Your Complete Guide to Spicy UNO

Slap on 6 When anyone plays a 6, everyone must immediately slap the deck. Leave your hand on the deck (or, technically, another player's hand if you're not first) and it's pretty easy to figure out who was last—that person has to draw a card.^[2] Some variations have the last person draw 2 cards.

• A modification has every player slap both hands flat on the table. To keep arguments to a minimum with this modification, have the person who plays the card in charge of determining who the last person was.^[3]

Silent 7s When someone plays a 7, they immediately trigger a silent period when no one can talk until the next 7 is played. According to the "official" rules, this means absolute silence—no words, no noise, not even a grunt or a cough. If you do speak or make a noise, draw a card.^[4]

• If you get UNO during a silent period, hold up a single figure to indicate your UNO, rather than saying it aloud.
• A variation uses red cards as the signal to be silent. As long as there's a red card on top of the discard pile, you can't talk. The jury's out on whether this causes a longer or shorter silent time than using 7s.^[5]
• Another variation requires a player who talks to draw a card for every word they say. Harsh!^[6]

Trading 0s If you play a 0, you have the option of trading hands with another player. This can come in pretty handy if someone just called UNO—but remember, if you get UNO as a result of trading hands, you have to call it immediately or it's a trip to the draw pile for you.^[7]

• The person who played the 0 is the only one who has a choice here. If you play a 0 and want to trade hands with somebody, they have to do it.

Playing out of turn This is where things get wild. If somebody plays a card and you have a card in your hand that's exactly the same—same color and same symbol or number—you can play it immediately. Yes, even if it's not your turn. This play doesn't affect the regular gameplay at all. Just don't forget to call UNO immediately if you play your next-to-last card.^[8]

• This can get really hairy if you're dealing with Reverse cards. You've definitely got to pay attention!
• Playing out of turn gets especially unpredictable if you're playing with 2 or 3 decks at once. Watch out for that inevitable moment when things go sideways because 5 people all had identical cards and slapped them down at once. And those 5 cards were Reverses.
• If you play a Wild card out of turn, that means you get to name the color now.

Stacking plus cards If someone plays a Draw 2, if you have a Draw 2 of any color you can go ahead and play it. The result is that whoever gets the next play could potentially have to draw a lot of cards.^[9]

• Here's a little example: Player A plays a Draw 2. Players B, C, D, and E (in a 6-player game) also have Draw 2s, so they all put their cards down. Play continues with Player B, who now has to draw 10 cards.
• As you can see, Player B made a huge mistake. Stay out of the stacking if you're the next player, unless you're holding another Draw 2 that you can throw down on your turn. Otherwise, you'll end up with all those cards.
• Technically, you can't stack a Draw 4 on a Draw 2 (or vice versa). But if your normal house rules allow players to stack a Draw 4 on a Draw 2 (or vice versa), you can apply that house rule to this rule as well.

Asking for help In standard UNO, if you don't have a playable card in your hand, you draw a card from the draw pile. But if you're playing spicy, you can ask the other players for help. They'll offer a card, face down—but here's the kicker: it doesn't have to be a card that helps you. How well do you actually trust your fellow players? Take the card and find out. If it helps, you can play it immediately. If not, you're back to the drawing board (or pile, as it were).^[10]

• If you're playing with the rule that you keep drawing until you get a playable card, you can either keep going the "asking for help" route or take your chances with the draw pile.
• Pay attention to how many cards the other players have. If someone offers you a card and you would give them UNO if you took it, don't take it!

Signing your last card When you win the hand, take that last card and sign your name on it. This is one of the things that makes Spicy UNO really great—it gives you the opportunity to create a unique UNO deck full of memories. Every time you play, seeing those names is bound to send somebody on a distracted trip down memory lane, and you can use their distraction to your advantage—possibly.^[11]

• You might also add the date to keep a complete record. It's nice to include the name of the event, too, if you're playing on a special occasion (such as someone's birthday).

Set up The dealer shuffles the cards and deals 7 cards to each player, placing the rest of the deck in the center of the table, where it becomes the draw pile. The top card on the deck is turned face-up next to the deck to form the discard pile.^[12]

• The player to the left of the dealer starts the game with a play off of the card on the discard pile. They put that card on top of the first card, then play continues with the player on their left.
• Want a slightly longer game? Play with 2 or 3 decks and deal 10 cards to each player instead of 7.^[13] The official Spicy UNO site recommends playing with 2 decks.

Game play On your turn, play a card on the discard that matches the card currently on top of the pile in number, symbol, or color. Wild cards can be played on any color. You can only play 1 card per turn, then play moves to the person on your left.^[14]

• If you can't play, head to the draw pile and draw a card. If it matches the card on top of the discard pile in number, symbol, or color, you can play it immediately. If you can't, put it in your hand. Your turn ends and play moves to the next person.
• Want a potentially deadly alternative? If a player can't play a card from their hand, they have to keep drawing from the draw pile until they get a card they can play.^[15]

Special cards Special cards are a big part of what makes UNO so exciting. With the exception of the Wild Draw 4 cards, you can play these cards strategically to change the momentum of the game or stop someone from winning.^[16]

• Skip cards: Skip the next player's turn; can be played on another skip card or a matching color
• Draw 2 cards: The next player draws 2 cards and forfeits their turn; can be played on another skip card or a matching color
• Reverse cards: Reverses the direction of play; can be played on another reverse card or a matching color
• Wild cards: Can be played on any card; announce the color when you play the card; you can play a wild card even if you have another playable card in your hand
• Wild Draw 4 cards: Technically can only be played if you have no other card in your hand to play; you can play one at any time, but another player can challenge your play. Show them your cards—if you played the card when you had another you could've played, you have to draw 4. But if you win the challenge, your challenger has to draw 6!

How to win Your goal is to get rid of all of your cards before anyone else. But here's the kicker—when you're down to one card, you have to call "UNO!" Every time. No exceptions.^[17]

• If you don't call "UNO" when you only have one card left and someone calls you on it, you have to draw 4 cards. If nobody notices, you're in the clear—but it's better not to take that chance.

Scoring If you're the first person to get rid of all of your cards, congratulations—you win! But UNO is such a quick game, it's really meant to be played in multiple rounds. The first player to reach 500 points is the real winner of the entire match. As the first person out, you get points for all the cards that are in everybody else's hands, according to the following values:^[18]

• All number cards (0-9): face value
• Draw 2: 20 points
• Reverse: 20 points
• Skip: 20 points
• Wild: 50 points
• Wild Draw 4: 50 points
• Blank: [whatever house value you've given them]