Uno The Office edition is a recent 2021 version of Uno that is themed around the popular TV mockumentary sitcom “The Office”, which ran from 2005 to 2013 on NBC. Fans of the show would recall the daily goings-on at the Dunder Mifflin Scranton branch and the lives of its employees. Uno players can now relive the nostalgia with this card game themed after the TV show.
The game is basically all standard Uno, but with a special Action card of its own and the entire deck is themed after The Office. The objective like other Uno games, is to get rid of all your cards before the others.
Setting Up
After choosing a dealer who gives the deck a good shuffle, 7 cards are handed out to each player. The remaining cards are placed face down and becomes the Draw pile, while the top card on this pile is turned over face up to become the Discard pile. This pile is where players will play their cards to match what is on there. If that card is an Action card, refer to the section below on what to do.
Starting and Gameplay
The player to the left of the dealer is the first to start, and play starts off clockwise until changed later by a Reverse card. Every player will try to match the topmost card on the Discard pile by color/number/symbol by playing a single matching card from their hand. But actually putting a card down is optional and you can choose not to play any card even if you have a matching card. But you must then draw a card from the Draw pile, and you can choose to play or keep that card.
How are cards matched? If the Discard pile card is a Blue 9, and you have a Blue 8 or a Red 9 for example, both can be matched via color or number respectively. Action cards can also be played if the color is a match. Once you played/drew a card, your turn ends and play moves on to the next player.
Action Cards
All those cards without a number are Action cards. The meanings of their symbols are as below:
Uno The Office action cards from left to right: Wild card, Wild Draw Four, Draw Two, Skip, and Reverse.
Draw Two – When you play this card, the next player must draw 2 cards and miss their turn. If this is the first card of the Discard pile, the first player must draw 2 cards and miss their turn. This card can only be played on another Draw 2 or card of the same color.
Skip – When you play this card, the next player’s turn is skipped. If this is the first card of the Discard pile, the first player must lose their turn. This card can only be played on another Skip, or card of the same color.
Reverse – When you play this card, the direction of play gets reversed and therefore, the player just before you gets their turn again. If this is the first card of the Discard pile, the dealer becomes the first player instead and goes first. This card can only be played on another Reverse, or card with the same color.
Wild card – You can play this card on your turn, regardless of what color the topmost card is on the Discard pile. When you play it, you can choose any color to continue play by saying it aloud. If this is the first card of the Discard pile, the first player gets to choose what color to start the game.
Wild Kevin’s Famous Chili card.
Wild Draw Four – This card can also be played regardless of what color is in play; plus the next player must draw 4 cards while you get to choose what color to continue play , but ONLY if you don’t have any card that matches the color of the card on the Discard pile. Well actually, you can still play it, but the next player is allowed to challenge you to reveal the cards in your hand to them if they suspect that you played it illegally.
If you are proven guilty, you must draw 4 cards and lose your turn instead of them. But if you are innocent, they must draw 6 cards instead of 4, and lose their turn!
If this is the first card of the Discard pile, put it back into the Draw pile and turn over another card.
Wild Kevin’s Famous Chili Card – When you play this card, the rest of the players have to immediately drop all their cards to the floor or tabletop from which you’re playing from. The last person to drop their cards will be penalized by drawing 2 cards from the Draw pile. You can then choose what color to resume play as this is a Wild card of its own, and if it’s the first card of the Discard pile, the first player chooses the color to start the game.
Going Out and Winning
When you play your 2nd to last card to get down to the final card, you must yell “Uno” out loud; failure to do so can result in you being penalized by having to draw 2 cards! However, you are only penalized if someone catches you not saying “Uno” BEFORE another player begins their turn. Once you discard all your cards ahead of the others, you win the game (or round).
If everyone wants to play for multiple rounds, then you can choose the winner as someone who first attains 500 points. Points are tallied from the cards left in all the opponents’ hands and which all goes to the winner (of the round). To keep score, use the following system:
- Numbered cards (0-9) – Face value
- Draw Two/Skip/Reverse – 20 points each
- Wild/Wild Draw Four/Wild Kevin’s Famous Chili – 50 points each
Of course, you are not limited to 500 points, and if you wish to add the scoring element to the game, feel free to add any number of points as your goal!