How multiplayer Uno works

Playing Uno online with other people, step by step: the code, the seats, the table rules, and what happens when somebody drops out.

Getting everyone to the table

One player opens the table, which needs a free account, and becomes the host. The table gets a six-character code; read it out, or press "Copy link" and send the invitation to your group. Everyone who opens it chooses a name and sits down as a guest, with nothing to install and no account to make.

Uno seats two to ten. Everybody has to be in the lobby before the host deals, because a game that has started cannot be joined. If you are one short, the host can press "Add an opponent" to seat a bot.

Seats, turns and the match

Players sit in the order they joined, and that is the order of play: the first hand starts with the first player to sit down, and each new hand starts one seat further round. The host chooses the length of the match, 200 or 500 points, and everyone sees the choice in their own lobby.

Everybody sees the top card, the colour in play, which way the game is going and how many cards each player holds. Your own hand is sent only to you.

The parts that involve everybody

Forgetting to say uno is the one thing another player can do something about. When somebody plays their second-to-last card without saying it, the other players get a button to catch them, and the first to press it makes them draw two — as long as it is pressed before the next player takes their turn.

A wild draw four is answered by the player it lands on: they can challenge it or draw four. A successful challenge makes the player who played it draw four instead; a wrong one costs the challenger six.

Between hands

When a player goes out, the table shows what the hand was worth, and the next hand is dealt by itself a few seconds later. The first player to reach the target wins the match.

There is no chat at the table, so the uno call and the challenges are the table talk. Groups that want to argue about a draw four do it on a call.

When somebody leaves

A player whose page closes or whose connection drops is shown as away, and their seat is held for twenty-five seconds. After that a bot plays their hand so the game does not stop, and they take the seat back simply by opening the table again. A player who presses Leave mid-game is replaced by a bot for the rest of it.

If the host leaves, hosting passes to whoever has been sitting longest. Tables with no activity for six hours are cleared away.