Grand Uno

You may find the many rules confusing at first, but we found that new players picked them up quickly and were usually comfortable after a session or two of play. You should be familiar with the regular Uno rules before trying Grand Uno.

Materials

Terminology

A draw pile is a set of face-down cards from which a player may take a card whenever they must draw. These are usually the cards left over from the deal but are also replenished when used up by turning over and shuffling most of the cards in the discard piles.

A discard pile is a set of face-up cards to which cards are played.

The active player is the player whose turn it is to play a card. On a turn, a player may place one or more cards on a discard pile according to the rules. If a player cannot or does not do that, they must instead draw one card. After drawing a card, the player may place that card, alone or with others, on a discard pile, if such play conforms to the rules governing the play of cards on discard piles.

Wild cards are only the cards marked Wild; this term does not include Wild Draw Four cards.

Set Up

Deal: Put the salt shaker in the middle of the table (no player owns it as the game begins) and the pepper shaker in front of the dealer. Deal each player seven cards, as in regular Uno. Split the deck into two halves and put them face-down in the center of the table. These form the draw piles. (All draws may be taken from either draw pile, so having two draw piles has no effect on the play of the game. However, this is a pleasing arrangement given the other rule changes.)

First Discard Pile: The dealer takes a card from a draw pile and places it face-up, forming the first discard pile. Action now occurs as if the dealer were the active player and had played this card. For example, if the card is a Draw Two, the player to the dealer's left must draw two cards and the succeeding player becomes the active player.

First Play and Second Pile: The active player takes their turn. Then the dealer turns a second card face-up to start a second discard pile. Again, action now occurs as if the dealer were the active player (except that the active player does not actually change unless the turned-up card directs it). From this point on, each player may play to either discard pile.

Basic Rules

Grand Uno begins with the regular Uno rules, which govern turn order, scoring, and so on. Those rules are in effect except as amended herein.

Use Either Discard Pile: In general, a player may play to either discard pile which they can match in either color, number, or word phrase. (Exception: See rule about Wild Draw Four cards below.)

Having two discard piles adds some strategy. When one player has Uno, the other players should try to make both discard piles the same color, to reduce the opportunities offered to the leading player. Having two piles also adds a bit of persistence to one's actions, making it harder for the other players to cover up one's changes. For example, a player might play a Wild card, call it red, and find the pile still red when their turn comes around again, when in the ordinary Uno game the pile might well have been changed. This persistence is also useful with our other rules, where cards of the same type have a cumulative effect.

Permitted Plays: In addition to matching cards by phrase, color, or number, a number card can be matched by a set of number cards all of one color which add up to the number on the discard pile. For example, a player may play a blue Zero, a blue Three, and a blue Six on top of a red Nine on a discard pile. The order of the cards is significant; any special actions of the cards are taken in the order the cards are placed on the discard pile, from bottom up. Each card takes effect in turn, as if it had been played singly, until all cards are accounted for. Cumulative effects occur multiple times, as each card lends its own effect and then accumulates with the cards above it. Consequential actions affect only one card at a time.

For example, suppose a pair of One cards had been played, and the active player indicated a single player to draw both the first card for the first One and the next two cards for the second One. That other player could use a Wild card to cancel either the first draw of one card or the second draw of two cards, but not both.

Wild cards may be played on any turn. Wild Draw Four cards may be played only if the player does not have a card in their hand whose color matches the color of the top card of either discard pile.

Drawing: When a player is required to draw a card, they may draw from either draw pile. This applies only to draws and not to times when a player must take a card from another player. In addition, when a player is required to draw because of a Draw Two or Wild Draw Four, the player may draw from the top of the discard pile which does not contain the card forcing them to draw. No examination of cards underneath the top card is permitted until the player has decided to draw the top card. Cards may be drawn in any order and quantity from the discard pile and either draw pile, as the player desires, and the player may examine the drawn cards before deciding from where to draw the next card.

Only Draw Two and Wild Draw Four cards cause the succeeding player to draw and lose their turn. Zero and One cards force draws but do not alter the progression of play.

Exhausting a Discard Pile: The drawing player may take the last card in a discard pile. If the player has not drawn the required number of cards, they continue drawing from a draw pile. When drawing is completed, the player turns over a card from a draw pile to reform the depleted discard pile. Action now occurs as if the drawing player had played this card as the active player.

Game End, Going Out: The game ends when a turn has ended and one or more players have no cards. A turn does not end until all consequential action has ceased, including draw cards, penalties, passing Sevens and Nines, and backfiring draws.

