‘You can't do that!' — How Uno became the game that brings out everyone's inner tyrant

Yahoo

27-05-2025

Each set of Uno cards that have been produced for more than five decades comes with written rules on how to play the game.
But that doesn't mean everyone who plays Uno plays by the same rules — which has caused plenty of disagreements over the years.
Uno was invented in 1971, and for the past 54 years, friends, family members and lovers have been quarreling over how to play.
Can you play a +4 on a +2 and make the next person draw six? Can you play double cards if they are the same number and color? If you get skipped, can you play a skip on top of it, therefore skipping the person next to you instead?
The drama has been so intense that Uno has entered the chat, posting the original rules on social media.
Still, some people don't buy it ...
Despite the drama of it all, people can't stop playing, and in 2018, the colorful numbers game was inducted into the National Toy Hall of Fame, alongside pinball and the Magic 8 Ball.
Invented by an Ohio barber named Merle Robbins after a dispute with his son over the rules to Crazy Eights, the game has taken many forms since its conception: Uno Elite, Uno Attack, Uno Show 'Em No Mercy, Giant Uno, etc.
It doesn't matter which one is played; tears are still shed.
When the +2 gets played against you for the fifth time, it starts to get personal.
I recently sat down to play the game ('High School Musical' edition) with family members ages 37, 13, 9 and 4. The first argument concerned the number of cards each person receives. Seven or five? The youngest started.
After a reverse card was played, the question was asked if someone who was two turns away could play their reverse card of the same color on top of it, even though it wasn't their turn yet.
'No, that's not how it works,' the 9-year-old said. But the 13-year-old quickly rebutted that: 'Yes, it is. You can stack.'
The 37-year-old agreed that yes, you can stack, but the reverse won't apply to the person whose turn it actually is. The 13-year-old didn't agree with that.
'We all have to agree upon the rules before we proceed,' the 37-year-old said, not even three minutes into the game, followed by the 9-year-old slamming their cards on the table, saying with sass in their tone that they no longer wanted to play.
It seems only natural that the game fosters family hostility, since that's what led to its creation.
When asked how the game affects their own lives, one person told the Deseret News that her boyfriend gets so frustrated playing that they had to stop because she was losing 'attraction' to him.
Another said she liked to play, and is even 'passionate about the rules,' but only 'when it benefits me,' she said. 'I play dirty.'
Ray Adler, vice president and global head of games at Mattel, Uno's owner, told The Wall Street Journal that the game's paradox of rivalry and simplicity is what maintains its popularity.
'Best friends become merciless. Seven-year-olds turn strategic,' he said. 'This is what makes Uno special — universal accessibility meets authentic emotions disguised as family fun.'
If you actually want to know the rules of the original game, you can find them here.
Just don't forget to say, 'Uno!'