There have been several different versions of UNO Harry Potter released over the years. Several of these versions have a different unique card. These rules will be written based on the 2021 version of UNO Harry Potter. I will talk about the unique cards from each version of the game in the Card Meanings section below though.
Looking for specific UNO Harry Potter rules? | Setup | Playing the Game | Card Meanings | Calling UNO | Winning the Game | Scoring |
Setup
- Choose a player to be the dealer. They will shuffle all of the cards.
- The Dealer deals seven cards facedown to each player. Players can look at their own cards, but they shouldn’t show them to the other players.
- Place the remaining cards facedown on the table to create the Draw Pile. Turn over the top card from the Draw Pile to form the Discard Pile. If you turn over an Action Card (anything that is not a number card), you will ignore the card and flip over another card. In older versions of UNO Harry Potter you will apply the action of an Action Card that is flipped over to start the game.
- The player to the left of the dealer starts the game. Play moves clockwise to start the game.
How to Play UNO Harry Potter
On your turn you will try to play a card from your hand to the Discard Pile. In order to play a card it has to match at least one attribute of the top card on the Discard Pile.
- Color
- Number
- Symbol
If you have a card in your hand that matches at least one attribute of the top card on the Discard Pile, you can play the card. If you have multiple cards that you can play, you choose one of the cards to play.
Should you play an Action Card, you will take the corresponding action. See the corresponding Card Meanings section below for more details.
When you have a card that you can play, you can choose not to play it. If you choose not to play a card, you will treat the rest of your turn as if you didn’t have a card that you could play. You cannot choose later on your turn to play the card that you chose not to play.
After you play a card your turn ends. Play passes to the next player in turn order.
Drawing a Card
If you do not have a card that you can play or you choose not to play a card, you will draw the top card from the Draw Pile. Look at the card that you just drew. If you can play the card you just drew, you can immediately play it to the Discard Pile. Should you not be able to play the card you just drew, you will add the card to your hand.
If the Draw Pile ever runs out of cards, you will shuffle the Discard Pile in order to create a new Draw Pile.
After you draw a card your turn ends. Play passes to the next player in turn order.
UNO Harry Potter Card Meanings
Numbers
Number cards have no special ability in the game. You can only play them if they match the color or number of the top card on the Discard Pile.
Draw Two
When you play a Draw Two card, the next player in turn order has to draw two cards. They also lose their turn.
You can play a Draw Two card on top of another Draw Two card, or on a card that matches its color. If a Draw Two card is played against you, you cannot play your own Draw Two card in order to avoid drawing cards.
Reverse
The Reverse card changes the direction of play. If play was moving clockwise (left), it will now move counterclockwise (right). If play was moving counterclockwise (right), it will now move clockwise (left).
You can play a Reverse card on top of another Reverse card or on a card that matches its color.
Skip
When a Skip card is played, the next player in turn order loses their turn.
You can play a Skip card on top of another Skip card or on a card that matches its color. If a Skip card is played against you, you cannot play your own Skip card in order to avoid losing your turn.
Wild
The Wild card matches every other card in the game so you can play it on any turn. When you play a Wild you choose the color of the Discard Pile. You can choose any of the four colors including the color it was when you played the card.
Wild Draw Four
The Wild Draw Four is like a Wild in that it matches every card in the game. Unlike Wild cards though, the Wild Draw Four has restrictions on when you can play it. If you have a card in your hand that matches the color of the Discard Pile, you cannot play a Wild Draw Four. Wild cards count as matching the color of the Discard Pile.
The player that plays the Wild Draw Four gets to choose the color for the Discard Pile. The color they choose has no impact on any potential challenge of the card.
The next player in turn order has a choice to make.
First they can accept that the card was played correctly. In this case they will have to draw four cards and they will lose their turn.
Challenging a Wild Draw Four
If you think the player played the Wild Draw Four incorrectly, you can challenge the play of the card. The player that played the card has to show you their entire hand. You are looking for a card that matches the color of the Discard Pile from before the Wild Draw Four was played.
If you do not find a card that matches the color, they played the Wild Draw Four correctly. Since you incorrectly challenged, you have to draw six cards instead of the four you would have had to draw if you didn’t challenge. You also still lose your turn.
Should you find a card that matches the color, the player played the Wild Draw Four incorrectly. Since they played the card incorrectly, they will have to draw the four cards instead of you. You also still get to take your turn.
Wild Howler
This card is exclusive to the 2000 version of UNO Harry Potter.
When you play the Howler card, the next player in turn order reveals to the other players what cards they have in their hand. The next player in turn order also loses their turn.
Wild Invisibility
This card is exclusive to the 2000 version of UNO Harry Potter.
Should another player play a card that impacts you, you can use the Invisibility Wild card to protect yourself.
Wild Sorting Hat
This card is present in the 2018-2021 versions of UNO Harry Potter.
When you play a Wild Sorting Hat card, the next player in turn order has to draw cards from the Draw Pile. They have to keep drawing cards until they draw a card with a student in Gryffindor (#1-4). The player adds all of the cards they end up drawing to their hand.
The card is also wild so the player that plays it gets to choose the color for the Discard Pile.
Should the Wild Sorting Hat card be flipped over to start the game/hand, the player to the left of the dealer gets to choose the color for the Discard Pile.
Wild Voldemort
This card is exclusive to the 2010 version of UNO Harry Potter.
The player who plays the Voldemort card gets to immediately discard any cards from their hand that feature Harry Potter (#2, #6, #9). The card you discard last determines the Discard Pile’s color.
You can use the Wild Voldemort card to discard the last cards from your hand and win the game/hand. When you only have one card left though you still must say UNO.
Should you have no Harry Potter cards in your hand, the Wild Voldemort card is treated like a normal Wild card.
Calling UNO
When you only have one card left in your hand, you should call out UNO. This is to let the other players know that you are close to winning the game.
Should you not say UNO and another player catches you, you have to draw two cards from the Draw Pile. The other players have to catch you before the next player takes their turn.
Winning the Game
UNO Harry Potter ends when one of the players play the last card from their hand. The player that plays the last card from their hand wins the game.
In older versions of UNO Harry Potter, the game only uses the scoring rules (see below).
Scoring
Players could choose to play a series of hands to determine the winner of the game. This is the default for older versions of the game.
The winner of each hand collects all of the cards left in the other players’ hands. If the last card forces a player to draw cards, they will draw the corresponding number of cards which the winner also collects. The winner scores points for each card they collect as follows:
- Number cards – Face value
- Draw Two, Reverse, Skip – 20 points each
- Wild, Wild Draw Four, Wild Howler, Wild Invisibility, Wild Sorting Hat, Wild Voldemort – 50 points each
The winner writes down how many points they scored. Players will keep playing rounds until a player has scored 500 or more total points. The player that scores the most points wins the game.
Components
2021 Edition
- 19 Blue Cards (one 0, two each of 1-9)
- 19 Green Cards (one 0, two each of 1-9)
- 19 Red Cards (one 0, two each of 1-9)
- 19 Yellow Cards (one 0, two each of 1-9)
- 8 Draw Two Cards (two of each color)
- 8 Reverse Cards (two of each color)
- 8 Skip Cards (two of each color)
- 8 Wild Cards
- 8 Wild Draw Four Cards
- 8 Wild Sorting Hat Cards
- Instructions
Year: 2000, 2010, 2018, 2021 | Publisher: Mattel
Genres: Card Family
Ages: 7+ | Number of Players: 2-10 | Length of Game: 10-30 minutes
Difficulty: Light | Strategy: Light | Luck: High
For more board and card game rules/how to plays, check out our complete alphabetical list of card and board game rules posts.