How to Play Drunk Uno

Co-authored by Kady Richardson and Janice Tieperman

Last Updated: January 7, 2023

Ready to take your UNO game to the next level? Drunk UNO is a fun, simple addition to your drinking game lineup—all you need is a deck of UNO cards, some friends, and your drink of choice. In this party game variation, you play a traditional round of UNO with a few intoxicating new rules added to the mix. We’ve covered everything you need to know about this drinking game, so you can sip your way to the top (or bottom) of this friendly competition.

Things You Should Know

Start with 7 cards. The goal of UNO is to play a card that matches the color, number, or symbol of the card before it. If you can't, draw a card.
Drink whenever you draw a card, whenever you are reversed by another player, and for every card you have left at the end of a round.
Drink 2 or 4 times whenever you get a "draw 2" or a "wild draw 4" card.
Everyone drinks when a wildcard is played.

Method 1

Method 1 of 2:

Playing Drunk UNO

1
Take a sip whenever you draw a card. The object of UNO is to get rid of all your cards first. So, whenever you add a card to your hand, take a drink as a penalty.
- Variation: If someone doesn’t have any playable cards, force them to continue picking from the draw pile until they get something playable. Ask the player to take a sip for each new card they draw.
2
Take 2 or 4 sips on a “draw 2” or “wild draw 4” card. Take a drink for every new card you add to your hand, whether it’s 2 or 4.^{[1]
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Research source} If you’re the unlucky winner of a triple “draw 2” combo, take 6 sips instead.

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3
Drink whenever you get skipped or reversed by another player. Did your friend just drop a dreaded “skip” card right before your turn? Take a drink. Did the gameplay direction get switched around right before you could play a card? Bottom’s up!
- This can be hard to keep track of when 2 players keep switching back and forth to one another. After each reverse is played, specify which player needs to drink.
4
Take 4 sips if you’re caught not saying “UNO.” Blech—no one likes picking up that 4-card “UNO” penalty when they’re on the brink of victory. In drunk UNO, you have to pick up 4 cards and take 4 sips of your drink as punishment.
- Variation: Force the player to finish off their drink as an UNO penalty (unless there’s only a couple of sips left).
5
Require everyone to take a drink when a wild card gets played. If a regular wild card gets played, everyone needs to take a sip of their drink (including the current player). If a wild “draw 4” card is put down, the penalized player must gulp down 4 sips of their drink and pick up 4 new cards.
6
Drink for every leftover card you have at the end of the round. Hope you didn’t pick up too many “draw 4” cards; at the end of the round, all of the losing players have to take a sip for every card still in their hand.
- Variation: Force the player with the biggest hand to chug an entire drink (a beer works well for this).
7
Take a drink if you ask a question about the rules or gameplay. There’s no such thing as stupid questions—unless you’re playing drunk UNO, that is. Take a sip whenever you forget a rule or requirement about the game (hopefully you’re checking out this article before you started playing!).

Method 2

Method 2 of 2:

UNO Basic Rules Refresher

1
Shuffle the cards and deal 7 to each player. Assign someone to be the dealer for the round and have them shuffle and pass out 7 cards face-down to each player. Remind everyone to keep their cards close to their chest (literally!) so nobody can take a peek at their hands.^{[2]
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- Remember who you assigned as “dealer.” When you start the game, the person left of the dealer will go first and the game will continue in a clockwise circle.
2
Place the extra cards in the center and flip the top one over. Set the rest of the shuffled cards down—this will be your “draw” pile. Then, grab the top card and place it next to the pile, face-up—this will be your “discard” pile.^{[3]
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- If you run out of cards in the draw pile, shuffle the discard pile and flip it face-down in the center of the play area (this will be your new draw pile). Just hold onto the last-played card and pick up where you left off.
3
Match your card to the color, number, or symbol of the previously-played card. Most UNO cards are labeled with numbers (0 through 9) or special symbols (draw 2, reverse, and skip). The object of the game is to get rid of the cards in your hand as quickly as possible by matching the color, number, or symbol of the last played card.^{[4]
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- So if the player before you discarded a red 9, you could discard a red 3 or a green 9, for example.
- And if the last player put down a yellow reverse card, you could put down a blue reverse card afterward. If the previous player put down a green skip card, your turn would be skipped, but the next player could put down their own skip card of any color (or another green card).
- Reverse cards feature 2 parallel arrows pointing away from each other, while the “skip” symbol resembles a crossed-out circle. A “draw 2” card has 2 overlapping cards on the front, as well as “+2” printed in the corner.
4
Follow the directions on any wild or specialty cards. UNO features 2 types of wild cards—the traditional wild card and the wild draw 4. The game also includes reverse, skip, and draw 2 cards, all of which can change the flow and direction of the game. Play these cards accordingly as you go through the round.
- Wild Card: Play this card on any turn to switch the current color of the round. You can put this card down even if you have other playable cards available.
- Wild Draw 4: Play this card if none of your other cards match the current card. Use it to switch the round color and force the next player to skip their turn and pick up 4 cards. Other players can “challenge” you if they believe that you do have a matching color card in your hand. If you’re found out, you must pick up 4 cards instead of the next player. If the accuser is wrong, they draw 6 cards in place of the next player.
- Skip Card: Use this card to jump over the next player in the circle.
- Reverse Card: Play this card to reverse the direction of the game. If you were playing in a clockwise circle, you’d switch to playing in a counterclockwise direction.
- Draw 2: Use this card to skip the next player's turn and force them to pick up 2 cards.^{[5]
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5
Draw a new card if you don’t have any playable cards. Can’t find any matching cards or wild cards in your hand? Grab a new card for the draw pile and see if it matches the color or number—if so, feel free to play it. If it doesn’t match, add the card to your hand and continue the game as usual.^{[6]
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- Add a fun twist to the game by forcing a player to continue drawing cards until they find a match.
6
Say “UNO” when you only have 1 card left in your hand. Immediately after playing your second-to-last card, say “UNO” for the other players to hear. Pick up 4 cards as a penalty if a player catches you forgetting the tagline, and continue playing the game as usual.^{[7]
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- You don’t get penalized if the other players don’t notice.
7
End the round when someone gets rid of all their cards. In UNO, there’s only first place—you don’t play for second or third place once someone uses up all of their cards. Whoever gets first place officially wins the round!^{[8]
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8
Tally up the total points and continue playing until someone gets 500. Ask the other players to set down their remaining cards so you can add them all together. The total, combined number of points goes to the winning player’s score. Then, collect, reshuffle, and deal the cards to start a new round. The first person to get 500 points over multiple rounds wins the UNO match. Here’s a quick breakdown of the card values:
- Number cards: The number on the card
- Draw 2: 20 points
- Reverse: 20 points
- Skip: 20 points
- Wild: 50 points
- Wild: 50 points^{[9]
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Warnings

Stick with beer, wine, or mixed drinks when you’re playing drunk UNO. UNO games can go for a really long time, and it’s not a good (or safe!) idea to take a shot for every penalty you get in the game. If you’re really angling for some shots, start with 1 or 2 before switching to something non-alcoholic, like water.

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Always drink responsibly when you’re playing a drinking game. There’s absolutely nothing wrong with switching to water, juice, or another non-alcoholic beverage if you aren’t feeling too hot.

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