Uno Of The Daleks

The problem with Uno is that it's already a great card game, so adding a twist to the popular format always runs the risk of subtracting from its enjoyment, rather than enhancing it.

Tonight, still suffering from our defeat at Elmo's hands when playing Uno Spin recently, Herschel and I made the mistake of trying this version out as a two-hander.

I say mistake because it really needs at least three players.

This is because as well as the excellent ornamental box and slightly harder to distinguish picture-cards, the real spin in this version is the inclusion of four Exterminate Cards. These require the player with the fewest cards remaining to pick up four more. In a two-player match, about half the time they're the same as a regular Pick Up Four Card. The other half of the time the victim is yourself. It's a shrewd way of making it slightly tougher to win a game, especially since you don't really want to call Uno only to then force yourself to pick up four more cards.

I personally think the Dalek card should have impaired the player's vision so that they could not see their hand, and had to play it blind for a round, but that's just me.

Although I enjoyed this, I guess I'm still a purist, on both counts.