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UNO Show ‘Em No Mercy

Home » Card Game Rules » Shedding Games » UNO » UNO Show ‘Em No Mercy

Contents

  • Introduction
  • What is Needed
  • Goal
  • Deal and Setting Up
  • Gameplay
  • Special UNO Show ‘Em No Mercy Rules
  • Card Meanings
  • Rules Summary

Introduction

UNO Show 'Em No Mercy

UNO Show ‘Em No Mercy is a more intense and ruthless version of the classic UNO card game. With additional cards and harsher penalties, this UNO edition adds new challenges and tactics to outplay your opponents.

Brush up on these new rules and be prepared to show no mercy!

What is Needed

To play the UNO Show ‘Em No Mercy card game you’ll need:

  • The special deck of playing cards, containing 164 cards (compared to just 108 in a standard deck).
  • The number of players can range from 2 to 10.
  • A flat surface to play on.

Goal

The goal remains to get rid of all your cards, but there are more ways to force opponents to draw extra cards in hopes of mercy kicking them out.

Deal and Setting Up

  1. First, shuffle the deck and deal 7 cards to each player.
  2. Place the remaining cards facedown in a draw pile.
  3. Flip the top card from the draw pile and place it next to the pile to begin a discard pile.

Gameplay

The first player begins by matching the color or number on the top discard card. If unable to match, they must draw cards from the draw pile until they can play. The play continues clockwise.

There are two ways to win a game of UNO Show ‘Em No Mercy:

  • Be the first player to empty your hand by playing all your cards or
  • Be the last player remaining after all other players have been knocked out from the ‘Mercy Rule‘.

Special UNO Show ‘Em No Mercy Rules

The game introduces four new rules on top of the traditional gameplay. Let’s have a look at them below!

Stacking Rule

The stacking rule allows players to combine and stack draw penalties of the same type. Color doesn’t matter here.

For example, if a Draw 2 card is played, the next player can play their own Draw 2 card, passing the penalty to the third player who must now draw 4.

This can continue with additional Draw 2s, Draw 4s, Draw 6s, and Draw 10s being stacked until a player cannot stack and must take the accumulated penalty.

Strategic use of stacking can force opponents to draw large numbers of cards!

7’s Swap

When a player puts down any 7 card, whether a numbered 7 or a Wild Draw 7, they immediately swap their entire hand of cards with another player.

Both players take their new hand and gameplay continues as normal.

Savvy players will use this to try and ditch high card hands while saddling an opponent with extra cards.

0’s Pass

When a 0 card is played, all players must pass their current hand of cards to the left, with the player on their left now taking their cards.

This mass hand swap can radically change the game as players are forced to play with an entirely new set of cards.

Mercy Rule

If any player ends up with 25 or more cards in their hand at the end of a turn, they are immediately knocked out of the game.

Since the goal is to force opponents to pick up cards through actions like stacking and wild draw cards, eliminating players once they hit 25+ cards is considered the “mercy” rule to end prolonged suffering.

Card Meanings

Below you can find an explanation of the different card meanings for UNO Show ‘Em No Mercy.

Special Card Meanings - UNO Show 'em No Mercy

Wild Reverse Draw 4

This acts as a wild card, allowing you to change the color and reverse the turn order. Plus, the next player has to draw 4 cards from the draw pile and lose their turn.

Wild Draw 10

This wild card forces the next player to draw 10 cards!

Skip Everyone

Probably the most powerful card, this allows you to immediately take another turn, skipping over all other players.

Discard All

When you play this card, all players must look in their hand and discard all cards that match the color of the Discard All card.

Wild Color Roulette

The next player chooses a color, and then draws cards from the deck until they get a card of that color. All drawn cards are added to their hand and they lose their turn.

Skip

When played, this card skips the next player’s turn.

Reverse

When a reverse card is played, it reverses the direction of play. For example, if the play is currently clockwise, a reverse card changes it to counter-clockwise.

Draw 2

When this card is played, the next player in sequence must draw 2 cards from the draw pile and lose their turn.

Wild

A wild card allows you to change the color of play to any color of your choosing.

Numbered Cards

These are the basic cards, numbered 1-9 in each of the 4 colors (red, blue, green, yellow).

Numbered cards - UNO No Mercy

Card List

CardHow Many
Numbers (0-9)80
Discard All12
Skip12
Reverse12
Draw 28
Draw 48
Skip Everyone8
Wild Color Roulette8
Wild Reverse Draw 48
Wild Draw 64
Wild Draw 104

Rules Summary

A summary of the essential UNO Show ‘Em No Mercy rules can be found below:

  • Match cards by number or color
  • Use traditional action cards to skip, reverse, and draw
  • Use new special cards like Wild Draw 10 and Discard All
  • Use new rules like Stacking, Swapping 7’s, and Passing 0’s
  • Mercy Rule: 25+ cards in your hand knocks you out of the game
  • Get down to 1 card and say “UNO”
  • Win by emptying your hand or being the last player standing

All in all, with more ways to force opponents to draw cards, the UNO Show ‘Em No Mercy edition requires skill and strategy to outlast and outplay the competition.

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🕑 Last Updated on May 1, 2025

author

About Paul Dunlop

Paul, a self-proclaimed tabletop games expert, has been playing classics like Bridge and Mahjong competitively for over 25 years. Holding a degree in mathematics, he also loves to solve numeric puzzles regularly.

