UNO Paw Patrol Card Game Rules Explained With Pictures

Objective

The objective of UNO Paw Patrol is to play all of the cards from your hand before the other players.

Setup

Each player randomly draws a card. The player that draws the highest number becomes the dealer. Action cards count as zero.
The dealer shuffles all of the cards and deals seven cards to each player.
Place the rest of the cards face down on the table in order to form the Draw Pile.
Turn over the top card from the Draw Pile in order to form the Discard Pile. If you flip over an Action card, you will take the corresponding action (see the card’s section below).
The player to the left of the dealer starts the game. Play moves clockwise to start the game

How to Play UNO Paw Patrol

On your turn you will try to play a card from your hand to the Discard Pile. To play a card it has to match one of the following elements of the top card on the Discard Pile.

Color
Number
Symbol

If you have a card that matches one of these criteria, you can play it to the Discard Pile. If you have two or more cards that match, you can choose which card you want to play. Should you play an Action card, you will take the corresponding action. See the corresponding section below for more details.

Playing a card in UNO Paw Patrol — The top card on the Discard Pile is a green three. The cards along the bottom are examples of cards that the next player could play. They could play the green two because it matches the color. You could play the red three because it matches the number. Finally the last three cards could be played because they are wild.

Playing a card that matches the symbol — The top card on the Discard Pile is a Reverse card. You could play another Reverse card because it matches the symbol.

Drawing a Card

If you do not have a card in your hand that you can play, you will draw the top card from the Draw Pile.

You may also choose to draw a card even if you have a card in your hand that you can play. If you choose to draw a card, you cannot decide later on your turn to play the card from your hand.

Should you draw a card that you can play, you can play it immediately. Otherwise you will add the card to your hand. Your turn then ends. Play passes to the next player in turn order.

If the Draw Pile ever runs out of cards, shuffle the Discard Pile to form a new Draw Pile.

UNO Paw Patrol Card Meanings

Numbers

Number cards have no special action. You can only play a number card if it matches the number or color of the top card on the Discard Pile.

Draw 2

When you play a Draw 2 card, the next player in turn order has to draw two cards. They also lose their next turn.

You may play a Draw 2 card on top of another Draw 2 card, or a card that matches its color. If a player plays a Draw 2 card against you, you cannot play your own Draw 2 card to avoid having to draw cards.

If a Draw 2 card is turned over to start the hand, the first player in turn order has to draw two cards and they lose their turn.

Reverse

The Reverse card changes the direction of play. If play was moving clockwise (left), it will now move counter-clockwise (right). If play was moving counter-clockwise (right), it will now move clockwise (left).

You can play Reverse cards on top of other Reverse cards or other cards that match their color.

Should a Reverse card be turned over to start a hand, the dealer starts the hand. Play will move right to start the game.

Skip

When you play a Skip card, the next player in turn order loses their turn.

You may play a Skip card on top of another Skip card, or a card that matches its color. If a Skip card is played against you, you can’t play a Skip card to avoid the punishment.

If a Skip card is turned up to start the hand, the player to the left of the dealer loses their turn. The player to their left starts the hand.

Wild

Wild cards match all of the other cards in the game. Therefore you can play them at any time. You can even play a Wild card if you have another card in your hand that you can play.

When you play a Wild card, you choose the color for the Discard Pile. You can choose any of the four colors including the color it was when you played the Wild card.

Should a Wild card be flipped over to start the hand, the player to the left of the dealer chooses the color for the Discard Pile and takes their turn.

Wild Draw 4

The Wild Draw 4 matches all of the other cards in the game so it can be played at any time. There is a catch though. You can only play a Wild Draw 4 if you have no cards in your hand that match the color of the Discard Pile. You can play a Wild Draw 4 card if you only have cards that match the number/symbol. The rules do not specifically mention if Wild cards count as matching the color. In most newer versions of UNO, wilds are considered matches for the color. This version does specifically say that you can play matching Action cards though which includes Wild cards.

Playing a Wild Draw Four card — The current player has played a Wild Draw 4 on top of a yellow zero card.

When you play a Wild Draw 4 card you will choose the color for the Discard Pile. You can choose any of the four colors including the color it was when you played the card.

If a Wild Draw 4 card is turned over to start the hand, return it to the deck and flip over another card.

