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So my family is having a disagreement on the uno rules. Here's what happened:

Player 1 completes turn by playing a regular numbered blue card

Player 2 has 3 cards left. Player 2 plays a blue skip, and plays a red skip. Player 2 has 1 card now. Player 2 plays their last card (a red numbered card).

They are out of cards, having played 3 cards really close together, with no chance for Player 1 to call them out on not saying uno. Player 1 calls it right after Player 2 has already run out of cards.

Here's the question - Player 2 is already out of cards, and never said Uno, and now Player 1 is calling them out on it. Has player 2 already won, or must Player 2 now take 2 cards?

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  • 3
    Can you explain your statement, "Player 2 plays a blue skip, and plays a red skip"? Was this a two player game? In which case the first skip, skips Player 1's turn, making in Player 2's turn again. I would complain if Player 2 plays the second skip without pausing, preventing Player 1 from having a chance to "Catch" Player 2 for not calling "Uno".
    – linhartr22
    Nov 21, 2017 at 13:24
  • @linhartr22 Yes, 2 player game - the idea is that they didn't pause, they just very quickly played the second card after the first (but did not try to place both down at the exact same time).
    – James T
    Nov 23, 2017 at 2:06

2 Answers 2

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From the rules, the hand is over.

http://www.wonkavator.com/uno/unorules.html

When you have one card left, you must yell "UNO" (meaning one). Failure to do this results in you having to pick two cards from the DRAW pile. That is, of course if you get caught by the other players. Once a player has no cards left, the hand is over. Points are scored (see scoring section) and you start over again. That's UNO in a nutshell.

Further, you only have until the next player starts playing a card before it is to late to call them out. In this scenario once Player 2 started his 3rd turn (by starting the motion to play his last card), it was too late to call him out.

A player who forgets to say UNO before his card touches the discard pile, but "catches" himself before any other player catches him, is safe and is not subject to the penalty. You may not catch a player for failure to say UNO until his second to last card touches the DISCARD pile. Also, you may not catch a player for failure to say UNO after the next player begins his turn. "Beginning a turn is defines as either drawing a card from the DRAW pile or drawing a card from your hand to play. If the last card played in a hand is a Draw Two or Wild Draw Four card, the next player must draw the two or four cards. These cards are counted when points are totaled. If no one is out of cards by the time the DRAW pile is depleted, reshuffle and continue play.

In order to call out Player2 and force him to draw cards for not saying 'UNO', Player 1 would have had to say it directly after his second to last card was played (touched the discard pile) but before he started to play his last card. Incredibly short, but possible.

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  • In a two-player game, if one player puts down a red Reverse, Skip, and Draw Two consecutively, I would say that after the Reverse, the first action by the Next player would be the drawing of the two cards in response to the Draw Two. If those were the last three cards by the first player, and Uno was not said after the "Skip", the second player should be eligible to challenge unless or until he draws the two cards. If the last card had also been a Slip, the second player should be eligible to challenge unless or until he takes some action to recognize the end of the hand.
    – supercat
    Feb 13, 2020 at 6:30
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The official rules seem to create a conflict.

Two Player Rules

For two players, there is a slight change of rules:

  1. Reverse works like Skip.
  2. Play Reverse or Skip, and you may immediately play another card

If a player's last two cards include a Reverse or Skip then playing it first seems to eliminate the need to to call Uno since they're not required to pause before playing the last card (assuming they could play it to go out).

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  • Being able to immediately play a card does not relieve the obligation to call "Uno". Neither rule has any effect on the other.
    – Nij
    Nov 23, 2017 at 19:04
  • 1
    I didn't mean it relieved the obligation to call "Uno". I meant it removes the risk of NOT calling "Uno".
    – linhartr22
    Nov 24, 2017 at 19:29

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