Skip to Content

UNO Flip! (2019) Card Game: Rules and Instructions for How to Play

UNO Flip! (2019) Card Game: Rules and Instructions for How to Play

Looking for a specific UNO Flip! rule?: | Setup | Playing the Game | Light Side Card Meanings | Dark Side Card Meanings | End of Round | Scoring | Winning the Game | Alternative Scoring | FAQ | Components |

Note: These how to play rules are for the 2019 version of UNO Flip!. If you are looking for the instructions for the other version of the game, check out our 2009 review.

Objective of UNO Flip!

The objective of the game is to play all of the cards from your hand before the other players in order to score points.

Setup

  • All of the cards are double sided. Therefore you should make sure all of the cards are facing the same way.
  • Each player draws a card and reveals the light side to the other players. The player who draws the highest number (special cards count as zero) will be the first dealer.
  • Shuffle all of the cards and deal seven cards to each player. Players should hold the cards so that the light side faces them and the dark side faces their opponents.
  • Place the rest of the cards on the table with the light side face down. These cards form the Draw Pile.
  • Flip over the top card from the Draw Pile to start the Discard Pile. If you flip over a special card, a special action may occur (see below).
  • The player to the left of the dealer starts the game.

How to Play UNO Flip!

On a player’s turn they will try to play one of the cards from their hand that matches the top card on the Discard Pile. To match a card it has to either match the color, number, or symbol. The player can also play a Wild card which matches all other types of cards. If a player has a matching card and they want to play it, they will add it to the Discard pile.

Playing A Card in UNO Flip!
The current card on top of the discard pile is the yellow eight. The next player can match this card by either playing another yellow card (yellow two), another eight card (red eight), or a Wild card (Wild or Wild Draw Two).

If a player doesn’t have a matching card in their hand or they don’t want to play it, they will draw the top card from the Draw Pile. They should add the card to their hand with the same side facing them as the rest of their cards. If this new card can be played, the player can choose to add it to the Discard Pile immediately.

In either case the player’s turn will end. Play will then pass to the next player left (clockwise) or right (counterclockwise) depending on the current direction of play. To start the game play moves to the left.

Light Side UNO Flip! Card Meanings

Number

Number cards have no special ability in the game. You can only play them if they match the current color or number.

Draw One Card

Draw One (+1)

When a player plays this card the next player will draw one card from the Draw pile. The next player will also lose their turn.

You may only play a Draw One on top of another Draw One card or a card of the same color.

When drawn to start the Discard Pile the first player draws a card and loses their first turn.

Reverse Card

Reverse

The Reverse card changes the order of play. If play was passing left (clockwise) it will now move right (counterclockwise). If play was passing right, it will now move left.

You may play a Reverse card on top of another Reverse card, or a card that matches its color.

Should a Reverse card is revealed to begin the round, the dealer starts the round. Play will pass right (counterclockwise).

Skip Card

Skip

When a player plays a Skip card, the next player loses their turn.

You may play a Skip card on top of another Skip card, or on a card that matches its color.

If a Skip card is turned over to start the round the first player skips their turn.

Wild Card

Wild

A Wild card allows the player who plays it to change the current color to whichever color they prefer. They can choose to keep the Discard Pile the color it was before they played the Wild card.

As a Wild card matches every other card, you can play it at any time even if you have other cards that you can also play.

If a Wild card is the card that begins the round the first player gets to choose what color it will be.

Draw Two Wild Card in UNO Flip!

Wild Draw 2 (+2)

A Wild Draw 2 card allows you to change the color of the Discard Pile to whichever color you prefer. The next player will also have to draw two cards and will miss their next turn.

The catch with a Wild Draw 2 is that you can’t play it unless you have no other cards that match the current color. If you have a card that matches the number/symbol you can still play a Wild Draw 2.

If the next player thinks the current player has played a Wild Draw 2 when they weren’t allowed to, they can challenge the player. The challenged player must show their hand to the challenging player. If the player incorrectly played the card they will have to draw the two cards instead of the next player.

If the player correctly played the card though the challenging player must draw four cards (the original two plus two more for incorrectly challenging).

Should a Wild Draw 2 be turned face up to start a round, it is added back to the draw deck and a new card is drawn.

Flip Card in UNO Flip!

Flip

When a player plays a Flip card, all of the cards in the game are flipped to the other side. Each player will flip the cards in their hand to the Dark Side. You will flip the Draw and Discard Piles to the other side.

