We have been taping Mythbusters every week and watching it as a family on Friday nights, but there hasn’t been a new episode in a while so we’ve had to come up with another activity to celebrate making it through the week. Thus began a brief period of trial and error, wherein we discovered that laundry is perhaps not quite celebratory enough, while body shots may be just a tad overdoing it.
So last night we decided to play Uno. Otto announced that it would be cutthroat Uno, meaning that everyone was expected to play to win, which the kids took to mean that the first time they each had to draw extra cards they should cry. After a quick pause to explain that anyone who couldn’t suck it up and draw cards without sobbing could go to bed early, instead, we then launched into a very merry round of cards indeed.
Otto asked me several times if the kids had been drinking. I don’t know WHY everything was so hilarious, but there is something about Uno that lends itself to a hilarity disproportionate to a fistful of Reverse cards.
After being nailed for neglecting to announce “Uno” on her last card, Chickadee nearly worked herself into a snit, but managed to recover by calling out “UNO!” every single turn thereafter, even when she had well over twenty cards in her hand. In fact, the more cards she had, the more hilarious it became to holler Uno.
Also hilarious:
* Shouting “OCHO!”
* Laying a green 2 on top of a yellow 6
* Protesting in LOLspeak; including but not limited to “I can not has any red cards!”, “I is having a twelve?” and “Please to not be skipping me!”
* Laying down a wild card and declaring that the new color is purple
* Asking “My turn now?” every single time ANYONE plays a card
* Telling other players to “go fish.”
Who needs poker when you’ve got all of this?
Ok, “Please to not be skipping me” is indeed funny every time. Go fish is pretty good too, I’ll have to remember that one. And for humor purposes reverse cards are certainly the most potent (‘specially if everybody decides to play theirs at once…).
Ever tried Pit? Also fast paced and lending itself to humor – plus you never have to wait for your turn!
We love UNO too, but I think some of your game “rules” will spice up the action a bit. I think I’ll try . . . PINK!
We do kind of the same thing when we drive to town (usual destination: Walmart). It goes like this…
Boys: Are we at Walmart yet?
Dad: Not yet.
…several moments pass …
Dad: Boys?
Boys: Yes, Dad?
(as we turn into the parking lot), Dad: WE’RE HERE!
Oldest boy: Well … DUH!
we used to have some raucous uno games, especially with my grandparents.
and now, our tradition has moved to yahtzee. we play it almost every night when we go to visit my parents. the competition, she is intense. heh. one night, after everyone else had yahtzee’d at least 3 or 4 times, i knocked over a lamp when i finally got one.
now they move all the chairs and table out into the middle of the room. i don’t know why. ;)
your kids will have great memories of this, mir. a friday night game night is an excellent choice. when the wee one is old enough, i’m sure we’ll do something like that. even if we have to start with candy land.
Haha your rules are the best EVAH. I especially like “Ocho” and “Please to not be skipping me.” Ah, forget it, I love all of it.
I say you should play “Spoons” next Friday night. My family has spent many evenings passing time with this game–and if you have a competitive spirit, take off your watch. We’ve broken two and nearly scratched an arm off with one. Good times….
I’m a lurker, but I saw this over at parentdish and immediately thought of you :) http://www.parentdish.com/2007/10/07/fun-bandages/
I saw those too, Lisa, and also thought of Mir.
I’ve been very interested in this game:
http://bethumpd.stores.yahoo.net/betwitwordis.html
I hoped maybe you would do a review so I knew whether to spend my money on it. Huh? huh?
One we like to play is Cranium’s Who Knew? (Spelling? That’s what it sounds like anyway) It is short-many rounds in an evening, never the same, everyone plays at once. In a nutshell you have to guess what someone likes best out of a random group of words on cards…. Spiders? Country music? Apple juice? Vomiting? (oh, well maybe that last one isn’t in there…)
Yes but where you playing in the “casino”?
Err, replace “where” with “were”. Stupid spell check doesn’t check for typing while under the influence of 5 children and husband out of town.
Screaming go fish brings out great memories of family Thanksgiving Poker night.
I’m partial to Old Maid myself.
OLD MAID?? Oh my, I haven’t thought about that game in YeArS!!
Ah yes, the joy of Uno. We like that game, although, I highly recommend the game Spoons. And the joy of Uno to the joy of musical chairs, with spoons. Hours of entertainment. At least until some gets hurt.
