UNO for the iPhone/iPod Touch

Product Category: iPhone/iPod Touch Game
Developer: Gameloft
Where to Buy: iTunes Store
Price: $7.99
System Requirements: iPhone/iPod Touch
Specifications: Requires about 60 Mb free for install.

Pros:

• Has many multiplayer options;
• Hours of playability;
• Fun sound effects.

Cons:

• Slight bug in the draw four challenge;
• Online play isn't available over Edge or the 3G network.

Summary:
UNO for the iPhone is a great implementation of the classic card game. It is a good game for casual gamers, and it supports many alternate rules.

UNO is Here

Figure 1: UNO in action.

UNO for the iPhone/iPod Touch is finally here! This implementation of the classic card game is extremely well done and a lot of fun to play. There is support for alternate rules, including jump-in and cumulative penalties. There's also support for multiplayer, including online play (over WiFi only).

If you're familiar with UNO, you can jump right in and start playing. There's a tutorial for UNO beginners. The game is played in landscape mode with the player's cards lined up against the bottom of the screen. To throw a card on your turn, you simply select it with your finger and drag it to the center of the screen. When you get down to two cards, the UNO button will appear next to your hand on your turn, allowing you to call UNO before you throw your next to last card.

Multiplayer and Sounds

Figure 2: Winning a hand.

There are three multiplayer modes. The first is multiplayer over a WiFi network. This allows you to play UNO with other iPhone/iPod touch owners over a local network.  The next is One Device (or hot seat) multiplayer, where one iPhone is passed around from one player to the next. Finally, there is online play. Online play only works over a WiFi network however, and I'm hoping this is addressed in an update to the game.

The sound effects are bouncy and fun, as one would expect from an UNO game. I did find the music a tad annoying after awhile and I shut it off.

Options

Figure 3: UNO's Main Menu.

There's plenty of customization here. UNO for the iPhone supports alternate rules, including Jump-in, Force Play (where you must play a wild card in your hand if you have no other playable card), and UNO 7-0 (every time a zero is played cards are passed to the next player. Every time a 7 is played cards are switched with the player of your choice.)

I did notice one bug in the game. When a draw four wild card is played, it can be challenged. Another wild card, however, serves to satisfy the challenge, which isn't how the game is usually played in practice. This is minor however, and once you get used to it, you learn not to throw draw four wilds unless it is your only option.

Conclusion
UNO for the iPhone/iPod Touch is a great game. There's plenty of playability for casual gamers, and there's plenty of multiplayer options as well.

Joe Johaneman is a programmer and web designer in Honesdale, PA. Joe is also an amateur photographer and graphic designer.