UNO Was Invented in Reading

Photograph by Sarah McCosham

We closed out the Year of Fun with a bang: Four out of the six of us spent Christmas break down with COVID. While this could have been a big bummer, the last several years have made us all—even my very sensitive 9 year old—surprisingly resilient and able to make the best out of most situations.

Photograph by Sarah McCosham

Being huddled at home for two weeks at the end of 2023 afforded us with the wonderful opportunity to indulge in lots of puzzles and board games, and UNO emerged as a clear McCosham family favorite.

Did you know UNO was invented in Reading, Ohio? The game debuted in 1971 and was the brainchild of the Robbins family, a clan who loved to play cards. The game they loved the most was “crazy eights,” but this classic card game and its tricky rules caused the family many a “friendly” confrontation (if you have kids, you know). To make it simpler, Merle Robbins marked a deck of cards with simple instructions, swapping aces for wilds and queens for skips, and called it UNO, which, if you can recall from high school Spanish class, means “one.”

Today, UNO is ubiquitous and comes in all varieties and sizes, and after trying our (ahem) hands on UNO Stacko and UNO Star Wars, we unanimously agreed that the original beats them all. Board games have long been touted for making learning fun and accessible, and with a kindergartner on the verge of reading, I can wholeheartedly attest to this magic. Pearl is not only an UNO savant; she’s reading simple words and recognizing numbers with aplomb. And Harvey, who sometimes struggles with losing gracefully and keeping his cool, is eagerly asking to be “dealt in” and happy to play for second, third, or even sixth place. As for my older two, both on the verge of teendom, it’s incredibly heartwarming to have them suggest UNO over a movie or television show.

Photograph by Sarah McCosham

As we get into 2024, let’s not forget about the sense of peace and calm that happens in that magical week between Christmas and New Year’s. Grab a game—King Arthur’s Court is my favorite spot to score board games, puzzles, and all the old-school toys from my childhood—and settle in for a night of electronic-free fun with the family. And be sure to raise a glass to Merle Robbins and all the Cincinnati-based toymakers who prove that the Queen City has lots of cards up her sleeve.