Uno removes red and blue cards to try to keep politics out of games

Games aren’t political — even the ones that involve storming the White House — but according to the maker of Uno, colors definitely are. So, to ensure that everyone in your family can reach across party lines to screw someone over with a Wild Draw Four card, Mattel has released a new, supposedly more politically neutral version of the card game, called Uno Nonpartisan.

The new version’s alteration in its bid for apolitical acceptance is the change from the traditional red and blue cards to purple and orange cards. This move away from the clearly politicized colors of red and blue should help keep families from getting too political around the holidays — saying “holidays” here is definitely political.

How the color green continues to make the cut in the nonpartisan version we have no idea at all. After all, there is a Green Party, the only party with its color right there in the name, there’s the extremely partisan Green New Deal, and even the topic of literal Green Cards, which has frequently become a topic for discussion considering the current administration’s restrictive policies on both immigration and Green Card access.

And if anything too controversial does come up, Uno Nonpartisan also has a new Veto card you can lay down to skip the turn of anyone who’s turning the topic of conversation toward politics during the game. We’re not totally sure how bringing up the presidential power to strike down rulings by other law-making bodies is supposed to stop the political talk, but hey, Uno rules are sacred so maybe it’ll work.

Other than those two changes, this is exactly the game of Uno you know and love. You still have your Wild cards and four suits, and you still compete to see who can run out of cards first. Of course, that also means you still have to shout Uno, the Spanish word for one which in itself is probably also makes it a political act — since a memo obtained by the Associated Press revealed border agents are specifically targeting Spanish-speaking migrants.

If you think Uno Nonpartisan might be able to save your next family gathering, you can pick the game up at Walmart for $4.97. Although, it’s currently out of stock, so maybe the contentious colors really were holding people back from enjoying their favorite card game.