UNO Flex Rules: How to play UNO Flex?

In this post, I will explain the rules and instructions for how to play UNO Flex.

Let’s get started!

What is UNO Flex and Its Objective?

Uno Flex by Mattel is almost similar but can be said to be a spin on the classic version of the UNO game. There are additional Flex cards just to add a twist to the game. Also, the UNO Flex cards have special graphic notches for color-blind people to play easily.

The game’s objective is like the classic Uno version eliminating all the cards immediately. 

UNO Flex Rules

In this section, let’s learn about the Action Cards, Flex cards, power cards and their rules in the game UNO Flex.

Action Cards

Action cards are like regular UNO cards with different rules attached to them. Here are the action cards in UNO Flex:

Draw Two Card

When a player plays the Draw two card, the next player, in turn, needs to draw two cards from the Draw pile while they lose their original turn in the game. 

Reverse Card

When a player plays the reverse card, the game direction gets reversed. If the game continues in the clockwise direction, it will move in the anticlockwise direction and vice versa. 

Skip Card

The skip card acts the same as in the classic Uno rules. When a player plays the Skip card, the next player will lose their turn. 

Wild All Flip card

Players flip their power cards to the opposite side when playing the wild all-flip card. After this, the player who played the Wild All Flip card will get to decide the color for the Wild all flip card. 

Flex Cards

UNO flex cards are a new type of card that add more fun and strategy to the classic UNO card game. Unlike regular UNO cards, flex cards have two sides that show different colors or actions.

Players can choose to “flex” between the two sides of a flex card to make a match with the previous card played.

For example, if the previous card was a red 7, a player can use a flex card that shows red on one side and green on the other side and change it to green to match their hand.

There are also power cards and action cards that have flex options. Power cards are special cards that have powerful effects on the game, such as reversing the direction of play, skipping a player’s turn, or making someone draw four cards. Action cards are similar to power cards, but they offer a second, more powerful alternative to the indicated action. 

For example, an action card that normally makes someone draw two cards can be flexed to make someone draw four cards instead.

UNO flex cards make the game more exciting and unpredictable by giving players more choices and chances to change the course of the game. They also add more challenge and skill by requiring players to think strategically about when and how to use their flex options.

Here are the different Flex Action cards and power cards of the Game:

Flex Draw two Card

A flex draw two cards will behave as the regular draw two cards when you play it through its regular side.

But when the player plays this card for the Flex side, all the other players will have to draw a card, and the following players in the order will not lose their turn. 

Flex Reverse Card

Like the other flex cards, when the player plays the normal side of the flex reverse card, it acts as a regular flex card.

However, when the player plays the flex side of it, this card will act both as a skip card and a reverse card. When a player plays the flex side of this card, the players will move in the opposite direction.

Flex Skip Card

If you will play the Flex skip card for the regular side, it acts like any other regular skip card. If the player plays the flex side, the other players will skip or lose their turn, and the player who just played the card will take another turn. 

Flex Wild Target Draw 2 Card

The cards will act as a standard wild draw of two cards for the regular side. However, if a player chooses the flex side, it will act as a draw-two card. Since the card is wild, you can choose the color. 

Flex Wild All Draw Card

This usually yields the same results as the regular wild card. If the player chooses to play the flex side of this card, all the other players of the game will be forced to draw two cards, and the next player won’t lose their turn. 

Flex Wild Draw Four Card

You can play the wild draw four cards if you don’t have any other matching card to match the Discard pile’s last card. The next player has two options if a player plays the flex wild draw four cards. They can either draw four cards (as usually happens). They can also challenge the Wild Draw Fourplay. 

Power Card

The role of the power card is to allow a player to flex their card.

• If the power card has a green ✅, it is a check that is ready to go, and
• if the Power Card has a red cross ❌, it means the player has to wait. 

Things to Know Before Playing UNO Flex

How to play UNO Flex?

The UNO Flex game has a total of 112 cards which includes 8 power cards.

Setting Up UNO Flex Card Game

Like other Uno versions, the primary game objective is to eliminate all the cards at hand before any other player does. Setting Up the game is different from the other versions.

The first task is to segregate the standard cards from the Power cards. Each player will be handed one power card, and the remaining one will be handed to the box. As per the rules, the players must begin with the green tick(✅) side on the Power Card.

Now, it is time to assign one player as the dealer, who will shuffle the deck and hand over 7 cards to each player.

The rest of the cards will be placed in the center of the table, forming the Draw pile. The topmost card of the draw pile will be flipped to form the foundation of the discard pile.

The game starts with the player leaving for the dealer and proceeding clockwise. 

Playing the game

Playing the game is relatively easy. When players get their turn, they will play a card from hand to the Discard pile.

To play the card to the Discard pile, the card must match the topmost card of the discard pile by number, color, or symbol.

The game will attain a particular action when a player plays any action card. If a player has no matching card to dump into the discard pile, they must draw a card from the Draw pile. 

Ending the game

The game ends when one of the players has no more remaining cards at hand. When a player has only one remaining card, they must call out Uno to be aware of the other players.

The first player who scores 500 points wins the game. However, this is an optional method to play with the score. If you play by this method then you need to do keep score as below:

Keeping Score

Tracking the score in Uno flex is one of the biggest challenges.

In this game, here are the scores:

• The number cards are worth their face value.
• The skip, flex draw two, flex skip, skip, flex reverse, and reverse cards are worth 20 points each.
• The wild All flip, wild draw four, flex wild all draw and flex wild target draw 2 cards are worth 50 points each. 

UNO Flex Notches for Color Blind People

In case a player is color blind, they can also play the game easily as the Yellow, Green, Blue, and red color cards are marked by different demarcation signs.

1. The Yellow card is marked by a single notch,
2. The green card is marked by two notches,
3. The blue card is marked by three notches, and
4. The red card is marked by four notches.

Tips to Win UNO Flex

Here are some strategies to win Uno Flex: 

• Try to reduce the number of cards at hand. This is the ideal strategy to win Uno Flex
• Keep a check on the opponent’s gameplay. Since this is a competitive game, it is natural to lose it if anyone else completes the quest before you. 
• The action cards and power cards should not be used rampantly. These cards hold much worth in the game, and thus it is vital to keep them aside just to use them at the right time. 

My Thoughts After Playing UNO Flex

Uno Flex is a fantastic game that can be played by everyone above 7 years. It is a great way to form family bondings and spend time indoors.

It is highly helpful for developing children’s cognitive capacity and developing a sense of cooperation and collaboration in them. Uno flex is almost similar to Uno classic, with a few more twists to make it even more complex and challenging.

Here is the Official Instruction Sheet of UNO Flex By Mattel which I used as a Reference.