If you’ve mastered the Classic UNO rules or you and your family are on your 50th round of UNO, you may be thinking, ‘are there any other games to play with UNO cards’?
Fortunately the answer to this question is a resounding yes. You could learn the Spicy UNO rules to add a different flavor to your standard UNO game.
Alternatively, you could also use your deck to play something completely unrelated to UNO at all.
And unlike other versions such as UNO Flash and UNO Attack, you don’t need the extra equipment to play most of these games, meaning you can get going straight away.
So we’ve handpicked 16 of the best and most inventive alternative card games that you can play while using your UNO deck, with games suitable for any age group too.
Related: 16 games like UNO
Other Games to Play with UNO Cards
1. SORTING GAME
Players: 2+ players.
Ages: Younger children.
Time to Play: 5 – 10 minutes.
Sorting Game in a nutshell:
Challenge a toddler or young child to go through a shuffled deck, sorting them into color order. Once sorted into colored order, challenge them to sort them numerically as well. If playing with more than 1 player, time to see who is the quickest to sort the deck.
2. NUMBER GRAB GAME
Players: 2+ players.
Ages: Younger children.
Time to Play: 5 – 15 minutes.
Number Grab Game in a nutshell:
Take out all the non-number cards in an UNO deck and just play with the number cards. Shuffle the deck and place them in a stack with the cards face down. Draw a card 1 at a time, with players shouting out the number as soon as they see it. The winner is the player with the most cards once the original stack is gone.
3. PATTERN GAME
Players: 2+ players.
Ages: Younger children + Children.
Time to Play: 5 – 15 minutes.
Pattern Game in a nutshell:
Gather all the number cards and lay out a simple pattern i.e. 2 yellows, 3 greens, 2 yellows, etc. Challenge players to work out the pattern; the first player to work it out gets a point and starts the next pattern. Most points at the end of the game wins.
4. COLOR + NUMBER MATCH
Players: 2+ players.
Ages: Younger children.
Time to Play: 5 – 20 minutes.
Color + Number Match in a nutshell:
Sort through all the cards, so you only have the colored number cards in a deck. Also, make sure your child has plenty of different colored items such as candy. Then, draw a card from the pile, the player needs to place the items which match the amount and color that is on the card.
5. SNAP
Players: 2+ players.
Ages: Younger children + Children.
Time to Play: 5 – 15 minutes.
Snap in a nutshell:
Only use the number cards, separate these and shuffle them into a deck. Place the deck face down. Deal out the entire deck to players, so they have roughly the same number of cards.
Starting left of the dealer, players place 1 card onto a discard pile one at a time. When there’s a matching pair, all players need to slap their hand onto the pile and shout SNAP!
Whoever’s hand is at the bottom wins that round and takes the pile. Whoever ends up with all the cards wins the game.
6. MEMORY
Players: 2+ players.
Ages: Younger children + Children.
Time to Play: 5 – 15 minutes.
Memory in a nutshell:
Gather together 20 UNO cards that are in 10 pairs. Shuffle them and lay the cards out in a 5×5 grid pattern, ensuring they are in a random pattern. Challenge a player to find the 10 pairs with the least amount of moves possible.
Record how many cards they overturned to complete the challenge, and the player with the lowest number wins.
Related: How To Play Memory Game
7. GO FISH
Players: 2 – 5 players.
Ages: Children + Pre-teens.
Time to Play: 5 – 15 minutes.
Go FIsh in a nutshell:
Remove all cards except 2 of each color number. Shuffle and deal out 7 cards evenly to players. Players need to match 4 cards that are the same, and they ask the other players if they have any cards that they need to complete a set of 4. If they do not have the card, they get told to ‘Go Fish’, and the player picks up another card. The first player to get rid of their cards wins.
Related: Go Fish Game Rules
8. OLD MAID
Players: 2 – 5 players.
Ages: Children + Pre-teens.
Time to Play: 10 – 25 minutes.
Old Maid in a nutshell:
Get all the number cards from an UNO pack and 1 random wild card. Shuffle these cards and deal them out to all players. Players need to match cards, if they have a match in their initial draw, then they can put these aside.
Hold up the remaining cards to the player on the right so they can pick 1 at random to potentially make another match. The player holding the wildcard at the end of the game loses.
9. FIND THE ITEMS
Players: 2+ players.
Ages: Children + Pre-teens.
Time to Play: 5 – 15 minutes.
