fun and fast-paced, try this extra-rule the next time you play:

If you, during the game, have a card identical (same number, same color) to the one just laid, you may jump turns and lay this card, if you can do it before the next card is laid by the next player in line. If you succeed, you have stolen the turn and the player next to you continues the game as usual.

This rule also goes for all the special cards. The draw two and wild draw four cards accumulates when jumping turns like this, so the person next to you will have to draw four cards if you jump turns on a draw two somebody else put down. The skip cards do however not accumulate.

Also, we have the following collaries:

• You may "send on" a draw two or wild draw four, if it's your turn, by laying a card of similar kind. The next person will then have to draw the accumulated number of cards if he can't (or won't) "send on" to the next player.
• Any person who thinks he has to draw one or more cards, and starts doing so, must draw these cards, even if it turns out he didn't have to. This "resets" the accumulated number of drawing cards for the next player.
• If someone does something wrong, stop the game and trace back to where things went astray, and continue from there. No punishment for errors.
• You may jump turns on yourself if you have two identical cards. You must, however, lay them each separately (not both at the same time).
• You may not have a wild card as your last card.
• You may do this: It's your turn, the color is yellow, and you have two yellow fives left. You put the first one down, yell "Uno!", and jump turns on yourself by putting down the second one. You've won!
• If you can't lay a card, you must draw at least one card and you may draw three. Once you've started drawing the person next to you can continue the game, but you may have your turn if you draw a valid card and lay it fast enough.
• If someone says "Uno" too late (after the next card is laid or anyone draws a card), he must draw three cards.
• You may not jump turns on a draw two or wild draw four you've just had to draw cards because of.

Once one person have no cards left, the game stops and the cards the rest of the players have on their hands counts as minus. Wild cards are 50 points, special cards 20, and the number cards count the number of points that the number says.

An example game, the colors are RGBY and special cards skip (S), reverse (R), draw two (+2), wild (W) and wild draw four (W+4). DX indicates the player draws X cards, U means "Uno!". The players are A, B, C, D and E:

A: B3          G+2        WY    BR  RS    R7U                  D1B+2U
B:   B8           R+2             RR    R3     Y7  W+4GU     D8
C:     Y8  GR               WB               R7  Y7     W+4BU              Y+2
D:       YR  GS      R+2      BR      R3                               B+2U
E:                      D6                                           D2

Player C won, since he used all his 7 cards first.

In order for this game to be fun you should be at least 5 players. Playing with two decks of Uno cards is even more fun.

A proposed name for a dimensionless unit equal to the number one, so that very large and very small numbers can be expressed using standard SI prefixes. The symbol would be U. So you would write 3.7 nU for 3.7 x 10^-9.

The Consultative Committee for Units (CCU) proposed it in September 1998, and passed it on to the International Committee for Weights and Measures (CIPM), who accepted other CCU recommendations but decide not to pass this one on to the 1999 General Conference on Weights and Measures (CGPM), who do the actual adopting.

The CIPM asked the CCU to go away and ask some potential users. In 2004 they decided not to go ahead with the uno.

The need for such a symbol to denote numbers has come up before. An earlier proposal was the capital letter I. But as this clashes with the letter l for litre and the numeral 1, it was unsatisfactory. The numeral 1 itself was also proposed.

Mattel® produces the game Uno. A standard Uno deck, with 108 cards, can easily accommodate 2-10 players and is recommended for anyone over the age of six years old.

There are many variations on how the game can be played. The official rules that come with the game give the object as scoring 500 points before anyone else. Points are scored by adding the values of your opponent’s hands once you have rid yourself of all of your cards.

