UNO Addicts

Ever heard of UNO card game? The first time I heard of this game was on Cartoon Network, during its segment "Toy News". That was a long time ago. Just recently, a friend of mine from the publication introduced the UNO card game. I was intrigued on how it's played, and though I am not really into card games (because of that initial feeling that I would lose anyway), I tried learning it. And guess what? I had a great time learning it. And now, it is the number one addiction inside the office. When we are somehow tired of reading or editing, when we are a bit bored of the humdrum of college student life, when we are depressed, when we are waiting for our next class, we grab the UNO cards from the locker of one of our great cartoonist and start the game. 

Here's how it is played. 

(I actually Googled the mechanics because I find it hard to relate it in my own words.)
[source here]

1. Use a deck of UNO cards. The standard UNO deck has 108 cards consisting of: four colored "suits" (Blue, Green, Red, and Yellow), Action cards (Draw 2, Reverse, and Skip), Wild cards, and Wild Draw Four cards.

2. Choose a dealer by having each player pick one card. The person with the highest number is the dealer. In this instance, Action cards (including Wild and Wild Draw Fourcards) have a value of zero.

3. Deal each player seven cards and place the remaining cards face down in the middle of the table. This pile of cards in the middle is known as the draw pile.

4. Turn over the top card of the draw pile and place this card next to the draw pile to form the discard pile.

5. Take turns beginning with the player to the dealer's left and go clockwise around the table.

6. Place one of your cards on the discard pile when it's your turn. Your card must have the same number, color or wording as the top card of the discard pile... unless you have a Wild card, in which case you can choose which color cards will be played.

7. Draw a card if you cannot discard. Play the drawn card if you can. If you can't, it's the next person's turn.

8. Announce a suit when you place a wild card on the discard pile. You can play a Wild card any time it's your turn and can name any suit you wish.

9. Announce a suit when you place a Wild Draw Four card on the discard pile.

10. Follow the directions of an Action card that is played on the discard pile by the player preceding you. This may mean that you have to draw two cards, skip a turn or even draw four cards. 

11. Remember to Say "UNO" when you have one card left in your hand. If you forget to say UNO and another player catches you, you must draw two cards.

12. Tally each player's scores at the end of each game. The game is over when one player is completely out of cards. That person gets all the points.

13. Here's how to score in UNO:

• Add the total of all the cards left in each player's hand.
• Count number cards (0-9) as their numeric value.
• Count Draw Two, Skip, and Reverse cards as 20 points.
• Count Wild and Wild Draw Four cards as 50 points.
• Award all points to the winner of each round.

14. Repeat the game until one player scores 500 points.

So there goes the UNO card game. If you still have a hard time understanding it, we can play it some time. That way, I can personally teach you how it's done. ^_^