UNO Confirms Controversial +4 Rule

Games have rules. Be they board games, puzzle games, or even card games, when you open up the package there’s almost always a little piece of paper or a card letting you know that hey, this is how the game is played. The cans and cannots are lined out and generally order is established for the gaming experience. However, just because there are actual rules doesn’t mean that they are always clear or that people always abide by them and now, UNO is letting players know in no uncertain terms that stacking the +2 and +4 cards is definitely against the rules — period.

In a post to Twitter, UNO’s official account was very clear about this issue. There is no Draw 6. There is +2 and there is +4 and they do not play together and yes, they know you’ve tried it. Check it out below.

“If someone puts down a +4 card, you must draw 4 and your turn is skipped. You can’t put down a +2 to make the next person Draw 6. We know you’ve tried it,” the post reads.

Wait. What? As anyone who has ever played a serious game of UNO — a game in which the point is to literally to be the first to play all of one’s own cards (“shedding”) and, if you’re playing strictly by the rules, score 500 points for the cards still held by the other players — can tell you, you do whatever it takes to ensure your competitors have as many cards in their hands as possible. That means you stack up those sweet action cards if you can and make the poor soul in the turn after you stuck with a handful of cards while you gleefully shed your way to winning. That’s simply how it’s done.

Except it’s apparently actually against the rules and we’ve all been cheating since the game was created in 1971 by Merle Robbins as a tool to settle an argument about the rules of Crazy Eights. Robbins sold the rights to the game in 1981 to International Games and has been a Mattel brand since 1992. But just because it’s definitely against the rules, doesn’t mean people are happy about it or that they’re going to abide. You see, there’s this thing called “house rules” where you get to create your own “custom” rules for the game and a few weeks after trying to quash the whole “Draw 6” situation, UNO innocently asked their Twitter fans what their favorite house rule is. As you might guess, it’s stacking.

House rules, folks. They are what they are. Now it’s your turn: what do you think about UNO officially saying that you can’t stack a +4 card with a +2 card for that oh so brutal Draw 6? Let us know your thoughts (and your favorite house rule) in the comments below.