UNO

Fun for E v eryone! UNO

Lou Valade

In 1971, Merle and his son started debating on the rules of crazy eights. Crazy eights is a card game and it’s objective is to loose as many cards as possible while playing. After debating the rules of the game, Merle decided to creat his own game which he called ‘Uno.’ The game was named Uno because you only had to have one card left to win. Although Uno had a lot of similarities to crazy eight, but the games clearly had different rules.

For example, in crazy eight you are free to assign which cards are used to skip, reverse or draw. However, Uno had special cards designed to: skip, draw, and reverse that you could use. Merle originally invented this game to play with his family and son, but when he realized how popular it had become with his family, Merle decided to make a business out of it.

There are 108 cards, in a pack and of those there are 76 number cards, 24 Action cards and 8 wild cards. Uno cards have four colors: red, yellow, blue, green.

The aim of the game is to discard all of your cards before your opponents do. Players can discard cards by matching their colours, numbers or special symbols. If you are unable to discard any cards, you must draw one from the deck. The first player to discard all of their cards wins the game.

It actually took an effort from the whole family for it to be successful. They had to sell their house and borrowed money from their son in order to print 5,000 cards. After that, Merle and Marie brought a car and a van from the profits of their home and started traveling around the country doing demonstrations to sell their game. They wanted to be seen as professional as possible so they branded the car and trailer with ‘Uno- best game in America.’.

MAN WHO

The two managed to sell another 5,000 copies and re-order 10,000 that they would sell to retell stores. At first, it was only the small outlets that sold Uno but after a couple weeks, Uno was being sold by big outlet stores from other areas. Seeing how successful and popular the game was, Bob Tezak and his partners, Ed Ackman and Bill Apple brought the game from Merle in order to sell it internationally. Bob Tezak and his partners went on to create International games inc, which was a game and entertainment shop. The company gave 10 cent royalties on every copy sold, and gave Merle the initial amount of $50,000 for the rights of the game.

WHO INV

Bob Tezak ran Uno out of his garage, he refurbished the brand by including clear instruction. Tezak changed the packaging to a more aesthetically pleasing background. When the 1980s came around, everyone in the world wanted to play Uno. To this day, Uno is just as popular, if not more. According to the NPD game it is..‘the world’s number one selling card game in 2018’.

STACK OF CARDS

CARDS

Today, there are hundreds of different versions of Uno available, including ones with special themes like Disney characters or Star Wars. What is so great about UNO is that it is a game for people of all ages and can be enjoyed by players of all skill levels. Whether you’re a beginner or an experienced player, UNO is sure to provide hours of fun and entertainment.

I decided to dedicate this panthflet to Uno because of the amazing memories I have playing this game. Since I can remember, Uno has been at every party, birthday, and christmas gathering. I used to think the game was too simple to appreciate but now I finally see how amazing it is in all the great memories it has brought me.

YOU WIN!