Sales skyrocketed-more than 100 million Uno games have been sold since it was invented in 1971, thanks in part to Mattel’s purchase of International Games in 1992.īut despite the game's popularity, most of us aren't exactly playing it the way that the creator intended. But word-of-mouth was still going strong: Over a span of three or four years, nearly 40,000 people wrote the company to ask where they could find a copy of the new card game craze they had heard about.Īnd in 1978, International Games got their big break: K-Mart agreed to put Uno in their stores on a national level. Distributors weren’t interested, and toy stores didn’t want to stock it. Tezak was such a firm believer in the product that he founded International Games, Inc., just to market Uno.Īt first, International Games looked like it would have to fold. Robbins’ instinct was right-it was a hit, and word-of-mouth spread quickly.īy 1972, Robbins was reportedly able to sell the rights to funeral parlor owner Robert Tezak from Joliet, Illinois, for $50,000 and a 10-cent-per-deck royalty. They saved up $8000 to pay for the first printing of the game, just 5000 copies to be sold at the barber shop and the local Kiwanis Club. The rest of the Robbins family ( including his wife, Marie, his son Ray, and his daughter-in-law Kathy) agreed that he was on to something.

He played it with friends and family, who enjoyed it so much that Robbins wondered if he could market it outside of his social circle. In 1971, a barber and devoted card player named Merle Robbins developed the game based loosely on the rules for Crazy Eights.

With commands like Skip, Draw Two, Draw Four, and Reverse, it can get pretty cutthroat for a family-friendly card game-and that's despite the fact that most people aren't even playing by the official rules.

Some of the most hardcore gamers appreciate Uno.

Uno game rules