By Gracine: From an early age, the game of Uno has been a favorite in our family. I remember gathering together on the floor of our family room to play Uno when Jordan was a tiny toddler. Although Jordan wasn’t old enough to understand all the rules, he did know that when a card was played it needed to be stacked on the face-up pile. With huge smiles and giggles of delight he would stack up the cards as they were played…super fun times for all!
Recently Steven wrote and shared this rhyme with the family on the subject of Uno. We enjoyed it SO much that we wanted to share it with you too.
UNO Poem
To play Uno well, and to get the game won,
There are a few things, that have to be done.
I’ll teach you the tricks, from the A, B and C’s,
All the way to the hard ones the X, Y and Z’s.
When the game first begins, and the dealer deals hands,
make sure that you watch and carefully scan.
Check each card for a mark; they’re quite easy to see,
A bend down the middle would be a blue 3.
The edges of cards have marks just as fine,
If you see a bent edge, watch out…it’s a 9!
But…you’ll come to a place where the cards are not marked!
Some edges are scuffed, but mostly they’re not.
There’s no knowing these cards, and you’re nervous to see,
What’s in your hand, what will it be?
Why, a Draw 4, of course! And a Wild as well!
And a Skip, a Reverse, why your hand is SWELL!
You’ll be skipping with skips and reversing reverses,
You will play your Draw 4 on the card of your choices.
Later on in the game though, you’ll make a bad choice…
You’ll play your Draw 4 on a yellow Reverse;
Your opponent will challenge, you’ll have to admit,
That you DO have yellow… ,one small little bit.
You’ll draw your six cards, you’ll be feeling quite blue,
And an opponent will then play their Draw 4 on YOU!
You’ll be stuck with a hand that is more thick than thin,
And to your surprise, and to your chagrin…
There will be no acrobats or Wilds inside,
Instead there’ll be 2s, 4s, 6s, 7s and 5s.
The color is green…the one color you need!
Your opponents will play at the top of their speed.
Your hand however, continues to grow until,
By good luck, you draw a green 0.
You’ll play a few cards… then the color, it switches!
An opponent goes UNO… against all your wishes.
And then, to your very great exasperation,
They will go out, unless I’m mistaken.
There you’ll be with a hand that’s thick as a book,
With points by the hundreds, to judge by the looks.
To know your score, to find out what it be,
Add up your 7s, your 6s and 3s,
Add up your 9s and your 8s and your 4s,
The number you get is the number you score.
And, unless I’m quite wrong, I really can’t see,
How your score can be less than 203.
Never mind about that though, you’ll do much better yet,
For luck, you might find, is quite easy to get.
And with me standing by, we’ll of course win this game,
And we’ll be inducted into the Uno Hall of Fame!
If you play well, if you take my advice,
You will see we will win, all day and all night.
Except when you don’t… because sometimes, it’s true,
You cannot win when the luck’s against you.
You will draw, I’m afraid, several cards at a time,
And not low ones either, but 7s and 9s.
The game will grow longer, you’ll draw more cards still,
And your doom will draw terribly, terribly near!
But then, thanks to luck, AND my wonderful skill,
I will step in, and I’ll pilot you clear!
And we will go out to our opponents’ surprise
And they’ll be left counting their 6s and 5s!
In Uno, as in life, I’m sure you will find,
It’s your skills that will get you ahead… or behind!
But also, and this is most terribly true,
Whether you win, or whether you lose,
It depends on whatever you do or don’t do.
Back to the game now, the dealings begun,
It’s important for you now to get the hand won,
For with your ponderous score adding up in the sky,
You’re already terribly scarily high,
And if you add much to your massive amount,
The game will be over, you’ll lose…you’ll be out!
You’ll start playing your cards, and with my advice,
You’ll play your cards well, and you’ll play your cards right!
But somehow, in a way I don’t quite understand,
Your opponent, not you, will go out on this hand.
Points! You’ve collected 302,
And that means the game is now over for you.
But, whether you win, or in your case, you lose,
There is one thing that I would like to tell you:
In Uno it’s not if you lost or you won…
In Uno it’s whether or not you had fun!
– by Steven J. McFie