Find The Items in a nutshell:
Grab all of the number cards and shuffle them/ Draw a card from the pile. Players need to find as many items in the color of the card that is on the card. So if a ‘Red 4’ gets drawn then, players need to find 4 red items. A point gets awarded to the first player to complete each challenge. Most points at the end of the game wins.
10. GUESS THE NUMBER
Players: 2+ players.
Ages: Children, Pre-teens + Teens.
Time to Play: 5 – 15 minutes.
Guess The Number in a nutshell:
Shuffle the entire UNO deck and hand out a card to each player. Players need to stick their given card to their forehead without seeing what card they have. They then ask questions to try to figure out what card they have on their forehead.
Other players can only answer ‘yes’ or ‘no’ questions. The player that correctly guesses their card in the fewest number of questions wins.
11. CARD HOUSES
Players: 2 players.
Ages: Pre-teens + Teens.
Time to Play: 10 minutes.
Card Houses in a nutshell:
Split the deck of cards into 2 and hand each deck to the players. Set a 10 minute timer and challenge both players to build the tallest tower within the time limit. The player who builds the tallest, most secure tower wins.
12. DOMINO EFFECT
Players: 2+ players.
Ages: Pre-teens + Teens.
Time to Play: 20 minutes.
Domino Effect in a nutshell:
Start by dividing the deck of UNO cards in half and handing it to each player. Set a 20-minute time limit, and each player needs to make the longest ‘domino train’ possible. The player with the longest train wins.
13. STRESS
Players: 2 players.
Ages: Pre-teens + Teens.
Time to Play: 10 minutes.
Stress in a nutshell:
Withdraw all of the wildcards so that your deck has only numbered cards left.. Randomly draw 2 cards from the draw pile and add them to the middle. Deal out the rest of the cards. At the same time, players need to add cards either the same, 1 higher, or 1 lower than the card in the middle.
If a player plays the same number card as one of the middle cards, the other player can shout ‘STRESS’. If they do this, the other player picks up the accumulated cards, and the game resumes. The first player to get rid of all their cards wins.
14. SLAP
Players: 2+ players.
Ages: Pre-teens + Teens.
Time to Play: 20 minutes.
Slap in a nutshell:
Deal out all the numbered cards to participants. Agree upon a sequence that wins a game, such as 4 green cards in a row. Each player in the circle quickly places 1 card 1 at a time. As soon as the sequence occurs, players must shout ‘SLAP’ and slap their hand on the pile to win the game.
15. SPOONS
Players: 6 – 12 players.
Ages: Pre-teens + Teens.
Time to Play: 30 – 45 minutes.
Spoons in a nutshell:
Take all the number cards out of the UNO deck and get 1 less spoon than people playing. Players get 4 cards each, and players need to match 4 numbers. Once a player has 4 of a kind, they can pick up a spoon. The last player without a spoon gets given a letter that spells out SPOON. Once a player has SPOON, they are out. The last player remaining in the game wins.
Related: How To Play Spoons
16. HIGHER OR LOWER
Players: 1+ player/s
Ages: Pre-teens + Teens.
Time to Play: 5 – 15 minutes.
Higher or Lower in a nutshell:
Shuffle the UNO deck, including some but not all of the wildcards. Draw the top card. The player will have to guess if it’s higher, lower, or a wildcard up next. See how many correct guesses players can get—the player who is correct the most wins.
Wrap Up
Now that you have a list of other games to play with UNO cards, you’ll be prepared for those vacation weekends where the only deck of cards you have is your UNO one.
If you’re looking for more UNO games to play, check out our full list of all other versions of UNO below:
Other versions of UNO
Looking to stick with UNO? Then why not try playing one of the following alternative games of UNO:
- DOS
- Spicy UNO
- UNO Attack
- UNO Bingo
- UNO Blast
- UNO Blitzo
- UNO Choo-Choo
- UNO Colors Rule
- UNO Dice
- UNO Disney
- UNO Dominos
- UNO Flash
- UNO Flip
- UNO Hearts
- UNO House Rules
- UNO Madness
- UNO Master
- UNO Moo
- UNO Power Grab
- UNO Reflex
- UNO Roboto
- UNO Royal Revenge
- UNO Rummy-Up
- UNO Spin
- UNO Stacko
- UNO Tiki Twist
- UNO Tippo
- UNO Wild Jackpot
- UNO Wild Tiles
