1How many cards are in an UNO deck
Mattel's current instruction sheet lists 112 cards. The four colors are red, yellow, green and blue, and each color has 25 cards: one 0, two each of 1 through 9, and two each of Skip, Reverse and Draw Two. That accounts for 100 cards. The other 12 are black wild cards with no color of their own.
The change from 108 to 112 came with sets made from 2018 on, which added one Wild Shuffle Hands and three Wild Customizable cards. If your box has 108 cards, it is an older deck and simply lacks those four. It plays the same way.
Because each color has only one 0, there are 4 zeros in the deck and 8 of every other number. That matters when you are trying to guess whether anyone can still follow a number.
| Card | Count | Per color | Points |
|---|---|---|---|
| 0 | 4 | 1 | 0 |
| 1 through 9 | 72 (8 of each number) | 2 of each | Face value |
| Skip | 8 | 2 | 20 |
| Reverse | 8 | 2 | 20 |
| Draw Two | 8 | 2 | 20 |
| Wild | 4 | none | 50 |
| Wild Draw 4 | 4 | none | 50 |
| Wild Shuffle Hands | 1 | none | 50 |
| Wild Customizable (blank) | 3 | none | 50 |
| Total | 112 | 25 colored cards each |
2Reverse, Skip and Draw Two
These three are the colored action cards. Like number cards, they must match the top of the discard pile by color or by symbol, so a blue Reverse goes on any blue card or on any other Reverse.
Reverse flips the direction of play. If play was going clockwise, it now goes counterclockwise, and the player who just went before you is suddenly next. Skip makes the next player lose their turn. Draw Two makes the next player draw 2 cards and lose their turn, so they cannot play anything at all.
With only two players, a Reverse works like a Skip. Your opponent misses their turn and you play again right away. Mattel's 30th Anniversary sheet spells this out and applies the same idea to Skip and Draw cards: after your opponent draws, play comes straight back to you. The current 112-card sheet leaves the two-player case out, so the anniversary rule is the one to follow.
3Wild and Wild Draw 4
A Wild matches anything. You can play it on any card, even when you hold other cards you could play, and you name the color that play continues in. You may name the color that is already showing.
A Wild Draw 4 also lets you name the color, and the next player draws 4 cards and loses their turn. The catch is when you may play it: only when you have no card in your hand that matches the color of the discard pile. Holding a card with a matching number or symbol does not stop you. Only the color counts.
The next player may challenge you instead of drawing. You then show your hand to the challenger privately. If you had a card of the matching color, you played it illegally and you draw the 4 cards instead. If you did not, the challenger draws 6 cards (the 4 plus 2 more) and loses their turn. Challenging is a gamble with a 2-card price, so save it for times when you have good reason to think the player was holding the color.
- Wild: play any time, name any color.
- Wild Draw 4: play only if no card in your hand matches the discard pile's color.
- Illegal Wild Draw 4, successfully challenged: you draw 4.
- Legal Wild Draw 4, wrongly challenged: the challenger draws 6 and loses their turn.
4Wild Shuffle Hands and the customizable Wilds
Wild Shuffle Hands is a wild card, so you can play it on anything and you name the color. When you play it, every player hands over their entire hand. You shuffle all of those cards together and deal them out one at a time, starting with the player on your left, until none are left. Players can end up with more or fewer cards than they had. Play then continues in the same direction.
The best time to play it is when you are holding a big hand and someone else is down to one or two cards. Their near-empty hand disappears into the shuffle, and your pile gets spread around the table.
The three Wild Customizable cards come blank. Before the game starts, you can write your own rule on them in pencil. During play, each one works as a wild card that matches anything, and after it is played you follow whatever rule is written on it. Pencil lets you erase and try a different rule next time. Keep the rule short and settle it before the deal, for example "everyone passes one card to the left." Whatever you write, the card still counts as a wild for matching and is worth 50 at the end of a round.
5UNO card point values
Only the player who goes out scores in a round. They add up the cards left in every other player's hand. Number cards are worth their face value, so a 0 is worth nothing and a 9 is worth 9. Every colored action card is worth 20 and every wild card, including Wild Shuffle Hands and the blank Wilds, is worth 50. The first player to reach 500 points wins the game.
The point values explain why experienced players get rid of wilds before the end. A single Wild Draw 4 left in your hand gives the winner 50 points, more than five 9s would. If you go out on a Draw Two or Wild Draw 4, the next player still draws the cards, and they count in your total.
6Stacking: the official rule and the house rule
Official rule: no stacking. When a Draw Two is played on you, you draw 2 and lose your turn. You cannot put down your own Draw Two to push 4 cards onto the next player. The official UNO account said so directly on May 4, 2019: "If someone puts down a +4 card, you must draw 4 and your turn is skipped. You can't put down a +2 to make the next person Draw 6." Mattel's basic sheet does let a Draw Two be played on another Draw Two, but by then the player hit by the first one has already drawn and been skipped, so nothing adds up.
