Games Like UNO: Card Games to Play Next, Plus UNO Online With Friends and the Real Rules

By The Rondovo team · Published September 11, 2026 · Updated October 11, 2026 · 13 min read

The closest games like UNO are Crazy Eights and Mau-Mau, which you can play tonight with an ordinary deck. For a new box, Phase 10 and Skip-Bo come from the same publisher and suit the same families, Dos puts a twist on matching, and Exploding Kittens fills the same fast, mean slot. To play UNO itself online with friends for free, use Mattel's UNO! mobile app; Ubisoft's paid UNO covers PC and consoles, and browser games in the UNO style, including our own Showdown!, need no download at all.

Below: the card games to try when UNO starts to feel stale, every way to play online we could verify, the official rules (stricter than most families remember), and the great stacking and 7-0 argument.

In short

• Games like UNO with a normal deck: Crazy Eights and Mau-Mau.
• Games like UNO in a box: Phase 10, Skip-Bo, Dos, UNO Flip, Exploding Kittens and Fluxx.
• UNO online, official and free: UNO! from Mattel's mobile studio, on iOS and Android, with a play with friends mode.
• UNO online, official and paid: UNO by Ubisoft, $9.99 on Steam as of October 2026, also on consoles.
• No download, any device: a browser card game like Showdown!, 2 to 10 players, everyone on their own screen.
• Official rules: no stacking of Draw cards, no 7-0 swapping, first to 500 points wins.

Card games like UNO

If you like matching and shedding cards, these are the games we would put on the table next. Most need nothing but a standard deck or one inexpensive box. For more ideas that work with a big table, see our card games for groups.

Crazy Eights

The closest relative of UNO, played with an ordinary deck. Match the suit or the rank; eights are wild and change the suit. It is the game to teach when you have a deck of cards and no UNO box. The rules are on Pagat, a reliable source for traditional card games.

Mau-Mau

A Central European cousin of Crazy Eights with more action cards: in common versions a 7 makes the next player draw, an 8 skips and a Jack changes the suit. If UNO feels like a children's game to someone in your group, play this with a regular deck and let them discover it is the same game.

UNO Flip and other UNO variants

Mattel has released many variants. UNO Flip uses double-sided cards with a harsher dark side, and Show 'Em No Mercy (below) turns stacking into the main event. If your group likes UNO but is bored with it, a variant deck is the cheapest fix.

Dos

Mattel's own follow-up to UNO. You match by number rather than colour, can play two cards that add up to a card in the centre, and there are several piles to play on at once. It feels familiar for about two turns, then becomes its own game.

Skip-Bo

Also from Mattel, and about as easy to learn. Instead of matching colours, you build shared piles in order from 1 to 12 while racing to empty your own stockpile. It rewards patience more than UNO does. Board Game Arena hosts a close cousin, Spite and Malice, if you want to try the idea online first.

Phase 10

The natural next step for UNO families. Same feel of drawing and discarding, but you build sets, runs and colour groups across ten phases. It is longer and more strategic. We cover every phase in our Phase 10 guide.

Exploding Kittens

Not a matching game at all, but it fills the same slot: fast, mean, funny and easy to teach. You draw until someone draws an Exploding Kitten. See our Exploding Kittens guide for how it plays and where to play it online.

Fluxx

A card game whose rules change as you play: one card changes how many you draw, another changes how you win. It suits the kind of player who enjoys arguing about house rules, because the rules argument is the game. Fluxx is available on Board Game Arena.

How to play UNO online with friends for free

There are four realistic ways to get a game going when your friends are not in the same room. They differ mainly in whether everyone has to install something and whether anyone pays.

The official UNO app

Mattel163, Mattel's mobile games joint venture with NetEase, runs UNO!, the official mobile game. The store listings describe quick play with classic rules, monthly events and a mode for playing with friends and family. The same studio launched UNO Wonder in September 2025, a newer official title wrapped in a round the world cruise.

The catch is the usual one for free mobile games: everyone needs the app, and the screens are full of rewards, currencies and events. That is fine for a group that already plays it. It is a lot to ask of a grandparent on a Sunday call.