The 108 deck of cards includes the following:

• 19 blue cards numbered 0-9
• 19 green cards numbered 0-9
• 19 red cards numbered 0-9
• 19 yellow cards numbered 0-9
• 2 blue, 2 green, 2 red, and 2 yellow Draw Two cards
• 2 blue, 2 green, 2 red, and 2 yellow Reverse crads
• 2 blue, 2 green, 2 red, and 2 yellow Skip cards
• 4 Wild cards
• 4 Wild Draw Four cards

In a standard game each player is dealt seven cards. For shorter games or to accommodate more players, I have seen 5 cards played instead of seven. The remaining cards are placed face down in the center of the table as a Draw pile. The top card in this pile is flipped over to begin the Discard pile. If the first card is a word card certain rules apply. If it is a Wild Draw Four the card is placed back into the draw pile and a new card is drawn. If it is a Wild Card the player to the left of the dealer names a color and then plays that color. Draw Two Card requires the first player to pick two cards up and not discard. Reverse card as a first card makes the dealer go first, and play continues to the right instead of the traditional left. If the first card is a Skip the player to the left of the dealer misses this turn and the next player to the left begins.

According to the official rules that come with this game, dealer is chosen by having all players draw a card. Word cards (Wild, Skip, Reverse, and Draw Two) do not count. The player with the highest number deals. Player to the left of dealer starts play. This rule is sometimes altered to oldest player deals or youngest player starts. Whoever does go first has to discard one card that matches the color, the number or the word that is on the discard pile. For example, if the top card in a discard pile is a green two the player may discard a two of any color, any green card, or a wild card. When the player has no cards that could be discarded they must pick up a card from the Draw pile. If they can play this card, they are to do so. The rules of what happens if a person can not play this card vary. Mattel’s official rules say that play goes to the next player after one card is drawn. I have seen some people play this game requiring two attempts at drawing, and others require a person to continue to draw cards until they are able to discard, even if this means having to reshuffle the discard pile into a new draw pile in order to continue.

In order to play this game one must know what all the cards mean. The number cards are discarded with no other action associated with them. The word cards are a bit more complicated. Draw two cards require the player who’s turn it is after the person who discarded the card to draw two cards and not discard on that round. Reverse cards reverse the direction of play from clockwise to counterclockwise and vice versa with each discarded Reverse. In two player games Reverse cards are the same as Skip cards. Skip cards make the next player lose a turn. Wild Card’s can be played on any card of any color or any denomination. The person who plays the wild card names a color as they discard it and play continues with the next player having to play any card of the color named or a wild or wild draw four card. The rules for the Wild Draw Four card vary slightly but what happens once it’s played do not generally change. It, like the wild, can be played on ANY card, and the person playing names the new color. The next player however has to draw four cards and loses their turn. The variation comes in that Wild Draw Four cards can only be used, according to the official rules, when you do not have a card in your hand that matches the COLOR of the previous card in the discard pile. These rules do allow you to use the Wild Draw Four if you have the same number/word as long as it is a different color. Some people play this game with the rule that you must have NO card that can be played in your hand to use the Wild Draw Four. Others allow use of the Wild Draw Four at any time.

The name of the game comes from the rule which requires a person to yell “Uno” when they have only one card left in their hand. This must be done as soon as the second to last card hits the discard pile. If not said immediately another player can say it, requiring you to pick up two additional cards from the draw pile. This rule is known to cause many heated arguments over who said “Uno” first. It has even, on rare occasions, led to blood being spilt. Officially, once the next player begins their turn the player with one card can no longer receive penalty if they were not already caught for not saying “Uno”

When one player discards their final card the hand is over. Points are then scored and cards are dealt again. If the last card played is a Draw Two, or a Wild Draw Four the next player must still draw those cards for the purpose of scoring.

One form of scoring is the winning player gets points for each card in their opponents hands. Another way of scoring is by keeping a tally of the points in your own hand at the end of each hand. In the first variation of scoring the first player to reach the set amount (usually set at 500 points) wins. In the second variation the player with the lowest score when a player reaches the set amount wins, or having players eliminated as they reach the amount, and the last person who has not reached the set points win.