Uno Variation: Special Card Roulette

Cards: 1 or more Uno decks (any variety); 1 or more dice; List of Special Wild card effects

Players: 2+

Time: ~10-25 min/round

Rating: 10/10

This variation is a sister variation to Special Card Showdown and it improves upon it in significant ways.

To play, you will need a complete list of Special Wild card effects to reference (condensed version, printer-friendly version). From this list, you will assign numbers to each effect (1-6). If playing with more than 6 effects (recommended), separate the effects into 6 groups (numbered 1-6) and then number the effects within those groups (1-6) (if there are extra numbers, effects may be given more than one number).

During game play, whenever a player plays a Wild card or a Special Wild card, he will roll the dice to determine the effect that it will have. Where there are more than 6 effects being used, the player will roll a die twice to determine the effect (the first roll to determine the effects group and the second for the effect within that group).

Advantages: This variation makes use of all of the different Special Wild card effects, allowing players to experience a wide variety of game play, and leaves the outcome to chance. The uncertain outcomes of wild cards makes this variation fun, unpredictable, and easy to play again and again.

Disadvantages: The major disadvantage (perhaps the only disadvantage) to this variation is that it can cause rounds to take a long time where many people are involved. If you want to shorten rounds, only roll the dice to determine the effects for Special Wild cards, not for regular Wild cards.

Overall: This is easily the most enjoyable Uno variation we have played to date. It keeps things original, changes the strategy, and is easy for both beginners and advanced players. There is some initial preparation time, but once it is done, the same list can be used over and over again for great experiences. Try it out!

Note: Instead of using dice to determine the Wild card effect, the variations can be printed out, cut into strips of paper, and selected from a hat or bowl. By not replacing an effect once drawn, all effects will eventually be used.

Uno Variation: Time Bomb

Cards: 1 or more Uno decks (any variety)

Players: 2+ (3+ preferred)

Time: ~10 min/round

Rating: 5/10

For this variation, all Draw 2 and Draw 4 cards are time bombs and don't take effect immediately after played.

For a 2 player game, the fuse is set at 3 and counts down for every turn after the card is played. For example: P1 plays a Draw 2 card (fuse: 3) -> P2 takes turn (fuse: 2) -> P1 takes turn (fuse: 1) -> time bomb explodes on P2 who then draws 2 cards. If you play with "Stacking Draw 2s," the fuse is not set until the last stacked Draw 2 card is played.

For a 3+ player game, the fuse is set at 2. For example: P1 plays a Draw 4 (fuse: 2) -> P2 takes turn (fuse: 1) -> time bomb explodes on P3 who draws 4 cards.

The key to this variation is that Skip and Reverse cards affect who will end up drawing cards. For example, in a 3 player game: P1 plays a Draw 2 (fuse: 2) -> P2 plays a Reverse card (fuse: 1) -> time bomb explodes on P1 who draws 2 cards.

Advantages: This variation balances out the action cards in the game, taking some power away from the Draw 2 and Draw 4 cards and adding some power to Skip and Reverse cards. The game is also more unpredictable and dangerous knowing that the time bombs can also hurt the person who plays the Draw 2 or Draw 4 card.

Disadvantages: In its current form, this variation may be more trouble than it is worth. It can be very difficult to keep track of the time on the bomb(s) and takes enough effort that it can become the controlling feature of the game at the expense of game play.

Overall: This variation has the potential to shake up traditional Uno. Feel free to try it out and if you think of ways to make this variation better, please leave them in the comments.

Notes:
For changing fuse lengths, you can roll a die at the beginning of the game to set the fuse length.

Fuse lengths can also be applied to Wild, Skip, and Reverse cards, but doing so takes away the power of the Skip and Reverse cards to alter the course of the bomb.