Skip to main content
2 of 3
added 2162 characters in body

You should ask a new question: you want some extremely specific and rigorously-evaluated strategies, rather than the existing question's request for "help me lose less." The existence of a give-me-some-good-tips question does not mean that a give-me-an-objectively-best-strategy question is a duplicate.

The title of the new question should focus on how precise you want things to be, something along the lines of "What specific strategy has the highest win-rate in Uno?" The question body should highlight exactly the points you're mentioning here: you want the strategy to be objectively evaluated, not just "I lost less often doing this." Unfortunately, since we're (largely) not programmers here, you probably won't get many bites.

Update: Some wording that you might find useful:

Title: What specific strategies have the highest win-rate in Uno?

Question body: In light of (link to the "give me tips" Uno question), I'm trying to work out the best possible specific Uno strategy. Someone has build an Uno simulator (link), and I want to create several different strategies and have them play against each other to see what works best. (Optional: add your bit about fixing the simulator. Keep it short, because that's not the important part about this question.)

So: what is your Uno strategy? Be specific: I'm going to write a program to execute your strategy, and have it play against other strategies.

Things to think about in your answer:

  • What card do you play next? Do you try to get down to one color or number, or always keep as much variety as possible in your hand? If you have a pair of 0's and a 9, do you play the 9 to reduce your point count, or play a 0 to keep up some variety in your hand? Do you play Skip, Reverse, Draw Two, Wild, and Wild Draw Four early or late, or does it depend on how many cards other people have?
  • What do you do if you must change color, but you have multiple options on what to change to? Do you think about what opponents might have, or just go for what's most advantageous to you?
  • Does your strategy change if someone is very close to winning the entire match, i.e. somebody's close to 500 points? How close to 500 do they have to be for you to change how you play?
  • Does your strategy change if you're losing the hand? How do you decide if you're losing? (Do you start ditching the high-point cards like Wild and Draw Two?)
  • Do you ever challenge someone's use of Wild Draw Four, by demanding they show that they don't have any cards of the current color? When do you challenge?

Don't worry about answering all of those questions, but if you change your play depending on circumstances around the table, please mention it in your answer. Being precise helps me program a strategy that matches what you do, but if some of it is a "gut feel," just give me a general idea of what helps you make of your mind.