Uno Playing Cards • Ohio History Store

UNO™ is the classic matching card game where players race to discard their cards by matching colors or numbers. Featuring special action cards and customizable wild cards, the game challenges opponents to be the first to get rid of all their cards. Players must draw from the pile if they cannot make a match and shout "UNO" when only one card remains.

UNO is one of the world's most popular card games, created in 1971 by Merle Robbins, a barber from Reading, Ohio, a suburb of Cincinnati. Robbins developed the game after a family disagreement over the rules of the card game Crazy Eights. To simplify play, he created a new set of rules and a unique deck of colorful cards.

Robbins and his family produced the first 5,000 decks, which were assembled on their dining room table and sold from his barbershop in Reading. The game's popularity quickly spread, leading Robbins to sell the rights to UNO in 1972. Today, UNO is published by Mattel and enjoyed by millions of players around the world.