You may play a Flip card if it matches the current color or another Flip card.

Dark Side UNO Flip! Card Meanings

Number

Number cards on the Dark Side have no special ability. You may only play a number card if it matches the color or the number of the card on top of the Discard Pile.

Draw Five Card

Draw Five Card (+5)

A Draw Five card forces the next player to draw five cards from the Draw Pile. They will also have to skip their turn.

You may play a Draw Five card on top of another Draw Five Card, or on a card that matches its color.

Dark Side Reverse Card

Reverse

The Reverse card reverses the order of play. If play was proceeding left (clockwise) it will now proceed right (counterclockwise). If play was moving right, it will now move left.

You can play a Reverse card on top of another Reverse card, or on a card that matches its color.

Dark Side Skip Everyone Card

Skip Everyone

When a player plays a Skip Everyone card all of the other players will lose their turn. The player who played the card will get to immediately play another card.

You can play a Skip Everyone card on top of another Skip Everyone card, or a card that matches its color.

Dark Side Wild Card

Wild

Wild cards match all of the other cards in the game. Therefore you can play it at anytime.

The person who plays a Wild card chooses which color to change the Discard Pile to. You can choose to keep it the same color it was before you played the Wild card. The next player will then have to play a card matching the new color or they can play another Wild card.

Wild Draw Color in UNO Flip!

Wild Draw Color

When a Wild Draw Color card is played the current player will choose which color to make the Discard Pile. The next player will then have to keep drawing cards from the Draw pile until they draw a card of the chosen color. The next player will also lose their turn.

Using a Wild Draw Color card
The current player has played a Wild Draw Color card. The player who played the card chose the color purple. The next player kept drawing cards until they finally drew the purple four.

A player can only play a Wild Draw Color card when they have no cards in their hand that match the current color. If the next player thinks the card was played incorrectly, they can challenge the other player. The challenged player will have to show all of their cards to the challenging player. If the card was played correctly, the next player will have to draw cards until they get a card of the chosen color and then two additional cards for incorrectly challenging. If the player played the card incorrectly they will have to draw cards until they draw a card of the chosen color.

Flip Card Dark Side

Flip

A Flip card will flip all of the cards from the Dark Side to the Light Side. All of the players will flip the cards in their hands. The cards in the Draw and Discard piles are also flipped over. A Flip card can only be played on a card of the same color or another Flip card.

End of Round

When a player only has one card left in their hand (no matter if the cards are on the Light or Dark Side) they must say “UNO”. If they don’t say UNO and another player catches them before the next player’s turn, they will have to draw two cards from the Draw pile.

If the Draw pile ever runs out of cards before the end of a round, the Discard Pile will be reshuffled to form a new Draw Pile.

Scoring in UNO Flip!

A round ends as soon as a player plays the last card from their hand. If the last card that was played forces another player to draw cards, they will draw the corresponding cards. The players who still have cards in their hands will then put them face up on the table based on the side that players were using when the round ended. The player that got rid of all of their cards will then score points based on all of the cards left in the other players’ hands. The number of points each card is worth is as follows:

  • Number Cards: The number on the card.
  • Draw One Cards: 10 points
  • Draw Five, Flip, Reverse, Skip: 20 points
  • Skip Everyone: 30 points
  • Wild: 40 points
  • Wild Draw Two: 50 points
  • Wild Draw Color: 60 points
Scoring cards at the end of a round
At the end of the round these are the cards remaining in the other players’ hands. For the number cards the winner will score 19 points. The winner will score 20 points each for the Reverse and the Flip card. The Skip Everyone card will be worth 30 points. The winner will score 40 points for the Wild card. Finally the Wild Draw Color will be worth 60 points. The player will score a total of 189 points from this round.

If no players have scored over 500 total points, another round is played.

Winning the Game

The first player to score 500 or more points wins the game.

Alternative Scoring

Instead of giving the winner points for all of the cards held by the other players, you can choose to have players score points for the cards left in their own hand. Scoring is otherwise the same. When one player has scored 500 or more points the game ends. The player that has scored the least points wins the game.

UNO Flip! FAQ

If you have any questions about how to play the game, leave a comment below on this post. I will try to answer any questions asked as best and as quickly as possible.

A Flip card was just played which flipped over the Discard Pile. The top card on the Discard Pile is now an action card. Is the action card’s effect applied, or do you just follow the card’s color?

The rules specifically address what happens in this situation.