UNO on Steam and consoles

Ubisoft's UNO came out on Steam in December 2016 and has been updated ever since. It costs $9.99 on Steam as of October 2026, with Legacy and Ultimate editions at $19.99 and $29.99 that bundle variant decks such as UNO Flip and Show 'Em No Mercy. It supports online play, 2v2 matches and house rules you can switch on, including stacking, jump-in and 7-0. It needs the Ubisoft Connect launcher, and everyone in the group needs their own copy, which is the main reason people look elsewhere.

A physical deck over a video call

This works better than it sounds if one person deals and holds everyone's hands, but it collapses past three players. Hidden hands are the whole game, and a camera cannot hide them. For anything bigger, a game where each player holds their own cards on their own screen is simply less work.

Browser games in the UNO style

Plenty of sites run free match-the-colour card games in a browser. Quality varies a lot: some are covered in ads, some fill seats with bots, and some quietly change rules. Look for three things before you send the link to your group. Can friends join a private room without an account? Does everyone see only their own hand? Can the host set the rules and the target score?

Our own version, Showdown!, was built around those three questions. More on it below, including where it differs from UNO.

UNO rules: what the official rule sheet actually says

Most of the arguments at the table come from rules nobody has read in years. We went back to Mattel's own instruction sheet (service.mattel.com). The sheet we checked is written for 2 to 10 players, ages 7 and up.

The deck

The sheet lists 112 cards:

• 76 number cards: one 0 and two each of 1 to 9 in each of the four colours (red, blue, green, yellow)
• 8 Skip, 8 Reverse and 8 Draw 2 cards, two of each per colour
• 4 Wild and 4 Wild Draw 4 cards
• 4 blank cards, to replace a lost card or to write your family's own rule on

That last line matters for the house rules debate later: Mattel literally ships cards for your house rules.

Setting up and taking turns

Everyone gets seven cards. The top card of the draw pile starts the discard pile. Play starts to the dealer's left.

On your turn, match the top card by colour, number or symbol, or play a Wild. If you cannot play, draw one card. If that card can be played, you may play it at once. If not, your turn ends. You may also choose not to play a playable card (the sheet calls this reneging), but then you must draw, and only the drawn card can be played.

The action cards

• Skip: the next player loses their turn.
• Reverse: play changes direction.
• Draw 2: the next player draws two and loses their turn.
• Wild: choose the colour. You may play it even when you have another playable card.
• Wild Draw 4: choose the colour, and the next player draws four and loses their turn. You may only play it when you hold no card of the colour in play. A matching number in another colour does not count.

The Wild Draw 4 challenge

If you think a Wild Draw 4 was played illegally, you can challenge, but only if you are the one who has to draw. The player shows you their hand. If they were bluffing, they draw the four. If they were honest, you draw six: the four plus two more. Hardly anyone plays this, and it is the best rule in the game.

Saying UNO

You must say "UNO" as you play your next to last card. If someone catches you before the next player starts their turn, you draw a penalty, usually two cards. Printings differ a little, so check the sheet in your own box.

Scoring and winning

The first player out scores the cards left in everyone else's hands:

The first player to 500 points wins the game. Plenty of groups just play single rounds, which is quicker and more fun on a weeknight.

UNO with two players

The sheet has special two-player rules. Reverse works like Skip, and after a Skip or Reverse you play again straight away. After a Draw 2 or Wild Draw 4, your opponent draws and play comes back to you. Two-player UNO is fast and swingy; ten minutes is plenty.

The house rules debate: stacking, 7-0 and the rest

Ask five families how UNO works and you will get five rule sets. Here is where each popular house rule stands officially, and what it does to the game.

Can you stack Draw 2 cards in UNO?

Not under the classic rules. A Draw 2 makes the next player draw and lose their turn, full stop. In 2019 the official UNO account on Twitter said as much, which caused more outrage than any card game tweet deserves.

Mattel later embraced the chaos with UNO Show 'Em No Mercy, a separate 168-card edition where stacking is official, Draw cards stack only with an equal or higher value, and a player holding 25 or more cards is knocked out. If your group loves stacking, that box is made for you.

Is the 7-0 rule official?

Not in classic UNO. It comes from house play and appears officially in variant decks like Show 'Em No Mercy. In practice, 7-0 is the rule that most changes who wins. A player sitting on one card can be handed fifteen. We like it with older kids and adults who enjoy the drama. With younger kids it tends to end in tears.

