Why this popular card game is still relevant 52 years after its debut

The family-favourite card game has been around for 52 years — but it may be more popular than ever. Almost everyone seems to play it, and by one measure it’s the top-selling game in the world.

"Place your order." In the time it took you to read that sentence, another deck of Uno was sold.

The family-favourite card game has been around for 52 years — but it may be more popular than ever. Almost everyone seems to play it, and by one measure it’s the top-selling game in the world.

Almost one set of Uno was sold in the U.S. every second last year, according to Mattel, its publisher. That’s almost 60 Uno decks each minute — up from 17 sets each minute in 2021.

Its popularity is due to the game’s broad appeal, says Michelle Parnett-Dwyer, a curator at the Strong National Museum of Play in Rochester, New York.

“Kids can play against adults without being overmatched, and adults can play it together and still have fun,” she says. “The gameplay is simple and easy to understand, and playing a round moves quickly.”

More than 600 editions of Uno are available, but the game’s core mechanics remain mostly the same with each new version. Players draw a handful of cards and then take turns trying to discard them; the first player to get rid of all their cards wins.

A player can put down a card if it matches either the color or number of the previous card at the top of the play pile. Or to switch things up, players can put down an action card — requiring the next player to draw more cards or skip a turn.