UNO Day; celebrating a global favorite

January 11th is UNO Day in Japan, a celebration created by Mattel International to honor one of the world’s most beloved card games. The date was chosen because “uno” means “one” in Spanish and Italian, making 1/11 the perfect numerical tribute. 

The game’s appeal lies in its simple rules, fast pace, and the thrill of shouting “UNO!” when you’re down to your last card. Its mix of strategy and sabotage - thanks to action cards like Skip, Reverse, and Draw Two. Its a great game for all ages. We always have a deck of UNO in the house and a pack in our emergency kit too. When we camped more frequently, we also had a pack in our camping grab bag!

UNO was invented in 1971 and became widely popular after its commercial release in 1979. It arrived to the Japan the same year.  With more than 150 million sets sold worldwide, UNO remains a family staple, a party essential, and a nostalgic favorite. Have you played UNO lately!? Santa brought the "All Wild" UNO variation a couple of weeks ago, so there's a bit of a renewed boom in our house at the moment!