My husband actually taught my nine-year-old to play poker a few nights ago. Imagine my delight at hearing, “Five card stud, twos and fives wild” in her voice as I passed the dining room table…
We taught our 5 yr old son how to play Uno this summer. He can now beat ALL of us. Stinker.
Uno confusses me. I tried to play it the other night on the computer so the computer would not let me do anything ‘wrong’ but when the game ended (and I lost ofcourse) I just sat there with a ‘huh’?
I used to enjoy spoons – but now I can’t remember that game…Ugh I’m getting old
If your family loves regular UNO, you should try the UNO Spin version! It is really fun!!!
Wait, you aren’t supposed to cry every time you draw a damn card? I thought that was an integral part of the game.
OCHO!
We like to play fast Uno – a home grown variation as far as I know. The rules are mostly the same, except that you are allowed to lay out of turn if you can lay the EXACT same card. Then play picks up from there. If you have alot of people this can be really confusing, and you absolutely have to sit on the edge of your seat not to be left out.
Once you get used to that way, then we throw in some more variations. For instance, you may also lay two cards adding up to a number but they have to be the same color. As in, if there is a yellow 8 you would be allowed to lay a yellow 3 and 5 on it. This can also be done out of turn, if you can be that fast! Makes UNO way more fun for bigger people!
Those bacon bandaids were simply bogus.
I’m with Jean…except we called it Ultimate Uno. My favorite “Ultimate Uno” rule is when you lay a “0”, you can switch hands with anyone else at the table. It makes the game a tad bit more entertaining.
And as for Spoons…well, that’s a family favorite. For added excitement, put the spoons in a different room. When I lived in the dorms in college, we’d put the spoons downstairs one floor… The looks we’d get as we’d all come barreling through, as if that sort of behavior wasn’t normal.
“…anyone who couldn’t suck it up and draw cards without sobbing could go to bed early.”
Can I borrow that line to use at work? Do you think it’d translate well to a group of HR execs? Because we’ve got some serious snit-worthy individuals to deal with and I could use a go-to line like that to offer at a critcal moment.
Hey, I thought we’d invented “ocho”! But I have GOT to remember to yell “go fish” or something next time and see where the kids take it! That is so funny!
SNAP!
We like ourselves a game of picture consequences over here, though that is better the more people you can rope in. For the uninitiated, it’s just like normal consequences except you each write down an object, fold over your paper and pass it on. Next person draws what they read, folds the paper, passes it on. Then you write down what you see, fold the paper, pass it on etc… Keep going till you run out of paper and then open them all up and laugh. Last time we played, I wrote “frog”. My mother-in-law’s husband’s drawing of a frog was interpreted as a portrait of Nell Gwynn and the subsequent drawing of that was declared to be “a medieval Ninja Turtle in a wig”. We’re not great artists in our family.
We heavily involved in Uno rage in our house. Our 5 year old got the boxed set for his birthday last week and he has to know its precise location at all times. The only catch is he calls it “Unos”, where is my unos???
Uno Attack is a pretty fun game too! A machine shoots out cards at you when you press the button, ranging from zero to a whole pile. It’s always HIL.AR.IOUS. to my 7 year old when someone besides him gets a bunch of cards.
I second Andrea’s recommendation of Uno Attack. Also, my husband and I have been known to play a pretty cutthroat game of Uno, especially when doing laundry at the laundromat. One fun modification we made was when someone played a “0 (zero)” or a “7”, you have to trade hands with the person to your right. That’s always great because then all of your draw 4s and skips can be used against you. Good times.
Happy Uno-ing. I can’t wait until my girls are old enough for Uno.
You confused me with the “changing new color to purple” because at our house we have Barbie Uno & I’m pretty sure it wouldn’t be Barbie if the colors weren’t pink & purple. Our family loves that game! Kids are older now, & busy with activities so not much time for family games. Now that fall is here (North Dakota) I’m sure the outdoor evening games will turn back to family indoor games – the best part of winter! = )
We used to play UNO as family and we had some wild times. I seem to remember several of our dining rooms chairs breaking from all the fun we were having:o)
I also learned a new way to play UNO while I was visiting a family in Peru. It is too complicated to explain, ubt fun and cutthroat all at the same time, and much faster maoving than regular UNO.