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Uno Flex is a relatively new variant of Uno, which has a high number of unique action cards and integrates a feature of Uno Flip, which is double featured cards with a different way to play both sides. With so many new cards added, you may find it fun but a bit more challenging than usual! Ready to learn all the Uno Flex rules? Let’s dive right in.

The Basics

At first glance, Uno Flex has 112 cards just like most Uno variants. But if you look closer, there are 3 kinds of cards that make up the game – Classic, Flex, and Power cards. While the Classic cards are similar to Uno classic, the introduction of Flex cards that are “switched on” via the Power cards is what makes Uno Flex interesting or complicated (depending on how you look at it). The Flex cards are cards with two colored sides that allow you to change the color of the card and make a match.

In order to make the game friendly for anyone with color blindness, Mattel has even come up with triangular “notches” on the cards to help them identify the color of the cards.

• 1 notch – Yellow color
• 2 notches – Green color
• 3 notches – Blue color
• 4 notches – Red color

Starting the Game

Take out all the Power Cards (8 in total) and hand out one to each player. This means a total of 8 players may take part in a game. Any remaining Power Cards are placed into a separate deck and put aside.

Everyone begins with their Power Cards with the green side facing themselves (with the check mark). Meanwhile, select a dealer who shuffles the cards and deals out 7 cards to each player. The remaining cards are placed face down as the Draw pile. The top card of the Draw card is then turned over and placed to form a Discard pile. If it is an Action card, put it under and turn over another card till you get a numbered card.

Gameplay

Play begins with the player to the left of the dealer, in a clockwise direction. The first player (and everyone so forth) tries to match the top card on the Discard pile with one of their own, by color/number/symbol. If you have a matching card, play it. If not, you need to draw one from the Draw pile. You can then choose to play this card if it’s a match or decline to play anything and end your turn.

Play then moves on to the next player in the turn order, and it continues like this until someone is down to their last card. The moment you have only 1 card left in your hand, you must yell out “Uno”. If you forget to yell Uno and another player calls you out before the next player has taken their turn, then you must draw 2 cards from the Draw pile as penalty.

The player who is the first to get rid of all their cards, wins the game.

Flex and Power Cards and the Flip Symbol

Flex cards are the ones that have a regular and secondary “flex” side. The flex side color can be used to match a card if you don’t have a matching color card. For example, if the Discard pile card is red but you have no red cards but you have a card with a red flex side, you can play that instead. It will not change the color in play though (which is still red).

What enables you to play a flex sided card is the Power Card. If your Power Card is on the green “On” side, you can play a flex sided card. If your Power Card is on the red “Off” side, then you cannot play any flex sided cards.

Power Cards can only be used once at a time, meaning once you use your Power Card to play a flex sided card, you must turn the Power Card to red or “Off”. This Power Card stays “Off” until 3 situations arise, namely:

• You play a numbered card with the Flip symbol
• Someone plays a Wild Flip card
• Everyone has their Power Cards to “Off” at the same time, which means everyone has to turn their Power Cards back to “On”.

The Flip symbol is only to flip your Power Card. If you play a card with a Flip symbol, then you have to switch “On” or switch “Off” your Power Card, depending on what side it is on at the moment. Therefore, consider before you play a card with a Flip symbol.

Action Cards

Standard Action Cards

The standard Action cards are Skip, Reverse, Draw Two, and Wild All Flip cards. You may recognize a few of them from classical Uno. They all have NO flex side.

Skip card – When you play this card, the next player loses their turn. You can play this on another Skip card of the same color.

Reverse card – When you play this card, the pay direction is switched, from clockwise to anti-clockwise, and vice versa. You can play this on another Reverse card of the same color.

Draw Two – When you play this card, the next player has to draw 2 cards from the Draw pile and forfeit their turn.

Wild All Flip card – When played, all players must flip their Power card, from “On” to “Off” and vice versa. The one who plays this card can choose what color to continue play.

Uno Flex Unique Action Cards

These are unique to Uno Flex and have a flex side to them. The regular side works like standard Uno Action cards.

Flex Skip card – The regular side works like above. The flex side skips everyone else, so that if you play it, you end up with another turn.

Flex Reverse card – The regular side is just a normal Reverse card, but the flex side not only reverses the direction of play, but skips the first player in that direction, meaning if you’re playing clockwise, the player to your immediate right is skipped, while the play goes anti-clockwise.

Flex Draw Two card – The regular side is just a normal Draw Two, but the flex side forces everyone else to draw 1 card, while the next player is not skipped.

Uno Flex Wild Flex Cards

All the Flex Wild cards here have a flex side but being Wild cards, still enable you to change the color.

Flex Wild All Draw card – The regular side acts just like a classic Wild card for you to choose the color to continue play, but the flex side forces everyone to draw 2 cards. Meanwhile, the next player does not skip their turn.

Flex Wild Target Draw 2 card – The regular side is also just another Wild card for you to choose the color to continue play, but for the flex side, you can choose whom to draw 2 cards. After that though, play continues in its current direction with the immediate next player.

Flex Wild Draw Four card – The regular side acts like a normal Wild Draw 4 card. You can put down this card for any color (as well as call out the color to continue play), but you’re only supposed to play it if you don’t have any matching colored cards. You can still play it down anyway and cause the next player to draw 4 cards from the Draw pile, BUT the next player can also challenge you to show your hand to them. If innocent, the challenger draws 6 cards, but if guilty, you draw 4 cards instead (Any Wild card in your hand is still considered a match).

The flex side acts as a targeted Draw 4, so you get to choose anyone to draw 4 cards from the Draw pile. After that, the next immediate player to move takes their turn, and play continues in its current direction.

Scoring and Alternative Method

Mattel has proposed an alternative winning method using points for those who wish to play more than one round, which is first player to gain 500 points, wins the entire match. Obviously, points do not matter if all you want is to play just a round.

So the scoring is as below:

• All number cards (1-8) – Points follow the face value of the card
• All Action cards (minus Wild cards) – 20 points per card
• All Wild cards – 50 points per card

The winner of the round receives these points by tallying up all the cards left in the hands of all the other players. By keeping a running tally of everyone’s points scored per round, the first person to reach 500 points (or any number you choose) is the overall winner.

So if Uno Flex intrigues you and it sounds like fun, how about getting a set and giving it a go? We think it might be a touch too complicated with the large variety of Action and Wild cards, not to mention the Flex, Flip, and Power Cards. But if you’re longing for a more challenging form of Uno, then Uno Flex might just be the Uno game for you!