Should an action card become the top card on the Discard Pile after the pile is flipped, you ignore the action from the card. The next player just has to play a card that matches the color or symbol of the top card.

If the top card is a wild card, the player that played the Flip card gets to choose the color for the Discard Pile.

The last card played during the round was a Flip card. Do all of the players have to flip their cards to the other side before points are scored?

Unfortunately the rules do not specifically address what happens in this situation. The rules do state that if the last card forces the next player to draw cards, they must draw the cards before points are scored.

While I couldn’t find an official answer to this situation, I would guess it should be handled the same way as a draw card. When the Flip card is played, all of the cards are flipped to the other side. The winner of the round scores points from the cards based on the side that they are flipped to.

The previous player played a Wild Draw Color card. While drawing cards I draw a wild card. Does that count as matching the chosen color so I can stop drawing cards?

The rules do not specifically say whether wild cards count as matching the color chosen for a Wild Draw Color card.

I can’t give an official answer for how to handle this situation. I personally would handle it where drawing a wild does not count as matching the color chosen by the player who played the Wild Draw Color. The wild is not actually a card of the color chosen by the other player. It just matches the color because it matches every color. I think it is against the spirit of the rule to allow a wild card to count as matching.

A player was forced to draw cards due to a Wild Draw Color card being played. How do we know that the player actually drew the required color?

The rules do not specifically give a way to verify that the player drew a card of the color that they had to draw. In this situation players should be honest and not cheat.

If you think a player could potentially lie about drawing the correct color card, you could choose to add in a house rule forcing them to show the other players that they drew a matching card. You could either force them to draw the cards where everyone can see what they drew, or you could just force them to show the matching card that they drew. The player does not get to play the matching card though as the rules specifically say that the player loses their next turn.

Otherwise you could choose to implement a challenge system similar to if you think the Wild Draw Color card was played incorrectly. If a player challenges, the player who had to draw cards has to show the matching card. If they did not have a matching card, they would have to keep drawing until they got a matching card. They also likely should have to draw a couple extra cards for a punishment. If the player was playing truthfully though, the challenger should probably have to draw cards.

I personally would go with the first option as it is the simplest. Having to show the other players your matching card doesn’t give the other players too much information. It also prevents the other players from cheating.

I have only two cards left. I play a Skip Everyone card making it my turn again. If a player challenges me for not saying UNO, do I have to draw two cards?

This is an interesting situation as you immediately get to take another turn. The rules for saying UNO is that another player has to challenge you before the next player begins their turn. It is not specific on what constitutes beginning your turn.

I would try to say UNO just to make things clearer. If you don’t though and are challenged by another player, I see two different scenarios.

I would say that you don’t have to draw cards if you immediately start playing your last card. In this case you have obviously begun your second turn as you have started playing your next card.

If you take some time before you start your next turn though, it is more complicated. It then becomes whether you have begun your turn if you haven’t done anything yet. In this case I would say that you should have to draw the cards for not saying UNO as you really haven’t begun your turn.

Components for UNO Flip!

If you would like to see our thoughts on the game, check out our review of UNO Flip! 2019.


Components

  • 112 cards
  • Instructions

Light Side

  • 18 blue cards (1-9)
  • 18 green cards (1-9)
  • 18 red cards (1-9)
  • 18 yellow cards (1-9)
  • 8 Draw One cards (2 of each color)
  • 8 Skip cards (2 of each color)
  • 8 Flip cards (2 of each color)
  • 4 Wild cards
  • 4 Wild Draw Two cards

Dark Side

  • 18 pink cards (1-9)
  • 18 teal cards (1-9)
  • 18 orange cards (1-9)
  • 18 purple cards (1-9)
  • 8 Draw Five cards (2 of each color)
  • 8 Reverse cards (2 of each color)
  • 8 Skip Everyone cards (2 of each color)
  • 8 Flip cards (2 of each color)
  • 4 Wild cards
  • 4 Wild Draw Color cards

Year: 2019 | Publisher: Mattel

Genres: Card, Family

Ages: 7+ | Number of Players: 2-10 | Length of Game: 30 minutes

Difficulty: Light | Strategy: Light | Luck: Moderate-High

Where to Purchase: Amazon, eBay Any purchases made through these links (including other products) help keep Geeky Hobbies running. Thank you for your support.


For more board and card game how to plays/rules and reviews, check out our complete alphabetical list of board game posts.



Robert Souza

Sunday 11th of February 2024

If someone plays a flip card and a draw wild color card. What do you do?

