I remember Uno being one of the first card games I was ever introduced to, and I loved it. The game was simple and fun, with brightly coloured cards, which was all it took to make a young kid happy. Yet in the years since, I had not once touched Uno for whatever reason. In fact, when I first fired up the iPhone version of Uno, it had been so long since I had last played it that I remembered next to nothing about the game. Of course, it didn’t take long to get caught up, and I soon found that Uno was still as enjoyable as I remembered it being, though this iPhone version is not without some niggling issues.

For the uninitiated, Uno is played in a points format, with the first player to 500 points being the victor, though the iPhone version mixes things up a bit by allowing you to specify the amount of points needed to win, be it just 250 or as much as 5,000 for mammoth gaming sessions. The object of the game is to get rid of all the cards in your deck, with points being scored based on how many cards your opponent has left in their deck once you’ve finished, and types of cards remaining.

Each player is initially dealt seven cards, with the remaining cards forming a draw pile. Cards can only be used if the color or number matches that of the top card in the discard pile i.e the last card played, which in the case of player one is the initial card in the discard pile which is taken from the top of the draw pile. In addition to the standard 0-9 cards, there are wild cards and lettered cards, which add a good deal of variety to the game. Wild Cards can be used in any situation, allowing the player to call out whichever colour they wish, even the same as the current colour if desired. The word cards are generally sneaky cards, which punish your opponents when used, like the Draw 2 Cards card, forcing your opponent to not only have to draw two cards into their hand, but they also lose their turn as well.

So the core game is as enjoyable as ever, but how do the iPhone features play out? The main issues are the controls and the online play. While playing single player is well and good, most people will admit that playing games of this type against the computer can only entertain for so long. These are games which just scream to be played against others. Uno IPhone does have online play via WiFi, with leaderboards and customizable avatars. While not flawless (I did experience the occasional drop out or crash while playing online, it’s certainly a fun time, and there always seems to be games going.

The touch controls are simple and work well enough, though with just enough delay between action and on-screen recognition to be annoying at times. Simply touch and drag a card to play it, or double tap it to do the same. The only other little quirk is the Uno button, which must be tapped when you’re down to your last card (like the actual game, which requires you to say Uno, with penalties for not doing so).

Uno features some other nice little touches, like various backgrounds that can be unlocked through play to spice up your game, and which can also be used in the game’s online mode when hosting games. With some additional options and online play, Uno is a great choice for fans of the game, or those who, like me, had not played it for some time, or at all.

Pros:

• Colourful and cheerful, much like the card game itself
• Enjoyable game, with plenty of quirks to keep things fresh

Cons:

• Can grow tiresome in single player mode
• Touch controls and online play are not flawless

Price: $4.99

Score: 8/10

Uno on iTunes