I should start by clarifying. This is not an April Fool’s Day joke. This is not a satirical piece. It’s real folks. DOS is coming soon.

Back in the 1970’s UNO first hit store shelves. Acquired by Mattel, it has seen many iterations such as UNO Attack and UNO Spin. But recently Mattel has confirmed “DOS” will be coming next month. But what the heck is it?

How to play DOS

According to Mashable, DOS works similarly to its predecessor. All of the 2-4 players pick a card and the one with the highest value goes first. All players are dealt a 7-card hand.

Two cards are dealt face up serving as the discard piles, known as the “centre row”.  When it is their turn players can play cards on to discard piles with the same number. Better yet, if a player has two cards that add up to one of the numbers they can play both. When we start including the standard four colours (red, blue, green and yellow, same as UNO), things get technical. If a player plays a single card on a discard pile that matches both colour and number, they can select a card to play as a new pile on the centre row. Play two cards for the sum total on a pile with all one colour and start a new pile, while the other players pick up a card.

DOS has altered the UNO deck quite a bit. In lieu of your standard wild cards, there are now two different “wilds”. The wild DOS functions as your standard two, but one that allows the player to determine the colour. It’s basically a nice low number to slot into your sum total plays. The other wild card functions as an inverse to the first. Wild # cards come as a set colour but with player chosen numerical values.

Of course people won’t always have a move, and if so, they must pick up from the deck. Still can’t play anything? Then play any card from your hand as a new centre row discard.

As expected, players must also call out “DOS” when down to two cards. Similarly, if you forget to shout “DOS” you draw two cards.

Scoring in DOS

Let’s just clarify something quickly, UNO has a scoring system. Yes, most players just play who won the most rounds. But for all you mathematicians, you score based on what cards opponents have left in their hand.

DOS follows on with the same system. Standard cards are worth the number value, Wild DOS is 20, Wild # is 40. Tally up all the loser’s card values and add them to the winners total. First to 200 is the winner! Or you can just ignore it and play hands which is probably what’s going to happen.

When does it drop?

DOS is expected to initially launch to American retail chain Target on March 4th and gain a wider release in August. Specifics about an Australian release date is yet to be specified.