House rule: stacking is so common that the 2019 post surprised a lot of people. In the usual version, a player hit with a Draw Two may play another Draw Two, and the penalty grows by 2 and passes along. The first player who cannot or will not add a card draws the whole total. Groups disagree on the details, so settle them before the first deal: whether a Wild Draw 4 can go on a Draw Two, whether a Draw Two can go on a Wild Draw 4, and whether Draw Fours can stack on each other. Stacking makes rounds swing hard, and it can bury a young player under a dozen cards.
7What happens when an action card starts the pile
Current Mattel rules say that if the first card turned up to start the discard pile is an action card or wild, you ignore it and turn over the next card, until a number card shows. Older instruction sheets had the first card take effect instead. A Skip skipped the player to the dealer's left, a Draw Two made that player draw 2 and miss the turn, a Reverse let the dealer play first with play moving to the right, a Wild let the first player pick the color, and a Wild Draw 4 went back into the deck. Either way works if everyone agrees, but the current sheet uses the simpler version.
8Worked examples
A Wild Draw 4 challenge
Discard pile: green 6. Maria holds a green 2, a red 6, a blue Skip and a Wild Draw 4.
- Maria plays her Wild Draw 4 and names red.
- Jake thinks she could have followed green, so he challenges instead of drawing.
- Maria shows Jake her hand. She has the green 2, which matches the color of the green 6.
- Her play was illegal, so Maria draws the 4 cards and Jake draws nothing.
Maria draws 4
The same challenge, played legally
Discard pile: green 6. Maria holds a red 6, a blue Skip and a Wild Draw 4.
- Maria plays her Wild Draw 4 and names red.
- Jake challenges.
- Maria's red 6 matches the number but not the color, and she has no green card. The play was legal.
- Jake draws 4 plus 2 more and loses his turn.
Jake draws 6
Reverse in a two-player game
Two players. Discard pile: yellow 3. You hold a yellow Reverse and a yellow 8.
- You play the yellow Reverse. With two players, it acts as a Skip.
- Your opponent loses their turn, and play comes back to you.
- You play the yellow 8 and are left with no cards.
You go out in one turn
Scoring a round
You go out. Player 2 holds red 7, blue Skip, Wild Shuffle Hands, green 0. Player 3 holds yellow 9, Wild Draw 4, red Reverse.
- Player 2: 7 + 20 + 50 + 0 = 77.
- Player 3: 9 + 50 + 20 = 79.
- Add both hands: 77 + 79 = 156, all scored by you.
156 points
Questions people ask
- How many cards are in UNO?
- A current UNO deck has 112 cards: 76 number cards, 8 each of Skip, Reverse and Draw Two, 4 Wilds, 4 Wild Draw 4s, 1 Wild Shuffle Hands and 3 blank customizable Wilds. Decks made before 2018 have 108 cards, without the last four. Each player is dealt 7 cards.
- What does a Reverse card do in UNO?
- Reverse switches the direction of play, so clockwise becomes counterclockwise and the player who went before you goes next. In a two-player game it acts like a Skip: your opponent misses a turn and you play again.
- Can you stack Draw 2 and Draw 4 cards in UNO?
- Not under the official rules. If a Draw Two or Wild Draw 4 is played on you, you draw and lose your turn. Mattel's UNO account confirmed this in May 2019. Stacking is a very popular house rule, so agree on it before you start.
- When can you play a Wild Draw 4?
- Only when you have no card in your hand that matches the color on the discard pile. A matching number or symbol does not count. If you are challenged and had a matching color, you draw the 4. If you played it legally, the challenger draws 6.
- How many points is each UNO card worth?
- Number cards are worth face value, from 0 to 9. Skip, Reverse and Draw Two are worth 20 each. Every wild card, including Wild Draw 4, Wild Shuffle Hands and the blank Wilds, is worth 50. The first player to 500 wins.
- What does the Wild Shuffle Hands card do?
- It is a wild card, so you name the color. Then everyone's hands are collected, shuffled together and dealt out one at a time, starting with the player on your left, until all are gone. Play continues in the same direction.
UNO is a trademark of Mattel, Inc.
Sources
Checked by Morgan Hale against the sources below. Last reviewed September 28, 2026.
- UNO instructions (W2087, 112 cards), Mattel. Read September 29, 2026.
- UNO 30th Anniversary Edition instructions, Mattel. Read September 29, 2026.
- Uno (card game), Wikipedia. Read September 29, 2026.
- UNO Confirms You Can't Stack +4 or +2 Cards, Hypebeast. Read September 29, 2026.