Not the Origin: It's commonly reported that Tom Marshall started the craze, handing them out at a backstage party at the Great Went (presumably 8-16-97). Some cards emerged from the backstage area and appeared throughout that part of the crowd within 100 feet of the stage, and a frenzy of coincidences ensued. However, in a recent interview with the Mockingbird Foundation, Tom said or implied that he wasn't the origin.

Much Earlier: Stephen reported 3/21/01 that he has "seen, flipped, traded & received UNO cards on Dead tour as early as 1990 (I'm sure they were going long before that too, just that my first shows were 1990). I saw & received UNO cards ... at the first MSG Phish show in 1994.... UNO cards were also used heavily, though not so friggin blatently, all through 95 & 96 before "exploding" in 1997...."

Spread: Whatever the origin, phans seized on the silliness (oh, pardon, magic?) and started handing them out at shows and in tape trades. A handful of folks (including Clay and Heath Condoitee) distributed them during the fall 1997 tour, and a rec.music.phish post (12/16/97) by Clay led to a surge in Uno card distributors during the year-end holiday run. Heath posted (12/6/97), "I even heard that some poeple would only dance near people with the same colored cards...a bit strange. [But giving away Uno cards] is a great idea. Everyone should hand out free stuff at shows...you never know, handing someone an UNO card could brighten their day!" You can get a pack for circa $4.50 at typical department stores (Wal-Mart, K-Mart, etc.) Within a few years, Uno on Phish tour was a clear phenomenon. At Hampton 12-15?-99 (Friday), a security guard was handing out Uno cards to patrons inside! :)

Meaning: If someone asks for a meaning, Clay suggested either "a new form of currency among heads" and "Stay on tour! Collect the whole deck!", and added: "Some people trade the cards for better ones, some try to find their matches. But the best is when you can tell someone instinctualy understands, without having it explained, that it's true meaning is only absurdity, only fun in it's most basic sence. ... I know it sounds insane, but isn't that part of the fun? Besides, the're others of us doing it, and believe me, it's FUN. Its nice to have a gift for someone, even if it's just a green skip ("now you have to skip the rest of the night!") or a reverse ("walk backwards, duh!")." (You might also point out that the wild card upside down reads PLM, as tapers' section handing out the cards as a way of requesting that they band play "My Sweet One".

Stephen says, "For me, its just fun, & makes a cool noise that you can incorporate into the music by flipping it in a constant rhythm. Also, as folks have mentioned, its great to pass them out to the kids in your "section" of cars in the lots because a) its fun to watch the fan of colors appear from nowhere & b) its much easier to get back to your car after the show!"

Use:

• Pass time: If you have enough, or at least a few, or are in a group where lots of folks have them, you could play a mini-game of Uno. :-)
• Meet People: More often, you'll only have one card, but can "play" against other people's one card. ... Sort of...
• Find Friends: As Noah K Mcgee posted (1/15/98), "i'm not sure exactly if they mean anything, but my friends use them at shows to find each other in the crowd. a lot of times we aren't sitting together and want to meet during setbreak, etc... it helps if your looking for a red 8 or whatever above all the confusing faces."
• Find Tickets? Mike Beuselinck suggests that folks holding up a 1 or a 2 card are looking for, respectively, one or two tickets; alternately, that Uno itself is a request for a ticket.
• Attract vendors? Cameron Epps contended (8/28/98) that "you can obtain certain things with it (i.e. recreational items if you catch my drift) [through] this whole like code thing to it that basically meant that you're telling the other kidz that you are ok to vend to."

Display:

• The easiest way to display your card is of course to just hold it in the air.
• Some people wear them tucked into a hat or shirt pocket, or behind a bandana.
• Some people attach them to clothing, usually by taping them although one girl sewed her yellow 2 to her dress.
• At 12-30-97, someone had a large sign version made on a piece of cardboard, and held it up in the air at the center of the floor during breaks and after the show.

The Game: Uno is a card game manufactured/distributed by Mattel (1-800-524-TOYS).

See also: Game test (with German accent), UNO for sale, UNO Madness (a board-game variation on the classic; mirror), and a Javascript version of the game on the web..

Thanks also to M. Grace .

BTW, the game may have been invented by a George P. Valerius, an inventor in Grand Island, NE, in the 1930s who sold it to Parker Brothers under the name NUNO for very little money. (Reported 1/17/00 by Barbara Jazo, Valerius' niece.)

America's #1 card game

"There's a certain level of absurdity that goes along with our shows.""
-- Page, in The Phoenix Gazette 3/12/93"