ONO 99

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The 2022 version box ONOninenine.jpg
The 2022 version box

ONO 99 (previously published as O'NO 99 by International Games, Inc.) is a proprietary card game produced by Mattel and based on the public-domain card game 99 , but played with a unique deck of 54 cards (112 cards in the 2022 edition). The object of the game is to play as many number cards as possible while keeping the total value of discarded cards below 99. Similar to the game Uno, ONO 99 has special cards such as Reverse, Hold, and Double Play cards that can alter gameplay.

Contents

Gameplay

The game is played by three to eight players. Each player picks a card from the deck , and the player drawing the highest-numbered card becomes the dealer (Hold, Reverse and Double Play counts as 0), who then deals four cards to each player, and places the remainder of the deck face down in the center of the play area. The player to the dealer's left starts the hand by playing any numbered card face up beside the deck, forming a discard pile, and announces the number. That player must then immediately draw the top card from the deck. Each subsequent player does likewise, announcing a new total by adding the value of the card they played to the previous player's total. Play continues clockwise between players until one player is unable to play a card without causing the total value of the discard pile to reach or exceed 99; that player loses the hand and will start the next hand. [1]

In addition to number cards (2 to 10 in the original 1980 edition; 0 to 10 in the 2022 edition), five special types of cards are present in the deck, which may be used to attack opponents or benefit the player using them:

If a player lays down a card, but fails to draw one before the next player in sequence completes their own turn, they are not allowed to replace the missing card. A player so affected can potentially be at a great disadvantage, especially if they are holding any ONO 99 card. The player may correct the error by drawing a card before the next player in sequence completes a turn.

All players begin the game with an equal number of lives, left up to their discretion. Losing a hand costs the player one life; a player who has run out of lives is out of the game. The last remaining player is the winner.

Alternate scoring

A rule variation as suggested in the official rules is to use a point-scoring system in which the player who loses the hand receives 25 points plus the value of cards in their hand:

A point limit is determined before the start of the game (500 as suggested by the official rules). When a player's score reaches the limit, either the game ends and the player with the lowest score wins, or the player who reached the score limit is eliminated and the game continues until only one player remains.

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References

  1. Harrison, Kerry (2008-10-22). "O'NO 99 Rules". BoardGameGeek. Retrieved 2022-04-26.