Killer UNO
as presented by Jared!
Equipment needed: At least one deck of UNO cards, multiple decks for larger groups. The more players the better.
Disclaimer: All of the normal rules for UNO still apply. I'm not going to waste time explaining them here. If you don't know how to play regular UNO, then this game will, indeed, kill you. Get out while you still can. If you are still reading this, I'm going to assume that you know how to play UNO and are comfortable with that game. For Killer UNO, there are a few additional rules to add. Just make sure that all rules are explained and agreed upon by all players at the beginning of the game to avoid conflict.
Additional rules:
- Drawing: If you cannot play, instead of drawing one card and losing your turn, you must continue to draw, one card at a time, until you are able to play.
- Stacking draws: If a Draw 2 is played, the next player does NOT have to draw if they can play another Draw 2 (ie, "matching the number"). The draw cards are added together, and the next player must draw the total - unless they, too, can play a Draw card. This also applies to Wild Draw 4 cards - but Draw 2 and Draw 4 cards cannot be mixed in the same stack.
- Matching: If you hold a card the matches EXACTLY the card that has just been played, jump in and play it. Say "Match" so that people know what happened. Play then continues from you - ie, the last card played. This also applies to stacking Draw cards - the match card is added to the previous total. If "Reverse" cards are matched, the direction of play reverses for each card played. If "Wild" cards are matched, the last player calls the color. If you hold two identical cards in your hand, they can be played together - essentially "matching" yourself. If the usual "next" player plays before you get the match card down, you didn't make the match and must take the card back.
- Cheating: Once the next card is played, whatever has gone before cannot be undone. In other words, cheating is allowed as long as you don't get caught.
- Shifting Zeros: When a "0" (zero) card is played, all players must pass their entire hand opposite the current direction of gameplay. Play then continues from the hand that just played - in other words, the person who played the 0 gets another turn. If someone recieves a hand with only one card, they must call "Uno." Note: if you play a 0 as your last card, the empty hand is passed to the previous player, and they win.
The Colm Meaney Green 3: Okay, this one requires some explanation. When I was in high school, I went to California with the jazz choir. While on Catalina Island, Ben and I saw Colm Meaney (Star Trek's Chief O'Brien) and got his autograph. He signed the Green 3 of my UNO deck. In all subsequent Killer UNO games, this card took on special powers. Any Green 3 played acted as a Draw 3 - but was not part of the "Stacking Draws" rule. If the Colm Meaney Green 3 was played, all other players had to draw 3, and the person who played the card took three additional turns.
In any game, all players must agree on the rules at the beginning, so any of these rules may be altered or omitted, and anything else you come up with may be added, so long as the group playing agrees.