Our take on house rules

House rules are part of why UNO has lasted. The trick is to agree them before the deal, not after someone plays a Draw 4 on a Draw 2. A few combinations that work well:

• Quick weeknight: official rules, single round, no target score.
• Loud family party: official rules plus jump-in.
• Mean and messy: stacking plus 7-0, and a time limit, because rounds can go on forever.
• Strategic: official rules with the Wild Draw 4 challenge, played to 500.

Showdown!: our take on the UNO-style card game

Showdown! is our own match-the-colour-or-number shedding game. It is not UNO and it does not use UNO's cards or names, but anyone who knows UNO can play it within a minute.

How it plays:

• 2 to 10 players, seven cards each, a random first player.
• Match the top card by colour (Coral, Gold, Blue, Green), number or symbol, or play a Wild.
• Block skips the next player. Flip turns play round; with two players it works like a Block. +2 makes the next player draw two and miss a turn. Wild +4 names the colour and the next player draws four and misses a turn.
• Nothing to play? Draw one. If it matches, you can play it straight away.
• Down to one card, press Showdown! before anyone presses Catch! on you. A catch costs two cards.
• Win the round and score what is left in other hands: numbers at face value, Block, Flip and +2 at 20, Wilds at 50.

Where it differs from UNO:

• The default target is 250 points, not 500, so a full game fits in about 25 minutes. The host can set anything from 100 to 500, or play a single round.
• The catch window is a few seconds (4 by default, the host can set 3 to 8). That replaces the loose "before the next player starts" rule, which never works online.
• The Wild +4 challenge is an option the host can switch on. A bluffer draws four; a fair play costs the challenger six, as in the official rules.
• Seven or more players shuffle two decks together, so a ten-player table does not run out of cards.
• No stacking, no 7-0 and no jump-in. If those house rules are essential to your group, Showdown! will feel tame. We would rather say that now.

How a game starts: one person hosts a room on Rondovo and shares a four letter code. Friends join on their own screens in a browser, with nothing to download and no account. Your hand stays on your screen. A TV is optional; if you have one, it shows the pile and whose turn it is, which makes it a good fit for a virtual game night or a living room.

Which game like UNO to play when

Questions people ask

Can you play UNO online with friends for free?

Yes. Mattel's official UNO! app is free to download on iOS and Android and has a mode for playing with friends. If your group does not want to install an app, free browser games such as Showdown! use the same match-the-colour rules with no download.

Can you stack a +2 on a +2 in UNO?

Not under the classic rules. A Draw 2 makes the next player draw two and lose their turn. Stacking is a house rule, and it is official only in variant decks such as UNO Show 'Em No Mercy.

Can you put a Draw 4 on a Draw 2?

Not in classic UNO. The player hit by the Draw 2 draws and loses their turn, so they never get the chance. With stacking house rules, many groups allow a Draw 4 on a Draw 2 but not the other way round.

Is the 7-0 rule an official UNO rule?

Not in the classic game. It is a popular house rule (7 swaps hands with a player of your choice, 0 passes every hand along) and appears officially in some variant editions.

What card game is most like UNO?

Crazy Eights, played with a standard deck: match the suit or rank, and eights are wild. UNO is essentially Crazy Eights with its own cards.

How many cards do you start with in UNO?

Seven each. The rest form the draw pile.

How many people can play UNO?

The Mattel rule sheet we checked says 2 to 10 players. Past six or seven, a second deck helps.

What happens if you forget to say UNO?

If another player catches you before the next player begins their turn, you draw a penalty, usually two cards. Once the next player has drawn or played, you are safe.

What is the Wild Draw 4 challenge?

When someone plays a Wild Draw 4, the player who must draw can challenge it. If the player held a card of the colour in play, they draw the four instead. If they did not, the challenger draws six.

UNO, UNO Flip, UNO Show 'Em No Mercy, UNO Wonder, Dos, Mattel, Mattel163, NetEase, Ubisoft, Ubisoft Connect, Steam, Twitter, Skip-Bo, Phase 10, Exploding Kittens, Fluxx, Board Game Arena, iOS and Android are trademarks of their owners. Rondovo is not affiliated with them.