UNO is the first game I’ve played with my kids where it doesn’t feel like some stupid kid game. I honestly would rather sit and do something mildly unpleasant than play Chutes and Ladders or Candyland. UNO, on the other hand is actually fun.
Even a three year-old-can play UNO. I’m not trying to insult anyone by saying that, so if you don’t know how to play UNO don’t be offended. What I mean is a three year old can match colors and numbers and have the dumb luck of running out of cards first, which is what UNO’s all about.
However, playing with a three-year-old is a bit like playing with the Alan character from The Hangover (not the card-counting scene, the peeing-on-the-floor scene). They generally cannot fan their cards, so their cards are all over the floor. Or sometimes they’ll stick the cards between their toes. And picking one card from the top of the deck is tough for them. Sometimes they pick two or three, and sometimes the cards are chosen from the middle. And they run around in circles when it’s not their turn.
My five-year-old, the other hand, is a fierce competitor with intense concentration. She hates to lose. I think this would be the case under any circumstance, but I make sure to celebrate on her and talk smack when I win (I’m not sure what the American Academy of Pediatrics advises on age to begin smack talk, but I’m sure they have it wrong. One of my fundamental beliefs in life is that success is determined by how well one can handle adversity, and smack talk is a key part of that).
Today, for example, she giggled and kicked her little legs when she threw down two “plus four” cards on me in a row. The she told me I was “going to be sorry” and later threatened to “take me down to China”, leaving off “town”, a key part of smack talk. When it was her turn to deal the cards, I made the mistake of leaving the room. I came back in to find that the pile was no longer a pile, but what looked like a bunch of cards on the floor that someone had rifled through for the best ones. She beat me in seven straight cards and wagged her little tush at me.
To give her credit, she’s playing with strategy. She reserves her wild cards to the end of the game. When she throws a wild card, she assesses and picks the color with the most cards of hers remaining. Small things, but she’s learning to think. And when I look back to the last time I was in Vegas and found myself at a craps table with a woman who didn’t understand that a four came up less than a seven, perhaps she’s ahead of a number of adults.
All joking aside, games with your kids are a godsend: you spend time together having fun, you’re engaged and in the moment, you build some basic skills, and you’re not staring at a glowing rectangle.
