Photo: Bea Vallejo on Unsplash
How Uno scoring works
In Uno, only one person scores each round: the first player to play their last card. The others turn over the cards left in their hand, and the round winner pockets the total of all those cards. The other players score nothing, and they don’t lose anything either.
What each card is worth:
- number cards are worth their number, from 0 to 9: a 6 is worth 6 points, a 0 is worth nothing;
- Draw Two, Reverse and Skip are worth 20 points each;
- Wild and Wild Draw Four are worth 50 points each.
Rounds follow one another, and each player adds what they win to their score. The first player to reach 500 points wins the game. Since only one player scores each round, there can’t be a tie at the finish.
Uno is a trademark of Mattel. Buzzloo has no connection with Mattel: our counter just adds up your points.
Worked examples, round by round
A typical round. Chloe plays her last card. Diego is left with a 3, a 7 and a Draw Two: 3 + 7 + 20 = 30 points. Aisha holds a Wild and a 5: 50 + 5 = 55 points. Noah has a 0, a 9, a Skip and a Reverse: 0 + 9 + 20 + 20 = 49 points. Chloe scores 30 + 55 + 49 = 134 points.
An expensive round. This time, Noah goes out. Chloe kept two Wild Draw Fours and an 8: 50 + 50 + 8 = 108 points. Diego has two 2s and a 6: 2 + 2 + 6 = 10 points. Aisha has a Reverse and a 1: 20 + 1 = 21 points. Noah scores 108 + 10 + 21 = 139 points.
A game to 500. The first two rows are the rounds above. On each row, only the round winner scores:
| Round | Chloe | Diego | Aisha | Noah |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 134 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 139 |
| 3 | 0 | 0 | 87 | 0 |
| 4 | 96 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 5 | 0 | 152 | 0 | 0 |
| 6 | 118 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 7 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 64 |
| 8 | 171 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Total | 519 | 152 | 87 | 203 |
The deciding round. Before the eighth round, Chloe has 348 points (134 + 96 + 118) and Noah 203 (139 + 64). Chloe goes out first again. Diego is holding a Wild Draw Four, a Wild and a 7: 50 + 50 + 7 = 107 points. Aisha has a Draw Two and a 4: 20 + 4 = 24 points. Noah has a Skip, a Reverse and a 0: 20 + 20 + 0 = 40 points. Chloe scores 107 + 24 + 40 = 171 points and moves up to 519: she wins the game.
With the Buzzloo score counter
At the top of this page, type the players' names, then create the game. You get a link to send on WhatsApp, by text message, or to copy. Everyone opens it on their phone and sees the same scoreboard, updated live.
Only one person keeps score: whoever created the game. They can hand over the pen to someone else with a separate link, and take it back whenever they like. Everyone else watches.
For each round, tap the name of the round winner, then type the total of each other player’s hand. The site does the adding and shows you the calculation before you confirm. A typo? You can undo the last round, and fix a name.
At the end, the winner appears in big letters, with the ranking. You can share the result in the group chat, or start a new game with the same group. Your group keeps its game history: who wins most often, how many wins for each name.
It’s free, nothing to install, no account and no email address: first names are enough. A game is deleted 30 days after its last round, a group’s history 6 months after its last game.
Common mistakes
- Counting a Draw Two as 2 points. It’s worth 20, like Reverse and Skip. And a Wild Draw Four is worth 50, not 4.
- Giving points to the other players. Under the basic rule, only the round winner scores: they take the total of everyone else’s hands.
- Forgetting cards drawn at the last second. If the last card played is a Draw Two or a Wild Draw Four, the next player usually draws those cards before anyone counts: they’re added to that player’s hand.
- Mixing two ways of scoring. If your table keeps everyone’s penalties instead of giving everything to the winner, everyone needs to know before the first round.
Variations
- Everyone keeps their own penalties. Each player who didn’t go out writes down the total of their own hand, and the round winner writes 0. When someone reaches 500, the game ends and the lowest total wins. With the first example round, Chloe would write 0, Diego 30, Aisha 55 and Noah 49. To play this way, use the score sheet and choose “lowest total wins,” with a limit of 500.
- Stacking Draw Twos and Draw Fours. Some tables let you answer a Draw Two with another Draw Two to pass the penalty on to the next player. That changes the game, not the scoring.
Our counter follows the basic rule: the winner of each round scores the total of everyone else’s hands, and the first to 500 points wins the game.
The end of the game
The game ends as soon as a player reaches 500 points, at the end of the round they just won. They’re the only one who scores in that round, so there are never two winners.
A rematch with other cards? Skyjo and rummy can also be scored with our score counter. To decide who deals first, you can draw a random order. And to wrap up the evening, nothing beats a quick quiz with the quiz buzzer. More ideas are waiting in all the Buzzloo tools.