The Wild Draw 4 card forces the next player in turn order to draw four cards and lose their turn.

Challenging the Wild Draw 4

If you think a Wild Draw 4 was played incorrectly against you (the player had a card in their hand that matches the current color), you can challenge the play of the card.

The player who played the Wild Draw 4 has to show you their entire hand. You will look at the cards to see if there was a matching card.

If the player played the card correctly (they did not have any cards in their hand that matched the color), the challenge fails. The challenger now has to draw six cards (instead of four) and still loses their turn.

Playing a Wild Draw 4 correctly — The player that played the Wild Draw 4 did not have a yellow card in their hand. Therefore they played the card correctly. The challenging player now has to draw six cards.

If the player played the card incorrectly (they had a matching color card in their hand), the challenge is successful. The person who played the Wild Draw 4 has to draw the four cards instead of the challenger. The challenger also doesn’t lose their turn.

Playing a Wild Draw 4 Incorrectly — The player who played the Wild Draw 4 had a yellow card in their hand. Therefore they played the Wild Draw 4 incorrectly. They will have to draw the four cards instead of the challenger.

Wild Silver Badge

When you play the Wild Silver Badge card, the next player in turn order has to draw cards. They must keep drawing cards until they draw a card that has Chase (#2 and Reverse), Rubble (#6 and Draw 2), or Marshall (#3 and Draw 2) on it. Once they have drawn one of these cards, they will stop drawing cards. They will add all of the cards they drew to their hand. They will also lose their turn.

Having to draw cards after a Wild Silver Badge card is played. — After the Wild Silver Badge card was played, the next player had to draw five cards before they drew one of the cards that stops the Wild Silver Badge’s effect. The player has to add all five cards to their hand.

Since the card is wild, it matches all other cards in the game. Therefore you can play the card at any time. When you play the card you will choose the color of the Discard Pile. You can choose any of the four colors including the color it was when you played the Wild Silver Badge card.

If the Wild Silver Badge card is turned over to start the hand, the player to the left of the dealer chooses the color. They do not have to draw cards. They will then take their normal turn.

Calling UNO

When you only have one card left, you need to call out “UNO”. You need to say UNO in order to let the other players know that you are close to winning the hand.

If you do not say UNO, the other players can catch you. If they catch you before the next player begins their turn, you must draw two cards.

Winning a Round and Scoring

The current round ends when a player plays the last card from their hand. That player has won the round. The winner gathers up all of the cards left in the other players’ hands. If the last card they played was a Draw 2 or a Wild Draw 4, the next player draws the corresponding number of cards before the winner gathers the cards.

The winner scores points for each of the cards they gather as follows:

Numbers – face value
Draw 2, Reverse, Skip – 20 points
Wild, Wild Draw 4, Wild Silver Badge – 50 points

Scoring in UNO Paw Patrol — These cards were left in the players’ hands at the end of the round. The winner of the round collects the cards and scores points from them as follows. They will 13 points from the number cards (1 + 3 + 9). They will score 20 points each from the Draw 2, Reverse, and Skip cards. Finally they will score 50 points each for the Wild, Wild Draw 4, and Wild Silver Badge cards. The winner scores a total of 223 points.

If none of the players have scored 500 or more points, another round is played. All of the cards are shuffled for the next round.

Winning the Game

The first player to score a total of 500 points wins.

Alternative Scoring

You may also choose to play using the alternative scoring rules. Instead of the winner of each round gathering all of the cards left in the other players’ hands, each player scores points for the cards left in their hand. They will score points in the same way as normal scoring.

The game ends when one player has scored 500 or more points. The player with the least points wins the game.

UNO Paw Patrol FAQs

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.

Components

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 2 cards (two of each color)
8 Reverse cards (two of each color)
8 Skip cards (two of each color)
4 Wild cards
4 Wild Draw 4 cards
4 Silver Badge cards
Instructions

Year: 2015 | Publisher: Mattel

Genres: Card, Children’s, Family

Ages: 5+ | Number of Players: 2-10 | Length of Game: 30-60 minutes

Difficulty: Light | Strategy: Light | Luck: High

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Written By:

Eric Mortensen

Eric Mortensen is an owner and head writer on Geeky Hobbies since 2014. He is an avid board game player and collector with over 3,000 board and card games in his collection. Since 2014 he has written more than 1,100 board game how to play guides.