Comments

  1. T.Hubz

    October 12, 2023 at 12:38 am

    Can you stack a Wild Reverse Draw 4 on top of a normal draw card?

    • Paul Dunlop

      October 16, 2023 at 11:38 am

      In the rules it mentions you are able to stack Draw 2, 4, 6, and 10s. However, no specific mention of the Reverse Draw 4, so I’m not sure..

      However, it would be a fun way to play as you could pass on the penalty to another player!

      • Stasia

        February 9, 2024 at 12:12 am

        You can use stacking rule to send the penalty back to the other player with wild reverse draw 4 card.

  2. Benny

    October 29, 2023 at 6:54 am

    In 2-player game, I play my last card Wild Reverse Draw 4 using the stack rule.
    (In the 2-player game, Wild Reverse Draw 4 makes the player who plays the card draw.)

    Do I win the game immediately? Or do I still need to draw the card due to the stack rule?

    • Paul Dunlop

      November 6, 2023 at 7:55 pm

      Interesting question! What I know is that according to the regular UNO instructions, if you end the game with a draw card, your opponent still needs to draw.

      So it would make most that you actually have to draw, and that the game is not over yet.

      • Monet

        December 4, 2023 at 10:19 pm

        If someone drops a “discard all” card, picks a color, and it turns out that’s the only color I have left. Do win if I say Uno out?

        • Paul Dunlop

          December 7, 2023 at 8:54 pm

          The effect applies to the player who played it, not to the next player. Also, they can not pick a color. The play continues as normal with the color of the “Discard All” card.

  3. Thomas J Roberts

    November 10, 2023 at 7:15 pm

    If you don’t have one of the colored cards but you have wild cards, do you have to play the wild cards or can you draw and try to get the colored card instead?

    • Paul Dunlop

      November 12, 2023 at 1:43 pm

      You can indeed choose to draw and save your wild card for later. This is called “reneging” and is allowed.

  4. Marcy

    November 17, 2023 at 2:38 am

    Can the reverse four be stacked when you are playing with more then one player?
    For example: I played the card and it goes to the last player before me can they send it back to me?

    • Paul Dunlop

      November 27, 2023 at 3:10 pm

      Yes, this is possible 🙂

  5. Gerald

    November 19, 2023 at 3:55 am

    If you have called Uno and your last card is a draw 2 or other draw card, even if you are out, could the next player/s stack draw cards to make you draw again? We had 4 players. One went out with a draw 4. Another played a draw 6, another played draw 6 and I played a draw 10. So would the person who thought they just won have to draw 26 and thus lose?

    • Paul Dunlop

      November 27, 2023 at 2:29 pm

      As far as I know, if the last card is special, the effect will only apply to the players who still have cards remaining. Meaning, whenever you play your last card, you are out.

    • Phil

      December 31, 2023 at 2:27 am

      Stacking needs to be sequencial or can I stack a +10 over a +2?

  6. Chris

    November 25, 2023 at 5:18 am

    In a 2 player game the Wild Color Roulette Card came up as the first card in the discard pile. It states in the rules ignore an action card but nothing about a wild card. So does it go to the dealer or the other person in a 2 player game? Or is it ignored also?

    • Paul Dunlop

      November 27, 2023 at 3:51 pm

      Normally, if the first card is wild, it goes to the player sitting left of the dealer. In this case, that can only be the other player.

  7. Chris

    November 25, 2023 at 5:36 am

    On the very first time we played Show Em No Mercy Uno my father-in-law had a red Discard All Card and 3 red cards left in his hand. He never called “UNO!” since he had 4 cards left. Is there a specific rule for this situation and does that officially end that hand/round since uno could not be called and he could go out?

    • Paul Dunlop

      November 27, 2023 at 4:14 pm

      I think he can safely go out without calling. The other players have no way of knowing he can go out. Only if they know he is on his last card, and manage to call it before him, he has to draw 2 cards as a penalty.

      • Andrew

        December 17, 2023 at 10:42 pm

        When a 7 is played, a player must switch with another player. What happens if a player’s last card in their hand is a 7 and it’s played? Do they win or do they gotta switch their empty hand with another player?

        • Paul Dunlop

          January 8, 2024 at 7:54 pm

          They are out and win the game I would assume. I’d say a hand without cards is not actually a hand, so nothing to swap.

  8. Robin

    December 1, 2023 at 5:05 am

    It was red and he played a draw 10 but I challenged him having a red and since he did does he have to draw the 10 plus 4 for being busted?

    • Paul Dunlop

      December 7, 2023 at 8:05 pm

      There is no mention of challenging in the official rules. Safe to assume it is not a thing in this game.

  9. Greg

    December 16, 2023 at 3:23 am

    When there are only two players left in a four-player game, if someone plays a wild reverse draw 4 which makes that player draw 4 cards, if that player goes over 25 cards do they knock themselves out and get the 250 point bonus?

    • Paul Dunlop

      January 8, 2024 at 7:37 pm

      They knock themselves out indeed, but I don’t think they will get the bonus. The official Mattel rules are not very clear on this unfortunately. From my understanding only players that weren’t knocked out themselves receive the bonus.

  10. Lottie

    December 30, 2023 at 5:00 pm

    If I played a yellow +2, can the next player put a red +4 on top to stack as per the new stacking rule? It’s unclear as the rule does not mention about colour? Thank you

    • Paul Dunlop

      January 31, 2024 at 1:23 pm

      The color is irrelevant in this case.

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