One of the articles that will be included in the next PORTABLE WARGAME COMPENDIUM uses cards from the UNO game for a card-driven unit activation mechanism, and as I’ve never played the game, I bought a copy.
The deck includes 112 cards, and looks like this:
As you can see, it has twenty-five cards in each of four colour suits (red, yellow, green, and blue). Each suit consisting of one zero, two each of one to nine, and two each of the action cards 'Skip', 'Draw Two', and 'Reverse'. The deck also includes four 'Wild Cards', four 'Wild Draw Four' cards, one 'Wild Shuffle Hand' card, and three 'Wild Customizable' cards.
The cards used in the mechanism included the following ones:
The cards used included those numbered from one to nine in each of the four colours, the Draw Two card (shown on the bottom row with '+2' on it), and the Wild Card (shown on the right-hand side of the bottom row).
A game my family fell in love with whilst on holiday in Austria, where it is very popular with our friends there.
ReplyDeleteSteve J.,
DeleteIt certainly looks as if it is an interesting game. All I have to do now is to persuade my wife to try playing it with me!
All the best,
Bob
We used to play it after family dinners many years ago. It was always quite fun.
DeleteBrent,
DeleteI’m amazed that I’ve never played this game!
All the best,
Bob
My kids copy of UNO might mysteriously disappear from the Family Games Cupboard
ReplyDeleteGeordie an Exiled FoG,
DeleteWell, I won't tell them if you don't!
All the best,
Bob
A great game in its own right. I have used it for ages as a play test deck until I am build a custom deck once happy with the results.
DeleteLooking forward to the next book.
WEK3,
DeleteI’m looking forward to trying it. As to the next book … we’ll, I’m going to write a blog post for tomorrow about the progress I’ve made so far.
All the best,
Bob
Like Steve, we had this as a standard game with our kids for years, and even play it occasionally now, if one of them has a burst of nostalgia and suggests a "games night"! I used to play it myself fifty years ago, just using a standard pack, a two meant next player picks up two cards, eight miss a turn etc!
ReplyDeleteRross,
DeleteThis game seems to have passed me by … and I come from a family of card-players who would have loved it!
All the best,
Bob
Its a great card game Bob, in fact I bought myself a pack after playing it with my grandchildren. There are several other versions including a one that is especially spiteful. Recommended.
ReplyDeleteIndependentwargamesgroup,
DeleteI just cannot understand how I’ve managed to live to my advanced age without playing this game!
All the best,
Bob
Yes, it's a very popular game; played it a month ago, with my 5 and 7 year old grandsons being perfectly able to play. It's basically a variation on "Crazy 8's", where the 8;'s are wild , and Ace's reverse the direction of play. There are many other rules variants as in Uno for skipping, forced card draw, etc.
ReplyDeleteGonsalvo,
DeleteI’m beginning to realise that I’ve been missing out by not playing UNO!
All the best,
Bob
I must admit i did borrow, honestly my daughters Uno cards to play test this. I did get her a new set. The activation method can be almost as frustrating as the game itself. It dose lend itself to some very tactical thinking when the number of unit's you can activate are limited.
ReplyDeleteCheers Steve
Stephen Smith,
DeleteI’m sure that your daughters didn’t resent you replacing their old set of UNO cards with a new one!
I need to try the system out in a real wargame, but I can see why it could be very frustrating and unpredictable … which is something that I like in an activation system.
All the best,
Bob
I've never used a UNO deck (though my son and I had fun with it when he was little) but I find I am using ordinary playing card decks more and more often.
ReplyDeleteI've used one most recently to make a game based on the four phases of an urban battle, referencing David Burden's recent Nuggetoid "Urban Battles That Weren't", and another on airline deregulation that could work for any kind of duelling organization setting.
Hurray for the "Devil's Picture Book"!
Brian Train,
DeleteI’ve used normal playing cards a lot over recent years for both unit activation during games and for my solo campaigns. I have never played UNO, but I want to explore their possibilities as an alternative to conventional playing cards.
I am always on the lookout for game components that can be adapted for use in wargames, and often find myself wandering around the games sections of toy shops and larger newsagents such as WHSmith just in case something grabs my attention.
All the best,
Bob