Eric Mortensen

Monday 12th of February 2024

When someone plays a Flip card, all of the cards are flipped to the other side. Cards on the light side are flipped to the dark side and vice versa. In your example I am assuming the cards were on the light side and then a Flip card was played. In this case the cards are flipped to the dark side. The Discard Pile is flipped over making a new card the top card on the pile. You will ignore the effect of this new top card.

Based on your example the next player (the player after the one who played the Flip card) then plays a Wild Draw Color card. The player that played the card chooses a color. The next player in turn order then has to keep drawing cards until they draw a card that matches the color chosen by the other player. The next player also loses their turn.

I hope this answered your question.

Angie

Tuesday 7th of November 2023

If you lay a circle “skip everyone” second last card and don’t say Uno before laying last card. Do you have to draw 2 if challenged?

Eric Mortensen

Tuesday 7th of November 2023

I think this will come down to timing.

The rules for calling UNO say that a player can only challenge before the next player begins their turn. In this case it would relate to you as you will also be the next player. The rules aren't particularly specific on what beginning a turn consists of. Therefore it is a little up to interpretation.

In my opinion I would handle it like this. If you play the Skip Everyone card and immediately start playing your last card before the player challenges you, you shouldn't have to draw cards as you have already begun your next turn. The challenging player didn't challenge you quick enough to force you to draw cards. If you end up taking some time to play your next card and the player challenges you before you start playing the card, I think you would have to draw the two cards.

Fred

Saturday 21st of October 2023

If a draw until card from the darkside is played, what if the player draws a wildcard?

Eric Mortensen

Saturday 21st of October 2023

That is a good question.

As far as I can tell I don't think there is an official answer to your question. The official instructions do not mention what happens when you draw a wild card when drawing cards for a Wild Draw Color card.

Therefore it is ultimately up to the players to decide how to handle the card. This is generally the best solution when there doesn't appear to be an official answer from the publisher/designer of the game. If all of the players can agree on how to handle the situation, I think that is best.

If the players can't agree to the solution, I would probably say that a wild doesn't count as drawing the color. By the spirit of the rule I think it was meant to mean that you need to actually draw a card that matches the selected color. While you can play a wild card on top of a card of any color, it isn't actually the color that you play it as. Therefore I don't think it should count as matching the color. This also would make it easier to draw the color minimizing the penalty which is supposed to be the biggest potential penalty in the game. It seems like most people seem to play it this way. If your group prefers to play it where a wild counts as matching, I see no reason why you couldn't play it that way.

Scott

Monday 7th of August 2023

What happens if the last card played in the game is a flip card? Do the losing players need to flip their cards and count the points on the reverse side? Or do they keep the cards facing their original way as if the flip wasn’t played? Given the rules are clear that draw cards played on the final card require the other player to draw, it would seem the effect of the last card should be enforced, but please let me know and whether this rule is published officially anywhere.

Eric Mortensen

Tuesday 8th of August 2023

The official rules don't say anything about how to treat a Flip card if it is the last card played in a round. I also tried looking online for an official answer to your question and I couldn't find one. To make sure there was no official answer to this question I checked the rules for all of the other versions of UNO Flip!. None of them address this question. What is odd is that the Stranger Things version of the game the main game only has you play one hand. The variant rule is to play for points.

As I couldn't find an official answer, I could see reasons for using both options.

As you mentioned the rules do specifically mention that the next player must draw cards when one of the draw cards are played. It doesn't specifically mention what you would do with a Flip card so you could interpret that to mean you should do nothing with it if it is the last card.

I personally would say that the players should flip their cards though. While it doesn't specifically mention the Flip card, I would interpret the rules for draw cards to apply to the Flip card as well. It would probably apply to the rest of the Action cards as well, but those are irrelevant in this situation. The specific rules for the Flip card apply immediately during the game so I think you should apply its effect before the round ends.

This situation only affects the game if you are playing to a specific number of points. It could make a big difference if you are switching from the Light to Dark side as it could add quite a few points to a player's total. I really wish the game had an official answer to this question, but I couldn't find one. Therefore I would recommend treating the situation however your group decides. I personally would say to flip the cards, but if the players you are playing with think differently I see that being valid as well.

UNO Flip! (2019) Card Game Review - Geeky Hobbies

Wednesday 28th of June 2023

[…] If you would like to see the complete rules for the game, check out our UNO Flip! how to play guide. […]