Guide
How to Play Four Colors
Four Colors is the colour-matching card game like Uno. Match the top card by colour or number, use action cards to slow the table down, tap 1 before your last card, and be the first to empty your hand.
Play Four ColorsThe objective
Be the first to play your last card
Four Colors is a shedding game for two to four players — you plus one, two or three computer opponents. Everyone starts with seven cards. The first player to get rid of every card wins the round.
Winning a round is worth the cards your opponents are still holding. Rounds keep coming until someone reaches 250 points, which wins the match. So it is not only about going out — it is also about not getting caught holding a fistful of Wilds when somebody else does.
The game is free, runs in the browser, and needs no account. Deal a hand whenever you like; this guide covers every rule the engine uses.
A turn
Four steps, every round
Each turn is one decision: which card to play, or whether to draw.
- 1
Get seven cards
Everyone is dealt seven cards from a shuffled 108-card deck. One card is turned face up to start the discard pile; the rest form the face-down draw pile. Play passes from seat to seat, starting clockwise.
- 2
Match colour or number
On your turn, play one card that matches the top of the discard pile by colour (red on red) or by number or symbol (a green 7 on a blue 7, a Skip on a Skip). A Wild can go on anything and lets you name the next colour.
- 3
Draw when you are stuck
No match — or you would rather hold your cards? Draw one from the deck. If the card you drew can be played you may play it straight away; otherwise keep it and your turn ends.
- 4
Tap 1 and go out
When you play your next-to-last card, tap the 1 button to announce your last card. Forget, and you draw two as a penalty. Empty your hand first to win the round and score the cards everyone else is still holding.
Action cards
The 28 cards that change the game
The other 76 cards are numbers 0–9 in four colours. These are the ones that make people groan.
Skip
8 cards · 2 per colour
The next player loses their turn. Play continues with the player after them.
Reverse
8 cards · 2 per colour
Play changes direction. With only two players, Reverse works like a Skip — you go again.
Draw Two
8 cards · 2 per colour
The next player draws two cards and loses their turn. Draw cards do not stack in this version.
Wild
4 cards
Playable on any card. Name the colour that must be matched next — it can be the colour already in play.
Wild Draw Four
4 cards
Name the next colour, and the next player draws four cards and loses their turn. Playable on any card.
Controls
Tap, click, or use the keyboard
Every method does the same thing. Use whichever suits the device in your hand.
Everywhere
Tap or click a card
Playable cards lift out of your hand and the rest dim, so a legal move is never a guess. Tap one to throw it onto the pile. Tap the deck or the Draw button to draw.
Last card
The 1 button
Tap 1 while holding two cards (before you play) or straight after you drop to one. When a bot forgets to call, the same button turns into Catch! — tap it to make them draw two.
Desktop
Keyboard
← → choose a card, Enter or Space plays it. D draws, P keeps a drawn card, 1 or C calls or catches, R · Y · G · B pick a Wild colour, N starts a new match, and M mutes the sound.
Rules & scoring
Every rule the table follows
The deck
108 cards in four colours — red, yellow, green and blue. Each colour has one 0, two each of 1 to 9, and two each of Skip, Reverse and Draw Two. There are also four Wild and four Wild Draw Four cards.
A legal play
A card is playable when it shares the colour in force, or the number or symbol of the top card. Wild cards are always playable. You may also choose to draw instead of playing, even when you have a match.
Drawing
Drawing takes exactly one card. If it is playable you may play it immediately; if not, or if you keep it, your turn passes. When the deck runs out, the discard pile (except its top card) is reshuffled into a new deck.
Calling your last card
When you are about to drop to one card, tap 1. You can call while holding two cards on your turn, or in the short window right after your play. Miss it and you draw two. Bots can forget too — catch them before the next player moves.
Scoring
The player who goes out scores every card left in the other hands: number cards at face value, Skip, Reverse and Draw Two at 20 points, Wild and Wild Draw Four at 50. A Draw Two or Wild Draw Four played as your final card still makes the next player draw first.
Winning the match
Rounds continue — with the lead seat rotating — until someone reaches 250 points. That player wins the match. Every round you win also builds your win streak.
Common mistakes
How winning hands get lost
Spending a Wild on the first turn
A Wild played when you had a colour match anyway is a wasted escape route. Save it for a turn where nothing else fits — usually near the end of a round when hands are small.
Hoarding action cards
Skip, Reverse and Draw Two are worth 20 points each to whoever goes out. Holding three of them in a long round can hand an opponent 60 points. Play them when they also do damage.
Forgetting the 1 button
The most common way to lose a won round. Two penalty cards turn your last card into three and give everyone else time to catch up. Make the call part of the play, not an afterthought.
Ignoring the turn order
A Reverse changes who is next. Before you play a Draw Two, check the direction arrow — make sure it lands on the player who is actually threatening to go out.
- Shed your high-value cards and action cards early — if someone else goes out, every card in your hand is points for them.
- Hold your Wilds. A Wild is the only card that always plays, so it is your get-out-of-jail card for the end of a round.
- Watch the seat after you. When the next player is down to one or two cards, that is the moment for a Skip, Draw Two or Wild Draw Four.
- Steer the colour toward the one you hold most of, using number matches to switch colours without spending a Wild.
- Tap 1 before you play your next-to-last card, not after. Calling early removes any chance of a two-card penalty.
- Keep an eye on bot hand sizes. A bot that drops to one card without the ONE! badge can be caught for two cards.
Where you can play
Same game on phone and desktop
fourcolors.app runs in any modern browser with no app to install. Stats stay on the device you played on.
Desktop browsers
Chrome, Edge, Firefox and Safari run the game with no plugin. Click cards or play entirely from the keyboard: arrows to choose, Enter to play, D to draw, 1 to call.
Phones and tablets
The table, your hand and the Draw and 1 buttons fit on one portrait screen. Cards are large touch targets, and a new round or match starts instantly with no page reload.
Stats on this device
Rounds played and won, matches won, best round, and win streaks live in local browser storage. They stay until you reset them or clear site data, and they do not sync between devices.
Still unsure about a rule? Read the Four Colors FAQ or jump in and play.
Play Four Colors free