UNO MARIO KART



OBJECTIVE OF UNO MARIO KART: Be the first player to go out each round, be first to score 500 points by the end of the game

NUMBER OF PLAYERS: 2 – 10 players

CONTENTS: 112 cards

TYPE OF GAME: Hand Shedding Card Game

AUDIENCE: Ages 7+


INTRODUCTION OF MARIO KART

UNO Mario Kart is a mashup of the classic UNO hand shedding game and thematic elements from Nintendo’s Mario Kart racing game.  The deck looks very familiar – there are four colors, cards rank 0-9, and all of the action cards are there.  However, in this version, each card has a special item on it that is activated when the Item Box Wild Card is played.  Once activated, players might take another turn, choose an opponent to draw 1 card, or even make everyone else draw 2. 

MATERIALS

The deck consists of 112 cards.  There are four different colored suits including blue, green, red, and yellow.  Each suit has 19 numbered cards ranking 0-9 as well as 8 Draw Two cards, 8 Reverse cards, and 8 Skip cards.  There are 4 Wild Draw Four cards and 8 Wild Item Box Cards

On the bottom left corner of each card is an item.  All of the red cards have mushrooms, the yellow cards have banana peels, green cards have green shells, blue cards have lightning bolts, and the Wild cards have Bob-ombs. 

SETUP

 Each player draws a card from the deck.  The person who draws the highest ranking card deals first.  All action cards including Wilds count as 0’s. 

The first dealer shuffles the cards and deals 7 to each player one card at a time.  The rest of the cards are placed face down as the stock in the center of the table.  The top card is flipped over to begin the discard pile.  If a Wild Draw Four is flipped over, shuffle it back into the deck and try again.  The game cannot start with a Wild Draw Four.  If a Wild Item Box card is turned over to begin the discard pile, the dealer picks which color the first player must match.

In following rounds, the deal passes left.

THE PLAY

Typically, the game begins with the player seated to the left of the dealer.  However, if the card turned over by the dealer is a Reverse, the dealer gets to go first.  If the card is a Draw Two, the player seated left of the dealer must draw two and pass their turn.  If the card is a Skip, the player seated left of the dealer is skipped.

A PLAYER’S TURN

A player has a few options on their turn.  They may play a card from their hand that matches the color, number or symbol on the top card of the discard pile.  They can also play a Wild Draw Four or a Wild Item Box card if they wish.  If a player cannot (or chooses not) to play a card from their hand, they must draw one card from the stock.  If the card can be played, the player can choose to do so.  If they do not want to play the card, or they are unable to play it, they end their turn and pass.

ACTION CARDS

When an action card is played, the action on the card must be completed.

Draw Two – the next player must draw two cards from the stock and pass their turn (they do not get to play a card)

Reverse – play switches directions (going right instead of left, or left instead of right)

Skip – the next player is skipped and cannot play a card

Wild Item Box Card – the top card from the stock is immediately turned over and placed on the discard pile with that card’s item activated

Wild Draw Four – the person who played this card gets to pick the color that must be followed, the next player must draw four cards (unless they challenge the Wild Draw Four) and pass their turn without playing a card.

ACTIVATED ITEM ABILITIES

The item located on the card that is flipped over is immediately activated.

Mushroom – the person who played the Wild Item Box card immediately takes another turn, and if they do not have a card to play, they must draw like normal.

Banana peel – the person who went right before the player who played the Wild Item Box card must draw two cards

Green shell – the person who played the Wild Item Box card chooses one opponent who must draw one card

Lightning bolt – everyone else at the table must draw one card, and the person who played the Wild Item Box card gets to take another turn

Bob-omb – the player who played the Wild Item Box card must draw two cards and pick the color that must be played next

Remember, if the card turned over is an action card (Draw Two, Skip, Reverse, Draw Four), that action does not happen.  Only the item on the card is activated.

CHALLENGING THE WILD DRAW FOUR

When a Wild Draw Four is played, the next player may challenge the card if they wish.  If the Wild Draw Four is challenged, the person who played must show the Challenger their hand.  If they did have a card that matched the COLOR of the top card from the discard pile, that player must draw four instead.  The person that played the Wild Draw Four still gets to pick the color that must be played though.  Play continues normally from there.

If the Challenger was wrong, and the player did not have a card that matched the color of the top card from the discard pile, the Challenger must draw SIX cards for losing the challenge.  Their turn ends without them playing a card to the discard pile. 

SAYING UNO

As a player places their second to last card on the discard pile, they must cry out UNO to let the table know they have one card remaining.  If they forget to do so, and another player at the table says UNO first, that player must draw two cards as a penalty.

ENDING THE ROUND

Once a player has played their final card, the round ends.  If the final card was a Draw Two or Wild Draw Four, the next player must still draw those cards.

SCORING

The player who empties their hand and wins the round earns points equal to the value of the cards left in their opponents’ hands. 

0-9 = points equal to the number of the card

Draw Two, Skip, Reverse = 20 points each

Wild Item Box Card, Wild Draw Four = 50 points

WINNING

Continue playing rounds until one player earns 500 points or more.  That player is the winner.

Mark Ball
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