The player who goes out in the first game is required to keep score for succeeding games of the set. The player with the pepper shaker is the dealer for the next game.

Declaring Uno: A player who reaches Uno (possession of a single card) is required to call Uno before removing their hand from their penultimate card. If a player should fail to declare Uno, any other player may challenge them until such time as the player actually declares Uno, goes out, or gains another card. The player who is so caught must draw two cards.

It is possible for a player to reach Uno (possession of a single card) through the action of another player using a Four to take a card. This is called discovered Uno. The player is still required to declare Uno, but it may be done without challenge anytime before the current play is completed and the next player touches a card to the discard pile or touches a draw pile. In addition, the penalty for failure to declare a discovered Uno is only one card.

Accumulation

Many cards have a cumulative effect. When a card is placed on a discard pile immediately on top of one or more cards with the same number or phrase, the effects of all the cards add up.

For Draw Two and Wild Draw Four cards, the number of cards to be drawn is added up and the player to whom the draw card was played must draw that number of cards. For example, if a Draw Two card is played on a Wild Draw Four card, the next player is required to draw six cards.

When multiple Skip cards are played, additional players are skipped. For example, when a Skip is played, one player is skipped. When another player places a second Skip on the first Skip, two players are skipped at that time. If a third Skip is played in a four-player game, all three other players are skipped and the active player gets an extra turn.

The accumulation effects of other cards are discussed below with the special rules for those cards.

Interruptions to Normal Play

Note that a Wild card backfires the drawing of all cards required by the play of a single card. Suppose the active player had played a fourth One card and were naming players to draw cards, as described below. If the active player named another player to draw a card twice, that player could play a single Wild card to backfire both draws. On the other hand, if two red One cards had been played in a single play (because they added up to two or more to match the number of the card previously on the discard pile), the draws permitted by those One cards are separate, and a Wild card only cancels the effect of one of those One cards.

Calling Color of Wild Cards: If a player plays a Wild card, in normal play or in the process of backfiring a draw, they should call the color of the Wild card before removing their hand from the card. If a player removes their hand before specifying the color, any player may call the color; the first color called becomes the color of the Wild card.

Recovering a Reverse: When a Reverse card is played, the player who would otherwise have been the next active playe may place a Reverse card of their own on the played Reverse card. This cancels the Reverse and recovers the play. The recovering player is then the active player and takes their turn normally. Play proceeds in the same direction as if neither Reverse had been played.

Pot of Gold at End of Rainbow: When a player collects four cards of the same phrase or number, one of each color, they may distribute the cards to at least two other players in any way. All four of the cards must be given away, and this must be done (or forfeited) as soon as the player receives the card that completes the set of four, interrupting any other game play. One Wild card may be used in place of a missing card in an incomplete set, and it also must be given away.

Run For It: When a player collects a straight run of cards of a single color, the run being equal in length to the number of players, the player may immediately distribute all of those cards to two or more other players. This must be done immediately or not at all. Wild cards may be used as in Rainbows.

Rules For Specific Cards

Seven, Eight, Nine, Do-se-do

Ab-Eight-ment

Adults Only

If one player played both the Six and Nine, there is no swap. In the austere version of the game, that player is required to walk around the table once.

Philanthropy Rule

Five cards have a cumulative effect: When a Five is played directly on a Five, the player may name a person to give away a card, wait until that is done, and name another or the same person to give away another card, and this continues for each adjacent Five at the top of the discard pile.

That's Four Me

Fours also have a cumulative effect: The active player is required to take two or more cards, corresponding to the number of adjacent Fours. The cards may be taken from one player or selection of players.

Three's a Crowd

Go Two Cards

With any number of players, the pepper shaker can be employed to designate a player. The pepper shaker is initially with the dealer. When a Two is played, play of the game advances to the player with the pepper shaker. But the pepper shaker is moved to the player who played the Two. At the end of the game, the player with the pepper shaker must deal for the next game.

Also, when multiple cards are played in a single discard and a Two card is included, all cards above the Two have effects as if the associated player had discarded those cards as the active player. Cards below the Two are not affected and are the responsibility of the actual active player.

This One's For You

One cards have a cumulative effect: When two or more One cards are adjacent, the active player names one player for each One card. Any distribution is permitted, and players may be named repeatedly.

Zeroes Go All Around

Zeroes have a cumulative effect: When two or more Zero cards are adjacent, the players must draw one card for each Zero card.

Summary of Rules